Are your houseplants staging a wilting rebellion? Fear not, fellow plant parent! In this green-thumb emergency guide, we’re unleashing the ultimate first-aid tips to rescue your leafy companions from the brink of botanical disaster.
Short Sum-Up: Indoor environments pose challenges for plants due to artificial conditions. Plant survival hinges on circumventing typical care errors such as incorrect watering, lighting, or fertilization as well as overlooking repotting or soil maintenance.
In this blog post, you learn about the most common care mistakes as well as how to spot the telltale signs of plant distress, and you will arm yourself with invaluable tips to become the ultimate plant-saving hero.
Why Houseplants Die Indoors: Natural Selection Doesn’t Stop at Our Doorstep
Plants have evolved to survive even under suboptimal conditions and are true survivalists. You might wonder why then it still happens rather often that plants do not do well or even die when kept indoors.
- Specialists are not generalists: Even though many plants have incredible skills to grow in extremely unfriendly environments (such as living in salt lakes), this doesn’t make them general survival heroes. On the contrary, due to their specific adaptations, growing in any other environment is extremely difficult for them.
- Environmental sensitivity depends on plant type: Some plant types are generalists that tolerate environmental changes or suboptimal conditions better than other species because they are not adapted to one specific environmental niche.
- Indoor environments are artificial: Our environments indoors with our four walls are artificial for plants, these conditions do not exist outdoors. It is our responsibility as human plant parents to learn how to mimic the ideal outdoor environment for each of our houseplants.
First, let’s remember that in nature, a plant’s seed can only grow and thrive if it has enough water, light, and nutrients. Without these essentials, the plant won’t survive. If some seedlings die, it’s part of natural selection. Plants have highly efficient propagation methods, ensuring their species’ survival because many seedlings find perfect conditions to flourish.
When kept indoors, it is we humans who decide on all of the essential factors needed for thriving plant life. Mimicking a perfect natural habitat for our houseplants is no walk in the park! We need to ditch our human view and think like a plant.
In a way, houseplants dying can be regarded as a selection process that in nature is normal when basic conditions aren’t met. But let’s be real, we don’t want to be on a first-name basis with the cashier at the plant store just because our houseplants constantly die.
Instead, let’s learn from our plant care mistakes and create a flourishing home by providing our green fellows with the appropriate care!
What Makes Houseplants Die: 11 Common Plant Care Mistakes
Do you want to become an expert plant parent who instinctively knows how to keep houseplants thriving? Start by avoiding these common plant care mistakes that often spell doom for your leafy friends:
- Improper watering: Overwatering is the number one enemy of houseplants, but also prolonged drought doesn’t do most houseplants any good.
- Improper use of fertilizer: Not giving your plants any fertilizer will starve them in the long run. But careful! Too much extra plant food leads to a build-up of too much salt in the soil.
- Lack of soil maintenance: Indoor soil comes in varying qualities and mixtures, and with time, it needs to be exchanged to provide ideal conditions for your houseplants.
- Inadequate lighting: Putting your plants in a spot where light conditions do not meet its needs can lead to plant demise in the long run.
- No repotting: If you never repot your plant, not only the soil quality is lacking but also the space for the plant to grow well.
- Moving around: Plants get used to a certain environment. If you move them around every couple of weeks when redecorating your home, you cause your plants a lot of stress.
- Exposure to draft and temperature changes: Some of the more sensitive houseplants (such as ferns or Ficus trees) react to drafts or temperature changes such as near windows, doors, or above radiators in winter when the heating is on.
- Misting instead of watering: Misting never replaces watering as plants do not take in water through the leaves. Even for humidity, misting is not ideal. Read more about why misting is more a myth than a best practice in my post linked here.
- Lack of foliage cleaning: The foliage of your houseplants will be covered by dust with time. To ensure optimal photosynthetic activity, the foliage should be dusted or washed off regularly.
- Using pots without drainage: This is an essential mistake as well. Pots with no drainage system soon cause soggy soil leading to root rot, a very common cause for houseplant demise.
- Excessive pruning: This is not a very common care mistake, but can be an issue, too. If you prune your plant too much or trim the branches too close to the main stem, it can create lasting damage to the plant.
