Why Are My Indoor Plants Dying? It’s OK. No Reasons For Remorse
Why are your indoor plants dying?
Good question!
There are several reasons why plants die. But one thing is for sure: you need to stop feeling remorse for it.
Remorse is a ‘wonderful’ word that encapsulates the meaning of three dreadful feelings: guilt, sadness and upset.
If you have done your best and everything you could with the tools and knowledge you have to care for your plant, you have no reason to feel remorse.
We have enough things to worry about in life. The sight of a plant in its misery does not need to add to our preoccupations, anxieties and negativity in general.
So, to be blunt: If your plant is dying, stop feeling remorse and just chuck it. By removing the problem, you will alleviate your pain! (This is coming from a plant lover with 100+ plants in her home! If a sick plant is not responding to my care attempts, I’ll just toss it. I find I feel mentally released from the negativity of not being able to cure it.)
However, the point of this Blog is not to tell you to toss your dying plants (which you should do for your mental health), but to prevent your plants from getting to a dying point so that you don’t feel any remorse!
Let’s take a look at the most common reasons why indoor plants die.
1) overwatering and bad drainage
Overwatering is the most common cause of indoor plant death.
Your helicopter parenting style turns out to be damaging for your plants too. However, what most people don’t tell you is that the problem doesn’t lie so much on the excessive amount of water. The biggest issue is poor drainage.
Proper drainage is critical for the health of houseplants.
All your plants need to be planted in pots with good drainage and well draining soil.
Ideal pots for indoor plants are terracotta pots. Not only do they have drainage holes at the bottom, but terracotta is highly porous, allowing the soil to breathe and to dry out faster between waterings. This way, even if you overwater your plants, the excess water will drain out of the pot into the bottom tray. You must discard excess water from any trays after 2 hours of watering.
To help drainage even further, make sure you use well draining soil.
No matter the plant species, I always add 1 part Perlite to 4 parts soil to promote soil drainage and prevent root rot.
When a plant does not have proper drainage, it becomes waterlogged, which means the roots are drowning and have no access to oxygen. This condition causes root rot, and the eventual death of your plant.
To verify whether your plant is subject to this condition, remove it from its pot. If the soil is dripping water, and the roots are falling apart, you know your plant’s roots are rotting. You can try to discard all the soil from the roots and wash them out, removing as many damaged roots as possible.
Repot your plant into a draining pot that fits the remaining rootball, not too big. Use fresh soil and water sparingly.
2) improper lighting
While plants actually die for bad drainage or pests and diseases, they don’t die for improper lighting. Or at least they need to be very demanding plants to die for it, (I can think of a few like the Fiddle Leaf Fig, the Aloe Vera, and the Schlumbergera).
Otherwise, they simply look miserable.
So if you came to me and asked; “Why are my plants dying?” My first question back to you wouldn’t be: “Are they getting enough light?”
The first question I ask everyone seeking plant’s help is always: “Is it planted in a draining pot?”
Having said that, in my personal experience with plants, all plants thrive in plenty of bright light, as long as it’s not direct light.
Even those plants that are known for low light tolerance, like the ZZ Plant, the Snake Plant and especially the Peace Lily and the Monstera, they do so much better when exposed to bright, indirect light.
So, if your plants are struggling, even when planted in draining pots, try to place them by a North, East or even far back from a South facing window and see if you can notice any improvement within a month.
3) pests & diseases
Pests and diseases are harder to manage and deal with.
You need to remember it is not your fault that your plants have pests and diseases. In many instances, those pests come home from the greenhouse or your backyard when you leave them out for the summer.
The most important aspect of dealing with pests and diseases is to contain the issue to the one plant and not let it spread to your other plants.
This is easier said than done when it comes to certain pests, like fungus gnats flying around and lying eggs from plant to plant.
The first thing to do, if possible, is to isolate your affected plants to a different room so that other plants don’t get affected too.
