Houseplants – the ones that aren’t too delicate - are remarkably durable, able to put up with plenty of neglect and slapdash care without keeling over easily. That’s why we buy them. That’s why we are inclined to furnish our homes with them. And that’s why they manage fairly well in our substandard (not quite up to par with nature) home environment under even the most amateurish care. But no matter how tough their constitution is, almost any plant will succumb to the unforgivable deadly plant sins that we carry out and impose upon them. There is only so much carelessness they will resign themselves to before they decide it’s time to join other bumped off plants in the ‘big greenhouse in the sky’.

Houseplants don’t just die, we kill them. The only time we’re not responsible for killing them is when insects or pests kill them. But since we’re in charge of checking for pest infestations and stamping them out if we find any, even then – indirectly perhaps – we are responsible for our plant’s downfall - for killing them. Since they’re trapped in containers instead of living outdoors where Mother Nature keeps things in check by balancing the environment, they rely on us for many things for their continued existence. Contrary to the outdoors where basic requirements are provided naturally, we have to supply those needs for indoor plants. We have to water the plants, make sure they’re placed strategically in locations where they’ll receive adequate light, feed them, clean them and go to battle with invading pests for them since we don’t keep beneficial predators as pets around the house. As a result, houseplants rely on us for their well-being and pretty much for their survival as well. We decide whether they thrive or weaken. We decide whether they grow vigorously or sluggishly. And we decide whether they live or die.

But even the basic care requirements of houseplants can turn out to be lethal when the prescribed amounts are disproportionate - too little or too much. You can kill your plant with too much kindness as easily as you can with neglect. Inattention and overindulgence go hand in hand in the world of houseplant care, and while there are many reasons houseplants don’t get past the first four seasons, most of the time it’s the same deadly offenses that do them in.

So, insects aside, how do we end up debilitating and killing our plants?
Well, let’s take a closer look at three deadly plant sins.


1) Water Offenses

Most of the problems encountered with houseplants occur from poor watering habits. Below are some of the most common water sins:

- Over Watering -

The majority of houseplants are killed from too much water than not enough. Over watering kills more houseplants than any other reason. When you over water your plants their roots rot. The roots rot because every single pore gets filled with water, removing their ability to breathe. When the roots rot your plant drowns because it can no longer draw in oxygen. If the roots can no longer breathe, they will die, which will consequently kill your plant. Unfortunately, most people – especially beginners - kill their plants this way. They don’t do it intentionally; in fact they do it out of kindness. It is a houseplant myth that plants need water more than anything else, so growers douse them with it. Death by heavy-handed watering is all too common.


- Under Watering -

It is a lot harder to kill a houseplant from under watering unless you literally deprive it of moisture long past the wilting stage. Most plants are tough enough to recover from minor water deprivation with just the loss of a few leaves and premature bud drop. But if you take a plant past the point of no return, you can kiss it goodbye; chronic under watering results in plant death. Under watering usually develops into a bad habit when houseplant growers discover – after many casualties – that they are killing their plants by drowning them. Fearful of repeating the unfortunate experience, they become dreadfully frugal with the watering can, offering only tiny sips of water to their plants, hardly enough to satisfy their thirst. While this may not kill a plant outright, it will damage the health of the root system, which in turn will damage leaves, flowers, etc. Roots damaged repeatedly will lead to plant death.


- Watering With Cold Water -

Imagine someone pouring a bucket of ice cold water into your lap when you don’t expect it. How would you react? Probably the same way a houseplant would respond after an unanticipated frosty water drench – shocked. Houseplants don’t like cold water poured over their fragile root system. The temperature of water is more important than most people realize – and something that very few ever consider. Water that is too cold is traumatizing to a plant’s system; it can shock and even kill root hairs. Any damage to the root system is always detrimental to a plant’s health and survival. Together with root damage, watering with cold water can cause white spots or patches on the leaves of some plants.


- Watering On Schedule -

One of the biggest mistakes houseplant owners make is to create a watering routine wherein plants get their thirst quenched on a fixed schedule. Watering all your plants each Saturday morning between vacuuming the house and doing the laundry may be convenient for you but is hazardous to the health of your plants. There are way too many elements that affect when your plant needs watering – type and size of plant, growth rate, type of soil, location, temperature, humidity, season, container, light levels and so on - therefore it is utterly impossible to place any plant on an inflexible schedule. Scheduled watering routines are a dangerous habit to develop so try to stay clear of that compulsion.


Practical Suggestions:

One of the most important – and sometimes complicated - things to master is watering - that’s if you want to own houseplants for extended periods. The key to a healthy plant is a strong root system. A potted plant is completely at your mercy and poor root health is usually a result of over or under watering. Unfortunately, the symptoms of both watering fallacies are often similar, which makes it difficult to diagnose properly and act accordingly. Eventually you will – through a hands-on approach and a little education – get the hang of it. As time progresses experience will come into play and one day you may even judge whether your plants need watering or not by lifting up the pot and checking the weight, by the overall appearance of your plant or by feeling the leaves between your fingers.