A combination of these care mistakes causes a lot of stress to your houseplants, leading to an ill metabolism and less resilience to diseases and pests. Usually, it is some disease or pest that kills a houseplant in the end because it is too weak to defend itself.
If you’ve come to this post by frantically Googling first aid for houseplants, chances are one (or more) of your green buddies is on life support. So without further ado, let’s dive right into some plant-saving tips before they say their last goodbye!
Bring Your Houseplant Back to Life: First Aid Tips
There are two general pieces of advice I would like to give along here before we go into details:
- Don’t overdo it with first aid on a dying plant: Your plant is already under a lot of stress and changing up everything drastically only causes it more stress. Be gentle with the changes you make, and give your houseplant time to adapt to each change.
- Be aware that it always takes a combination of causes for a plant to die: There is not only one reason leading a plant to die, but a combination of issues that as a whole weaken your plant too much to survive.
After you’ve hosted a few plant funerals, you’ll also quickly learn that saving your leafy friends means acting at the first sign of trouble, not when they’re on their deathbeds. Consider this a lesson from the plant afterlife!
Drooping Leaves: Check Soil Moisture
If the leaves are hanging low and droopy, this can be due to over- or underwatering.
Find out what the cause is by checking the soil moisture. Touch the soil and stick your finger into the soil a few inches deep. Is the soil completely soggy and moist? Then the plant is overwatered. Is the soil bone-dry and hard like a desert? Then the plant is underwatered.
If underwatered, give it a rinse like you normally would when watering plants. Don’t overdo it and drown the plant! Think of the stress you would cause the plant if you drown it after having it go through a period of serious drought! Also, completely dry soil takes some time to take up moisture again, hence most water would just flow out the bottom if you pour too much.
If overwatered, do not water it until about half of the soil is dry again. If the soil is super-soggy, place the inner pot on a towel in the bathtub or sink to draw out as much water as possible.
In both cases, take the plant out of harsh direct sunlight. In its current weakened state, full sun can cause its leaves further damage.
Wilting, Yellowing Leaves: Check Soil Moisture
If your plant has wilting and yellowing leaves, it may look like it doesn’t get enough water. But if the soil is already super moist, then it means you have overwatered the plant. In this case, follow the same steps as above:
Find out what the cause is by checking the soil moisture. Touch the soil and stick your finger into the soil a few inches deep. Is the soil completely soggy and moist? Then the plant is overwatered. Is the soil bone-dry and hard like a desert? Then the plant is underwatered.
- If underwatered, give it a rinse like you normally would when watering plants. Don’t overdo it and drown the plant! Think of the stress you would cause the plant if you drown it after having it go through a period of serious drought! Also, completely dry soil takes some time to take up moisture again, hence most water would just flow out the bottom if you pour too much.
- If overwatered, do not water it until about half of the soil is dry again. If the soil is super-soggy, place the inner pot on a towel in the bathtub or sink to draw out as much water as possible.
- In both cases, take the plant out of harsh direct sunlight. In its current weakened state, full sun can cause its leaves further damage.
Remove any dead leaves (pests are more probably to infest dead leaves).
Another reason for yellowing leaves can be a nutrient deficiency. Ask yourself when you have last fertilized the plant? Is it a long time ago? Then you might want to give it some fertilizer, too. Just don’t overdo it, use the dosage indicated and then wait about 2 weeks until fertilizing again.
Brown Leaf Tips: Increase Humidity in Your Home
Browning leaf tips often suggest that the humidity levels in your home are not constant and too low for your houseplants to feel comfortable.
In this case, raise the humidity in your home, especially during the heating period in winter. A humidifier is a good and easy option for constant humidity levels in a home.
Check out other easy ways to raise the humidity indoors in my post linked here.
Refrain from misting leaves that are browning. Misting may cause more damage than good on leaves that are half dried out.
Browning Along the Leaf Edges: Check Soil Moisture
If the leaves of your plant show browning along the edges, it is most commonly due to underwatering.
Check the soil moisture. If it is bone-dry and hard, then it has been underwatered. Just give it a regular watering right there and then. After that, stick to a regular moisture check and water accordingly.
If you struggle to remember watering your plants, it can be helpful to use a weekly reminder to check on your plants.
In the case of underwatering, I also recommend checking the light conditions. Is the plant standing above a radiator or in harsh direct sunlight? Then I recommend moving it to a more gentle spot where the soil won’t dry out as fast.