Once you’ve isolated the plant, you need to figure out what you are dealing with. It can be tricky to distinguish one pest from another.
Not all pests kill your plants the same way at the same pace either.
For example, fungus gnats can be more annoying than damaging. However, if not dealt with, they can compromise your plant’s health in the long run.
Fungus Gnats look like Fruit Flies flying around your plants’ top soil. You will also notice tiny larvae crawling on the topsoil.
In order to destroy Fungus Gnats you need to target them in their three stages: eggs, larvae and flying adult. Click here to learn how do eliminate Fungus Gnats without chemicals.
If you see moving fluffy white bugs on your plant’s leaves (mostly on the underside where the leaf attaches to the stem), you are dealing with Mealybugs.
If you notice sticky leaves and tiny bugs on the underside of leaves, on new buds and at the attachments of stems and main trunk, you are dealing with Aphids.
If you see tiny webs at the attachment of leaves and stems, you have Spider Mites
Other common pests are thrips, whiteflies and scale.
You can fight these pests with an insecticidal soap or find natural, chemical free options, like Neem Oil.
However, if you are fighting a loosing battle, I strongly encourage you to give up, pick up your plant and head to the trash can.
It will be best to preserve your positive energy. You’ve done your best. You are a good person.
Those tiny bugs crawling around my Pilea topsoil are Fungus Gnats larvae.
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4) improper pot size
Your plant could be dying because you accidentally repotted it into a pot that is way too big for its roots!
Did you even know there is such a thing as a pot that’s too big?
Yep!
The concept is basically the same as planting a plant into a pot without drainage holes.
The bigger the pot, the more soil it contains. The more soil, the more moisture trapped inside the pot.
Now imagine small roots collapsing under the weight of a big mass of wet soil. Those roots with become excessively wet and eventually rot.
Make sure you always choose the proper size of pot for your plant. Never go too big.
On the other hand, your plant might be root bound and need to move to a bigger pot.
How do you know if your plant needs to be repotted?
Remove it from its pot. If you see more roots than soil, you know it’s time to repot your plant into a bigger pot.
Be careful not to move it into a pot that’s too big. The rule of thumb is to go with a pot that is one, at most two sizes bigger than its current one. For example, if your plant is currently into a 4″ pot, you’ll repot it into a 6″ pot, or at most 8″, not 10″. (Pot sizes are generally sold in 2″ increments).
Some plants species enjoy being root bound, having their roots crammed into their pot. However, they will reach a point in which their roots will outgrow the amount of soil in the pot, hence lacking valuable nutrients required to thrive.
This is the rootball of a Peace Lily in need to a bigger pot.
5) underwatering and neglect
This one is self explanatory.
Honestly, there is only one reason you should feel remorse for your dying plants: if you didn’t take proper care of them.
If you don’t water your plants enough, or neglect them, they will obviously die.
If you are too busy to care for plants, don’t buy them.
If you are too busy to care for plants, but still like having them around, make sure you buy low maintenance, drought tolerant plants or ones suitable for beginners.
There are plenty of options out there!
6) lack of humidity
Like improper lighting, lack of humidity is unlikely to kill your plants.
It will cause your plants to feel and look miserable and shrivelled up, but it won’t kill them.
Many plants thrive in high humidity, but the majority of them will do just fine in the average home.
It all depends on the climate you live in and plant species you have. It also depends on the seasons, as in the shoulder seasons we don’t run the heat and air conditioning systems that dry the indoor air.
If you live in a dry home, I recommend increasing the humidity around your plant.
There are a few strategies you can adopt to increase the humidity levels around your houseplants. You can choose one, or combine a few of them together.
- Using a plant humidifier. There are several products available on the market. I really like this ultrasonic cool mist one from Amazon.
- Misting your plant daily. I mist all those plants that thrive in high humidity, such as Marantas, Monsteras, Alocasias, Stromanthes, Calatheas, Fiddle Leaf Figs, Strelitzias, Ferns, Pileas, Peace Lilies and my Norfolfk Pine.