In the meantime, here are some suggestions:

When you water, don’t just give your plants little sips; drench them thoroughly to make sure that the entire root system is covered. Water enough to soak the soil (until you see water emerging from the pot’s drainage holes). By watering heavily, you are also leaching excess salts that accumulate in the soil and discouraging any dry air pockets from developing. Make sure to dump the excess from the pot’s saucer below. Never leave your plant’s pot sitting in water. Allow your plant to dry out appropriately before soaking it again the next time.

Make sure the water reaches room temperature before hydrating your plants. Don’t stress them by pouring cold water all over their roots; take the chill out. Aside from the chlorine dissipating when you fill up a watering can and letting it sit overnight, you have the added benefit that the water will reach a much more comfortable temperature, which will be appreciated by your foliage friends. And make sure to water your plants only when they need it, not when your schedule permits or when a certain day of the week dictates it.

(Switch to the hydroculture system and, at the very least, you will no longer have to worry about over or under watering. It’s about as infallible as you can get and you no longer have to be anxious about drowning your plants with kindness or robbing them of sufficient hydration.)

Light is the most essential factor in determining the health of your houseplants. No plant can live without it. They use this energy source to photosynthesize. The intensity of light influences the manufacturing of plant food, leaf colour, flowering and stem length. As stated before, houseplants are prisoners in pots and dependent entirely on us, even in the providing of appropriate light. And although light is vital to all plants, not all plants need the same intensity of light.

Surprising as it may be, you can kill your houseplants by giving them too much or too little light. A south window may sound like the ideal position but - left unfiltered - that bright, direct sun in the midst of summer can be extremely detrimental to many plants that cannot handle that much intensity. Plants that originate from the shady areas of the tropical forests need far less light than the cactus that thrives in full sun.

It’s important to learn a little about the types of plants you are growing and what their requirements are. A good book, internet research and advice from an experienced grower will help you identify your plant and its needs. After your information gathering, experimentation combined with feedback from your plant will determine if your plant is thriving or declining in its location.

- Let There Be Light -

When plants are not receiving enough light they tend to stop growing or grow very slowly. If they do grow, they usually grow tall and spindly and their leaves stretch pathetically towards the light. The plant will look weak and straggly, and the new leaves will be smaller than they should be. The foliage becomes a pale green, mature leaves turn yellow and drop, lower leaves are discarded and flowering plants won’t bloom. Variegated plants turn all green and if your light-deprived plant miraculously puts out flowers, they will probably fall prematurely. When you deprive your plant of appropriate light, it is slowly starving to death. It will put out enough signs of distress to tell you that it needs more light.


- Blinded By The Light -

There is such a thing as too much light or too much ‘direct’ light. Signs of too much light can include bleaching of leaf and flower colour, leaves curling down and away from the light rather than stretching towards it, pale yellow or white spots from being exposed directly to the sun and leaf burn from the intensity. The growth can be compact and the plant may wilt during the day due to rapid water loss. Yellowish-brown patches develop on some leaves and flowering may be inhibited on plants such as poinsettias and orchids. Other flowering plants may not bloom at all, and for those that do manage to pop up a few buds, they may drop without opening, or the flowers may be too small or short-lived if they do open. Washed-out, limp and clearly in distress, your plant that prefers shadier corners will scream for mercy if you leave it sizzling in the midday sun. Unless you rescue it from its red-hot location, it’ll burn to a crisp and end up in the trash.


Practical Suggestions:

It is absolutely vital that you determine what kind of light your plant needs, what kind of light you have to offer and where it can be found. Houseplants will not fare well if not placed in appropriate locations. Learning about your plants and gaining experience through trial and error will help get you started in settling the light issues. For more precise information on what’s going on inside your home, I recommend using a light meter. By investing in this handy item to measure the light levels indoors, you will be able to determine where to properly set your plants as well as which plants you can maintain inside your home. A light meter is the only way you can be 100% sure what light your plants are receiving; it’ll help you choose spots where plants thrive over spots where plants barely survive.

When a houseplant is healthy and thriving, it will eventually outgrow its container and need more space. This is when your plant becomes pot bound. When a plant is pot bound, its roots become crammed in the pot, eliminating the ability to spread out in search of water and nutrients. Once the plant reaches this state of severe confinement to its root system, it will start to suffer and the growth rate will decrease significantly. Sometimes when one of your plants is displaying signs of wilting, yellowing, minimal growth and an overall dull appearance, it may only be pot bound and not suffering any other ailments – lack of light, improper watering, insufficient humidity, pest invasions, etc.

