Plant Care Basics

Small mushrooms in a pot usually mean one simple thing: fungal spores were already in the mix, and warm, damp soil let them grow. … Read more

Most old potting mix doesn’t need replacing, it needs rebuilding. Pull out the dead roots, flush any salt crust with water, then work in … Read more

Sticky residue on houseplant leaves is almost always a sugary film of honeydew, the sugary waste that sap-sucking pests excrete after feeding. In a … Read more

Neem oil works indoors because it is gentle on the plant once it is diluted properly, and unforgiving once it is not. The label-led … Read more

Spider mites clear up in three to four weeks if you isolate the plant, wash the leaves, and spray the undersides with insecticidal soap … Read more

Thrips are tiny slender insects, usually 1-2 mm long and shaped like a grain of rice, that rasp the surface of leaves and suck … Read more

To acclimate a new houseplant at home, give it one to two weeks of bright indirect light, hold off on fertilizer and repotting, check … Read more

What to do when you bring a plant home from the store is mostly restraint: look it over, keep it away from your other … Read more

To get rid of fungus gnats in houseplants, you have to hit two targets at once: the small dark adults flying around your pots, … Read more

Houseplants drop leaves for one reason above all others: something changed and the plant decided it could not afford to keep every leaf. Watering, … Read more