Is Your Houseplant Dying? Do This 60 Second Check First

If your plant is sitting there looking personally offended by your existence droopy, yellow, crispy, dramatic take a breath. Most “houseplant deaths” aren’t mysterious. They’re usually one of three very unglamorous things:

1. watering issues
2. light issues
3. your home’s air being weird (vents, cold windows, bone dry winter air)

And the fastest way to stop guessing (and stop panic watering… which, ask me how I know, is a hobby that kills plants) is a stupid simple soil check that takes about a minute.

Let’s do the plant triage.

The 60 second dying plant diagnosis (aka: stick your finger in the dirt)

Yep. Your finger. Not an app. Not vibes. Not the phase of the moon.

Push your finger about 1 inch down near the edge of the pot (not right at the stem). Now look at what you’ve got:

• Soggy / muddy / heavy soil: you’re in overwatering territory, or the pot can’t drain, or both.
• Slightly moist, like a wrung out sponge: this is the “normal” zone for a lot of common houseplants.
• Bone dry / crumbly: underwatering, or the soil has turned water repellent and is basically refusing to cooperate.

Two bonus checks that tell you a lot:

• Lift the pot. If it still feels heavy days after you watered, that soil is staying wet too long.
• Smell the soil. If it smells sour, musty, or like rotten eggs… I hate to say it, but that’s an emergency. Roots are suffocating. (Plants are so dramatic. Same.)

Now let’s translate what you found into an actual plan.

If the soil is wet but the plant is wilting: you might be drowning it

Here’s the rude truth: overwatering and underwatering can look the same at first. Both can cause wilting and leaf drop. That’s why the soil test matters.

Signs it’s too wet

• Yellowing leaves (often the older/lower ones first)
• Leaves that feel soft or kind of translucent
• Mold on the soil surface
• That funky “something’s rotting” smell

The plant droops because damaged roots can’t take up water, even though there’s plenty of it. It’s like handing someone a smoothie while they’re underwater.

What I do when I suspect root rot (no heroics, just triage)

1. Stop watering. Immediately. Step away from the watering can.
2. Check the pot setup. Does it have drainage holes? (If not… we found your villain.)
3. If it smells bad or stays wet forever: slide the plant out of the pot and look at the roots.
   • Healthy roots: firm, white/tan
   • Rotten roots: black/brown, mushy, slimy, or they fall apart when touched (ew)

If you’ve got rot:

• Trim off the mushy roots with clean scissors.
• Repot into fresh, dry-ish mix in a pot with drainage holes.
• Don’t water for a few days (usually 3-5). The roots need air more than they need another drink.

And yes, it feels wrong to not water a sad plant. But watering a plant with rotting roots is like “treating” a kitchen fire with more grease.

If the soil is dry dry and the pot is weirdly light: it’s thirsty (or the soil is hydrophobic)

Signs it’s too dry

• Crispy edges or tips (the plant version of chapped lips)
• Soil pulling away from the sides of the pot
• Drooping + dry soil (very different than drooping + wet soil)
• The pot feels like it’s full of packing peanuts

How to water so it actually works

If it’s just dry:

• Water slowly until it drains out the bottom.
• Wait 5 minutes.
• Water again. (That second round matters dry soil can repel water at first.)

If water beads up and rolls off like your soil is wearing a raincoat:

• Bottom soak it. Set the pot in a bowl/sink with a few inches of water for 10-20 minutes until the top of the soil looks evenly darkened.
• Then let it drain well.

A lot of plants perk up within a few hours after a real soak. (Crispy bits won’t magically turn green again, though. That ship has sailed.)

Soil seems fine? Then it’s probably what your plant is “seeing” all day

Light problems are sneaky. A plant can sit in the wrong spot for weeks looking “fine-ish” and then suddenly decide to flop like a Victorian fainting couch.

Not enough light looks like:

• New growth is smaller and paler
• Stems stretch toward the window with long gaps between leaves
• Variegation fades (your cute striped plant turns boring green)
• Flowering plants… stop flowering

Too much light looks like:

• Bleached patches or crispy brown spots
• Damage is often on the window facing side (like a plant sunburn)

My lazy light test (no special tools)

On a bright day, put a sheet of white paper where the plant sits and hold your hand 12 inches above it:

• Sharp shadow: bright/direct light (succulent territory)
• Soft fuzzy shadow: medium light (most tropical houseplants are happier here)
• Barely there shadow: low light (snake plants and ZZs will tolerate it. Many others will sulk)

Fix it with one move, not ten.

Move it closer to a brighter window or back it away from hot sun or add a sheer curtain to match orchid cactus light needs. Then wait 10-14 days before you decide it “didn’t work.” Plants don’t do instant feedback.

Your house might be bullying your plant (vents, cold windows, dry air)

I once had a plant that looked “mysteriously” crispy… until I realized it was basically living in front of a heating vent like it was auditioning to become jerky.