- Grouping your plants by species. Grouping plants together will help them raise the surrounding air humidity levels.
- Using a tray filled with pebbles and water. Filling a saucer with small pebbles and adding water so that it barely reaches the top surface of the pebbles, helps maintain higher levels of humidity around the plant. However, it is important that the bottom of the pot is not submerged in water with the roots stagnating in it. This will cause root rot in the long term.
These are pebble trays filled with water that use for my Ferns. I also mist them regularly.
Now that we’ve gone through the basic aspects of why your plants are dying, there are two additional, yet fundamental aspects to consider.
Nobody ever tells you about these.
Why?
I am not sure.
I suspect that nobody tells you not to buy plants that are not meant for your climate because it will hurt their sales.
Nobody tells you about plant’s lifespan because they don’t worry about you needing to care for a plant for decades, as long as you buy their trendy plant and read their basic plant care Blog.
wrong species for your climate
I don’t know where you live.
Perhaps you live in a tropical region and can buy all the latest trends in the plant industry and be successful with it. I am happy for you. Really, I mean it.
But I live in Central Canada. Summers are short and winters are harsh.
It’s a miracle I can move a plant from my car to my friend’s door without frost damage in November, December, January, February, March and sometime even April! I am serious.
That means we pump forced air heat like crazy in winter. Our home gets between 30% and 40% humidity. Clearly, all the rare and precious latest trends in tropicals are not going to work for me. What’s crazy is that our stores are still selling them because of the demand!
These plants need an insane amount of humidity and special conditions to thrive. Personally, I don’t want to have an enclosed climate-controlled cabinet for my rare plants. One thing is misting my plants. Another is to build a nursery for them.
I have a husband, two kids and two dogs. My hands are full.
It’s really not meant to be.
When you buy the wrong species for your climate, they die.
That’s the biggest problem.
My poor Calathea. First she got a serious issue with the lack of humidity in our home, then she got infested by Spider Mites.
age of your plant
Your plants can also die of old age.
It sounds weird, but it’s true.
Plants, like humans and animals, have a lifespan.
Depending on the species and how well (or not), you care for them, can last for several years.
I have a few treasured plants I’d be devastated to loose because they’ve been in our home since I moved to Canada back in 2004. (20 years at the time of writing).
I lost a few of them and wondered why because they seemed healthy. Then I considered how long I’ve had them for…A decade, maybe more?
To give you some examples;
- Peace Lilies, Spider Plants, Snake Plants and Pothos can live anywhere between five and ten years.
- Aloe Vera anywhere between five and 25 years, if properly cared for.
- Christmas Cacti, believe it or not, can live past their seasonal galore and go on living for decades.
- Jade Plants are the classic Feng Shui Plants that are passed on from generation to generation, living anywhere between 20 and 70 years!
- Fiddle Leaf Figs, once you find their perfect location, can live for decades!
- Rubber Plants can live between 10-20 years.
- Orchids seem to frail but can actually live for decades too if properly cared for.
If you have reached any of these milestones with your plants, or even surpassed them give yourself a pat on the shoulder. You should be proud of yourself.
There is no reason for you to feel remorse for your plant’s death. It is understandable you feel sad after so many years, but its death was caused by its lifespan, and there’s nothing you could do about it.
(Except for trying to propagate a stem or leaf from the original plant?)
This Ponytail Palm has been with me for 20 years. (I bought it at the Home Depot)!
I hope you found these tips helpful to prevent your plants from dying.
My biggest hope with this Blog, though, is that you stop feeling remorse for sick and dying plants.
It happens: it is even inevitable.
So please, do yourself a favour: next time one of your plants looks miserable and you have tried to cure it with no success, let go of it.
Take it to the trash bin and take a deep breath. You’ve done your best.
Out of sight, out of mind!
Cheers
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So helpful! Thank you xo