Houseplants 101: How to Not Kill Your Plant

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Have you ever gone to your local home improvement store, fallen in love with a unique looking houseplant that you could barely pronounce the name of, determine “yep, you’re coming home with me” only to have it die on you less than a month later?

Oh yes. We’ve all been there. Even us so-called ‘green thumbs’. For the first few years of being out on my own, I put myself in this situation a number of times. They say that you learn from your mistakes, so goodness, I must have been learning a LOT about houseplants in those first few years…

But the thing was, I never really made an effort to search for resources to guide me along a much greener (and, ahem, lively) path. And whenever I did do a simple google search of “How to care for (insert plant name here) it was completely overwhelming to see so many sources telling me different things. So now that I have successfully kept many plants alive for years and have solidified a routine that works pretty well for me, I decided to write you all an informal guide on how to best care for your plant babies.

I’m going to break this up into a few categories, so for ease of access, I’ll list them here so you can see what we will cover:

• Common Plant Stressors
• Feeding Your Plants
• Watering Your Plants
• Understanding Your Plant’s Needs
• Finicky Plants
• Great Plants for Beginners

It’s going to be a lot of information, but quite a few of you specifically asked for this information and I do not want to leave something out that has helped me with my own houseplant care!

So let’s dive in, shall we?

Common Plant Stressors

You’re most likely reading this because you have a houseplant that has something wrong with it, but you’re not quite certain why it’s not performing well. Amiright or amiright? This section is dedicated to some very common and easily fixed issues most houseplant owners encounter.

More often than not, plant owners will kill one of their plants by over-watering it. I remember this was the number 1 reason why my plants kept dying: I was showering them with love and literally making them rot. I’ve written a paragraph below on watering, so read on to learn more.

Another common issue for houseplants is not getting sufficient light, or the opposite, getting too much light! If your plants look a little crispy and you see damage on the foliage, try moving them away from such bright light. Did you know most houseplants do NOT like direct sunlight? Instead, provide them with indirect light by hanging fairly transparent curtains over your windows, or just simply moving them to a well-lit room. Or, on the contrary, if you don’t see much growth happening, try moving your plants to a brighter area in your home. Don’t worry if your home doesn’t have many windows or natural light. Indoor plants tend to do just fine with artificial light. Stick them near a frequently used lamp!

Do I Need to Fertilize My Plants?

If you want them to thrive, yes.

Too harsh? Sorry. Your potting soil contains little to no nutrients, and even if it contains nutrients, they’re finite. Unlike outdoor plants, houseplants can’t wriggle their roots deeper into the soil to search for the nutrients they require.

My favorite fertilizer to feed my indoor plants is homemade compost tea. I’ve had great results doing this over the years and have rarelybuy commercial plant fertilizer. If you do not have access to compost, try asking around your community. For a while, I was the ‘compost tea provider’ for multiple friends and coworkers! There are plenty of well balanced fertilizer products on the market as well, so try looking for one that is specifically formulated for houseplants. You can find slow release tablets that go in your soil and release a little amount of nutrients each time you water.

Develop a Watering Schedule

As mentioned above, one of the most common hindrances of indoor plant health is, well, our excitement to water them. Which often leads to over-watering. Which leads to a very unhealthy or dead plant. Gasp! Let’s not kill our plants with kindness, people.

There are far too many plants to make a list for you of when to water what. Instead, I’ll just tell you about my watering schedule that seems to work for me.

This time of year, your plants are growing, just like those plants outside. Just because they are indoors does not mean they do not have a growing season! That was one big mistake I made years ago; not acknowledging the fact that houseplants need regular waterings when it’s warm and don’t need as much during the cooler months.

“Let’s not kill our plants with kindness, people.”

beccagrowsstuff

I typically water my houseplants once a week or once every 2 weeks. Usually on the same day, just because it’s easier to remember. Thirsty Thursday, anyone? But take that with a grain of salt – each plant is different. I’ll go around and poke around a little in their soil. Poke poke poke. Make sure you don’t just go based off of the surface level – dig your finger down an inch or two. If it’s dry down there, water. If it’s still damp, leave it be.