Most houseplants will be much better-off and return to growing happily once you’ve upgraded their living quarters. But before any plant is put through the traumatic experience of repotting, growers should verify that it really is pot bound to determine if a larger pot will be beneficial or not. Fortunately, there are a multitude of telltale signs when a houseplant is pot bound. A few of those hints are: plant is too big for its pot, watering becomes too frequent, roots appear on the surface of the soil, roots start growing out of the bottom drainage holes, the plant is pushing its way out of the pot, the plant cracks the container.

When there are too many roots in the pot and not enough soil, which leaves your plant thirsty more often than not, it’s a good idea to move up to a larger container. Most houseplant hobbyists are happy to oblige. But not all of them handle this essential aspect with caution or realize just how much of an important deciding factor it is in their houseplant’s health. Since your plant lives directly in the pot you choose, with its root system surrounded by the soil you decide on, it is imperative to get the job done right - right from the start.

- Containers That Are Too Big -

When growers do confirm that their plant indeed needs repotting, one of the first things they choose is a new container. Understandably, the container is chosen for its aesthetical value before anything else. And that’s fine. That’s not a problem. The problem begins when the pot chosen is much too big for the plant in question. And that’s a ‘big’ problem for the plant. When a pot is chosen that is larger than necessary, the roots of the newly-transplanted greenery will sit in more soil than needed. That excess soil will not dry out; it will stay damp for a long time and the roots of your houseplant will be forced to soak in that soggy mess. Roots soaking in water are deprived of oxygen and they will begin to rot. Once the roots rot, say good-bye to your lovely plant. One size up, maybe two is the way to go. Don’t choose a pot that your plant can eventually ‘grow into’. Your plant will never grow into it; it’ll end up in the big compost pile in the sky way before that. Bigger is not better, it’s deadly.


- Containers That Have No Drainage Holes -

It is possible to choose pots without drainage holes but it’s not very wise. Sooner or later, the plant will suffocate. Even the most experienced houseplant owners have trouble managing houseplants – especially the ones that like to dry out very well between drenches - in such a setup. The problem with placing plants inside containers without drainage holes is twofold. 1) You can’t leach the pot now and then, which is important because it removes excess soluble salts and 2) It is extremely easy to over water and kill the plant (especially the desert lovers that turn to mush if overly-saturated one time too many!). Yet many growers buy containers without good drainage, which endangers sensitive roots and turns them to mush.


- The Dirt On Bad Soil -

If you are a complete newbie to the houseplant hobby, it is understandable that you would assume that potting up a plant in ‘any old dirt’ should be fine. But it’s actually not fine at all. Houseplants cannot be placed in ‘any old dirt’; they need to be grown in specialized soils. You cannot dig up some of that weathered garden soil and use it to pot up your houseplant. You cannot put aside some of the ‘black earth’ and ‘top soil’ that you bought for outdoor planting to be used to pot up your indoor plant. Outdoor soil is – first and foremost – not sterilized. Untreated soil from the yard or garden can contain many nasty things – insects, mites, diseases. And the poor quality (the texture is not right) can kill your plant. Good soil mediums provide houseplants with support, adequate drainage, proper aeration and a sterile environment. A multitude of commercial potting mixes are readily-available and reasonably-priced so there’s really no reason why your houseplant can’t be grown in a preferred, uncontaminated medium, important to its health. You can also choose to make your own potting mixes with simple and inexpensive ingredients available at your local garden center.

(Eliminate all soil concerns by adopting the hydroculture method.)


Practical Suggestions:

Like anything else in the houseplant world, there are exceptions to repotting plants as well, even for the ones that are pot bound. Most indoor plants do best when they are moderately pot bound so don’t repot unnecessarily or prematurely. This is especially true of some of the flowering types that will bloom only when their root system is packed tightly in the pot. Find out what your plant’s requirements are before taking action. You just might find out that leaving well enough alone is the better choice.

Do not rush out for a new container and soil just because a root or two trails out of the drainage holes. Sometimes those wandering rebels are migrating in search of oxygen if the soil is too wet or too dense. In that case, more drainage and better quality soil are what the plant needs – not a bigger container. There has to be more than one sign that your plant needs repotting to get you going in that direction. Give pot bound houseplants that need a new home the right accommodations – a pot that is just slightly larger. By moving up only one or two pot sizes and not allowing your plant’s roots to sit in saturated soil for too long, you will not encounter root rot that will end up killing your plant. Make sure the new container is clean. And don’t forget to use good – sterile - potting mix to top it all off!

If you have a pot with no drainage holes that you really like and want to use, the best thing to do is make holes in the bottom to drain excess water (you can drill through clay pots) or simply insert a plastic pot with drain holes inside it and pot the plant directly in that.

Don’t choose a pot that your plant will ‘grow into’. If your houseplant grows rapidly, choose a pot that you don’t mind replacing in a year or two. Inexpensive. When the plant has slowed down or reached its full potential, spend to your heart’s content.

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