I’ve been in the plant business for over 35 years. For most of that time, I owned one of the largest interior plantscape companies in Arizona. I, along with my 20 or so employees, installed and maintained the plants at over 600 homes, offices, and businesses. Now I’ve sold that company and spend most of my time and energy developing a houseplant website that helps our visitors learn how to identify and care for their houseplants. Here’s one of the most important things I’ve learned over the years; I don’t care what the plant problem is, most of the time water has something to do with it. Over- watering, under-watering, using water that has chlorine or fluoride in it, using water that is too salty because it has passed through a softener, all these conditions harm a plant.
If you are having problems with a houseplant, the very first thing to do is stop watering. An over watered plant dies quickly from root rot, an under watered plant might get droopy, but it will last until you decide what’s causing the problem. Check the watering requirements for your houseplants in the Popular HousePlant Section of my website, HousePlant411. If you don’t know the name of your plant, send a picture and description to me at: askjudy@houseplant411.com