If you find yourself struggling to find a watering routine, try bottom watering. What is that, you ask? Bottom watering is simply allowing the plant to absorb water from it’s roots up, instead of from the soil, down. To achieve this, I either place my plant pots in a saucer or the sink (or, in the case of big boys, the bath tub). Fill the container with room temperature water and let your plants absorb what they need for 10-20 minutes. This is a great way to saturate the soil if you are having issue with water draining quickly out the bottom, and also a great way to combat fungus gnats!

Speaking on timing though, I have some pothos that I haven’t watered in a month and they’re thriving. But I have a mini fittonia that loves to be watered at least once a week, if not more. Which leads me to my next point.

Plants Tell You What They Need

Okay, so they don’t literally grow lips and start talking to you about their day. Though side note, if that does happen, you’d best be calling your local news station because you’re about to become famous…

You can tell a lot about what a plant needs by observing it regularly. Dry, crunchy leaves? An easy one, but yeah, your plant probably needs some water and/or less direct sun exposure. Droopy leaves? It is thirsty. Or you need to check it’s roots for any rot. Discolored yellowing leaves? The most often culprit is over-watering or under-feeding. No new growth for months? Perhaps it’s time to re-pot, because that baby may be root-bound and unhappy in its current planter.

You remember that mini fittonia from above? How was it telling me it needed frequent water? It droops if it doesn’t get it. Like legitimately falls over like a fainting lady in those old movies. Very dramatic. How were the pothos telling me they were fine and dandy with only minimal water? They’re shooting out new growth like crazy!

Basically all I’m saying is observe your plants, get to know them and their needs just by taking note of how they are faring in their current situation! Similar to other living organisms, they’ll let you know if they’re not happy. For instance, I just furrowed my eyebrows and exclaimed ‘Ew!’ because my dog just let out a massively stinky fart. What does my behavior tell you? (Answer: that I need to move locations. Also refer to: Clear the room.) Meanwhile, my other dog just gave a very big groan and stretch, then wagged his tail as I looked at him. What does his behavior tell you? (Answer: Happy. Also refer to: Just being a dog.)

Some Plants Can Be Tricky

So you’ve followed all this advice but you still have a plant that seems to hate everything you give it. Don’t worry, it’s not you. Some plants can be a little finicky in certain environments. I know a lot of people who have a really difficult time keeping their fiddle leaf figs alive and happy. You often hear stories of their owners changing one small thing in their care routine and the plant drops all its leaves in protest. A good example is my best friend. She told me a story about the day she finally found a fabulous fiddle leaf fig to bring home. So exciting! She placed it in her apartment and within days, that thing was dropping leaves left and right. If it had hands, it would have probably reached out and slapped her. Why? She placed it close to her air conditioning unit. Fiddle leaf figs and most plants really do not like drafts, especially cold ones. If this situation happens to you, fear not! Just use my advice above and listen to your plant. What is it telling you? Try not to change too many factors at once so you can more easily deduce why your plant is not happy.

My trickiest plant to date was a monstera deliciosa cutting. It was given to me in a vase of water, with some roots already established. I potted it up in some moist potting soil, kept it watered well while it adjusted to soil life. But you know what? That thing NEVER GREW. It just kind of stayed dormant and unchanging. For MONTHS. I ended up giving it to a friend who re-potted it into some better draining soil. It looked a little better, but still hasn’t grown much. It happens.

Where I live in Colorado, it is extremely dry. We rarely have days that you could consider ‘humid’. And guess what? A lot of my plants thrive in humid environments. One of my absolute favorite plants is a swiss cheese plant, sp. monstera adansonii. It, like the monstera from above, was not really growing at all for a while. I was moving it around to different locations to see which light it liked best and all of that. Then I stuck it next to my little humidifier and it started growing like crazy! Experiment, people! That’s what gardening is all about after all, right?

Beginner Friendly Plants

Thank you for making it this far! Hopefully these tips and tricks will help you understand how to take care of your own houseplants a little better. If you are a beginner, I’ve compiled a list below of my favorite ‘Beginner Friendly Plants’. By no means are these plants guaranteed to thrive on neglect and, ehem, overwatering…but in my experience, they’ve been the most forgiving in the learning process.

• Snake Plant (AKA Mother in Law Tongue)
• Pothos
• Spider Plant
• ZZ Plant
• Peace Lily
• Aloe Vera

Do you have any tried and true houseplant care tips? What is your favorite houseplant? Anything you’d like to see added? Drop me a comment below and be sure to follow along for more! Until next time, friends.