Heat / vent stress

• Wilting even when soil is moist
• Curling leaves
• Scorched edges

Fix: move it 3-5 feet away from vents. (Yes, feet. Those blasts are intense.)

Cold window stress

• Dark patches, purpling, mushy blackened spots
• Stunted growth after a cold snap

Fix: keep plants 6-12 inches away from cold glass in winter. And if you’ve got cold damage, wait a few days before you prune so you can see what’s truly dead.

Low humidity (aka: winter indoor air)

This usually shows up as:

• Brown, crispy tips/edges
• Extra crankiness in winter

If you want to help:

• Group plants together (they make a tiny humidity neighborhood)
• Use a small humidifier (best results, but please clean it weekly mold is not a vibe)
• Pebble trays help a little, but they’re not magic

Skip misting. It’s a 30 minute pep talk at best, and it can encourage fungus if you’re consistent enough (which most of us are not).

The pot might be the problem (drainage, root bound, “cute” containers)

Let’s say this gently: a pot with no drainage hole is a decorative object, not a plant home.

Red flags in the setup

• No drainage holes = water can’t escape = swamp roots
• Saucer full of water for hours = roots sitting in soup

After you water, dump the saucer after about 10-15 minutes. Let the plant drink, then take the bathtub away.

Also: that “put gravel in the bottom” advice? It doesn’t fix drainage. It usually just creates a soggy zone where roots go to cry.

Root bound clues

• Roots circling the top or poking out the bottom
• Water runs straight through like the soil can’t absorb anything
• Plant dries out ridiculously fast

Fix: repot into something only 1-2 inches wider with fresh mix, and gently loosen the circling roots. Bigger isn’t always better too much extra soil holds too much water.

If the basics seem right, check for tiny freeloaders (pests)

If you see sticky residue, weird speckles, webbing, cottony clumps, or tiny flying gnats… congratulations, your plant has roommates and pet safety symptom lookalikes can confuse things.

Quick ID:

• Mealybugs: white cottony fluff in leaf joints
• Spider mites: fine webbing, especially under leaves
• Scale: stuck on brown bumps on stems
• Fungus gnats: tiny black flies hovering near soil

What I do:

1. Rinse the plant off with a strong spray (especially under leaves). Repeat every few days for a couple weeks.
2. Mealybugs/young scale: dab with 70% isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab.
3. If that fails, use insecticidal soap or neem (follow the label, don’t freestyle this).
4. Fungus gnats: let soil dry more between waterings, and you can do a soil drench with 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide to 4 parts water.

Spots that spread fast? Could be disease (and “wet vs. dry” matters)

If spots are multiplying even though you fixed watering/light, think fungus/bacteria.

• Fungal spots: more dry/papery, sometimes with yellow halos, usually slower
• Bacterial spots: wet, mushy, often spread fast and look angular

Basic care that helps either way:

• Remove infected leaves (cut at the base)
• Increase airflow
• Stop misting
• Water at soil level, not over the leaves

If you’re cutting multiple leaves, wipe your scissors with alcohol between cuts. (Yes it’s annoying. Yes it matters.)

And if the crown/center of the plant is turning to mush… sometimes it’s okay to stop performing plant CPR.

Can your plant be saved… or is it time to take cuttings and move on?

Here’s my very unscientific but extremely practical “is there hope?” checklist:

1. Stems: do they bend a little, or do they snap like dry spaghetti?
2. Roots: are there any firm white/tan roots left, or is it all brown mush?
3. Green: does the plant still have some usable leaves/growth, or is it basically a stick?

If you’ve got flexible stems + some healthy roots + some green, I’d try to revive it.

If you’re missing most of that, I’d do the kindest thing: take cuttings from any healthy parts and let the rest go. Pothos, philodendron, monstera, tradescantia, begonia these are the plants that will root from a few nodes and spitefully thrive out of pure determination.

If you’re tossing a diseased plant, bag it for trash (not compost) and wash the pot before reusing. A 10% bleach solution works just rinse well afterward.

A few “helpful” things that actually make recovery worse

If your plant is struggling, please don’t:

• Fertilize it. Weak roots + fertilizer = burning what’s left. Wait until you see new growth.
• Water just because it’s drooping. Drooping is not a direct request for water. Check soil first.
• Repot it for fun. Repotting is stressful. Only do it if you’ve got rot, awful drainage, or serious root bound issues.
• Move it every two days. Pick the best spot you can and leave it alone for a couple weeks. Constant relocation is basically plant whiplash.

My simple “don’t spiral” recovery plan

When a plant looks rough, I do this in order:

1. Finger test the soil.
2. Fix watering/drainage first (because nothing else works if roots are unhappy).
3. Check light next.
4. Then look at vents/cold windows/humidity.
5. If it’s still declining, inspect for pests and then consider disease.
6. Make one change at a time and give it a little time to respond.

Also: if it’s winter, be extra patient. Plants move slower in low light and short days. Sometimes they’re not dying. They’re just… resting and judging you.

Now go poke that soil and tell me what you find.