By Plant

Monstera, pothos, snake plant, orchid — problems specific to each.

22 articles

• Snake Plant Falling Over: Rot at the Base, Too Little Light, or a Pot That Cannot Hold It

  A snake plant that stands up on its own is doing fine. One that leans or falls is either rotting, stretching, or badly potted.

• Aloe Leaves Drooping and Bending: Too Little Light, Too Much Water, or a Root-Bound Pot

  Aloe leaves should stand up and feel firm. When they lean and bend, the plant is telling you about its light or its roots.

• Rubber Plant Dropping Leaves: Water, Light, Cold, or a Move, and Which Leaves Fall First

  Rubber plants drop leaves in protest, and the protest is usually about water or light. The lowest leaves go first either way, so look at their colour before they fall.

• Snake Plant Turning Yellow: Soft Base, Pale Leaves, or Yellow Edges Mean Different Things

  Snake plants survive neglect and die of kindness. Yellow that starts soft at the base is the kindness.

• Fiddle Leaf Fig Dropping Leaves: Which Leaves Fall and What Was on Them Before They Fell

  Fiddle leaf figs drop leaves when they are moved, when they are thirsty, and when their roots are rotting. The leaf that falls carries the evidence.

• Monstera Dropping Leaves: One Old Leaf Is Housekeeping, Several Green Ones Is a Problem

  A monstera that loses one lower leaf a season is doing what monsteras do. One that loses three in a fortnight is telling you about its roots, its water, or its light.

• ZZ Plant Turning Brown: Soft Brown at the Base Is Rot, Crisp Brown at the Tips Is Something Else

  A ZZ plant is almost impossible to kill except with water. When it browns, the first question is whether the brown is soft or crisp, and the second is what the rhizome looks like.

• Money Tree Dropping Leaves: Wet Trunk, Dry Pot, Dark Corner, or Just Moved, Read From the Fallen Leaf

  A money tree stores water in its braided trunk and drops leaves when that store is either flooded or empty. The leaf that falls carries the clue, and the trunk base confirms it.

• Aloe Turning Yellow: Soft Yellow Is Rot, Pale Yellow Is Sun, and the Leaf Base Tells You Which

  An aloe leaf should be firm, plump and grey-green. When it goes yellow, press it. Soft yellow is water where it should not be. Firm pale yellow is light, one way or the other.

• Pothos Leggy and Sparse: It Is Reaching for Light, and Here Is How to Make It Full Again

  A pothos does not go leggy because it is unhealthy. It goes leggy because it is doing exactly what a vine does in the dark: reaching. The fix is light and scissors.

• A Failing Orchid: Look at the Roots Through the Pot, Not at the Flowers

  Most orchids people think are dying have simply finished flowering. The ones that really are dying show it in the roots first.

• Drooping Succulent: Stretching and Rotting Look Similar and Are Opposite

  One of these needs more light and no more water. The other needs the plant taken out of its pot today.