The Number One Reason Your Houseplants Are Dying

How to keep your houseplants from dying.

One of my most commonly asked questions is about our plants! It never fails that I’ll get messages or emails about plant care when I share a room that has one in it. 

Today I’m sharing the biggest mistake I find so many are making when it comes to their house plants. 

Over the years of honing my plant growing craft, I’ve figured out the one big thing that keeps our fiddles leaf trees and other house plants thriving: 

And it’s probably not what you think! 

Sunlight is important of course…that varies quite a bit depending on the type of plant. 

Fiddles love sunlight! I’ve found over the years that they don’t love direct light, ours (actually all of our plants) tend to do better with indirect light:

I find fertilizing isn’t necessary in most instances — I don’t do it a lot. Maybe once a year? In general ours do better in the summer months and go dormant in the cloudy, winter months with shorter days.

I also don’t add anything special to the soil to help it drain — half the time I leave the plant in the pot it came in for a year or so!:

I know many think the more water the better, but if you’re plants are struggling, you’re probably watering them way too much. People are always shocked when I tell them I only water my fiddles every two to three weeks…sometimes longer!

And each time I don’t give them as much as you’d think. My largest plants get two cups of water at the most:

Obviously smaller plants get much less. 

If you’re having problems keeping your plants alive, I’d be willing to bet the amount of water you’re giving them is the culprit. I know it goes against what we feel is right — it just feels good to water them often, right? 

But overall indoor plants will do much better when you either wait longer between waterings, or water much less once a week. Your houseplants will thank you!: 

Once I learned how little the fiddles needed, I started putting all of our plants on the same watering schedule and guess what? They THRIVED. 

It really hasn’t mattered what plant it is…they’ve ALL done much better with way less water: 

The only plant I’ve found that needs to be watered more than every two to three weeks is the fern. I find them to be finicky, but overall even with those I water less than I used to. 

Pretty earth-shattering, eh? I think most plants do much better when you ignore them a little bit. Of course they like to be talked to once in a while. 😉 I think we tend to care for them too much and that’s the biggest reason many fail at growing healthy houseplants. 

Do you have any great plant growing tips you’ve found helpful? Do you water your plants a lot or a little? 

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