Tip: The finger check is best for checking soil moisture. Stick your finger into the top inches of soil to see whether your plant needs water yet or not. Discover more helpful tips for appropriate plant watering in my complete guide linked here!
Brown Spots on the Leaf Surface: Move Plant Out of Direct Sunlight
If your plant shows brown or yellowing spots on the leaf surface or along the edges, then it got its leaves scorched by too much direct sunlight. Move the plant to a spot with only indirect light.
Tip: To know what kind of light conditions your houseplant needs, it is essential to know the exact plant type. Using a plant care app helps you define the species as well as gives you great indications on where to place the plant. Check out the 7 best free plant care apps and choose one that suits you!
Bleached Out Leaves: Take Your Plant Out Of Direct Sunlight
Bleached leaves, losing their color or patterns, are a sign of too much light. It may look very shocking to see bleached leaves, but this is usually cured pretty fast if you move the plant into a more appropriate lighting.
Again, to know what lighting a plant needs, it is essential to know the plant type and to understand what direct and indirect light means. Find out what spots in a home usually provide what kind of light in my post through this link.
Pale, Light Green Leaves: Give Your Plant More Light
If the leaves are not bleached, but rather turn a pale light green or even yellowish, then it is not getting enough light.
The green chlorophyll contained in the leaves needs light to be produced, hence less chlorophyll (= less intense color) means that the plant doesn’t get enough light to photosynthesize properly.
Move the plant into a spot with brighter indirect light.
Plant Losing All Its Leaves: Check Exposure to Draft and Humidity Levels
Some plants, such as Ficus benjaminus, are sensitive to changes in humidity, and temperature as well as to draft exposure. If unhappy, they sometimes drastically lose all of their leaves. This may look horrifying, but it doesn’t mean that the plant is already dead. New leaves will grow if you change their spot.
Check whether the plant is situated close to doors or windows, if so, move it to a different spot. Also, do not place them near radiators.
Make sure you keep humidity levels on a constant level throughout the year. A humidifier is a perfect and easy option to achieve a good humidity level, especially during the heating period.
Tip: Misting is often mentioned as a good way to increase humidity. Unfortunately, this is one of the plant myths around. Misting only temporarily raises humidity. Find out in this post when misting makes sense and when not!
White Residues on Soil: Cut Back on Fertilizing
Sometimes the top layer of soil is covered by a white layer. This is caused by using too much fertilizer. The salts contained in fertilizer build up as a layer visible on the soil.
Cut back on fertilizing for a month or two.
Also, you can rinse your plant’s soil thoroughly: Place it in the bathtub, rinse it, and let all excess water flow out for a couple of hours. This helps wash out the salt build-ups as well as other toxins.
Just make sure not to water it after this procedure until the upper layer of soil is dry again. Otherwise, you risk overwatering your plant.
Spiderwebs, Brown or Black Dots on Leaves, Rolled Leaves: Quarantine and Treat Your Plant
Plants show clear signs when infested by a pest:
- Spider mites create web-like structures around and between the leaves.
- Scale mites are visible as brown dots on the leaf surface.
- The eggs of thrips are visible as black dots attached to the leaf underside or at the axial joints.
If you spot any signs that look like a pest, such as any strange dots, colorings, or stuff around or under the leaves, quarantine the affected plant immediately, best into a different room with no other plants in it, to avoid spreading the pest.
Given the different types of pests, various treatments are best. Generally, spraying your plant with a soap-water solution helps well against many pests such as mealy bugs, spider mites, and thrips.
Neem oil has also proven to be an effective natural remedy against pests.
Most pests prefer dry environments. Hence, raising humidity or misting your plant helps to keep the spread of the bugs down.
Extra-Tip: Be Patient With Your Houseplants’ Regeneration
After having taken one or some of the steps for the well-being of your houseplant, wait at least 1-2 months for the condition of the affected plant to improve.
Check regularly to see if the plant starts looking better and keep taking care of it. It takes a plant a lot of time to recover from ill-being. Have some patience and do not just throw it away if its state doesn’t improve after only a week.
By following the tips shared in this post, your vibrant indoor oasis will bounce back from any mishaps, and you’ll blossom into a true plant whisperer!