Problem library
Something is wrong with your plant. Start with the symptom.
Start with what you can see
Most plant problems announce themselves the same few ways, and the same symptom usually has two or three causes that look alike. Find what you are looking at, then check the one thing that separates them.
Yellow leaves, usually the lower ones first
Overwatering far more often than under. Roots sitting wet cannot take up what the plant needs, so it looks starved while drowning.
Check first: Push a finger two inches into the soil. If it is damp, stop watering and let it dry out before anything else. More on this
Brown, crispy leaf tips or edges
Three causes that look identical: underwatering, salt build-up from fertiliser, or dry air. The fix for each undoes the others.
Check first: Has it been fed recently? Flush the pot with plain water. If not, check whether the soil dries out completely between waterings. More on this
Drooping or wilting, soil still wet
Root rot. The roots have started to fail and cannot move water, which looks exactly like thirst.
Check first: Slide the plant out and look. Healthy roots are firm and pale; rotting ones are brown, soft, and smell. More on this
Leaves curling inwards or cupping
Heat or light stress, or pests underneath. The plant is reducing its own surface area.
Check first: Turn a leaf over. Fine webbing means spider mites; sticky residue means aphids or scale. More on this
White fuzzy spots, or a white powder on the leaves
Mealybugs if it is cottony and clustered in leaf joints; powdery mildew if it dusts the leaf surface evenly.
Check first: Touch it. Mealybugs smear; mildew wipes off and comes back. More on this
Tiny flies around the pot
Fungus gnats, which breed in permanently damp topsoil. Annoying rather than dangerous, and a signal you are watering too often.
Check first: Let the top inch dry fully between waterings — that alone usually ends it. More on this
No new growth for months
Not always a problem. Most houseplants pause in winter, and a pot-bound plant slows too.
Check first: Is it the growing season, and are roots coming out of the drainage holes? If neither, look at light before anything else. More on this
Still not sure? The same symptom means different things on different plants — yellowing on a monstera is not yellowing on a snake plant. Find your species below, or see which apps diagnose from a photo.
Most asked this season
The plant problems gardeners are searching for most right now.
Powdery mildew (1,680 plants)
A white dusty film in humid, still air — usually a spacing and airflow problem before it is a spray problem.
Root rot (4,330 plants)
The most common killer of potted plants, and almost always overwatering plus a pot that will not drain.
Mealybugs (1,588 plants)
White cottony clusters tucked into leaf joints. They spread fast between touching plants.
Spider mites (1,403 plants)
Fine webbing and stippled leaves, thriving in dry indoor air — the pest that dry winter rooms breed.
Aphids (1,576 plants)
Clustered on soft new growth and flower buds, leaving sticky honeydew behind.
Scale insects (1,121 plants)
Immobile brown bumps along stems that look like part of the plant until they multiply.
Failure to flower (522 plants)
Usually too little light, too much nitrogen, or pruning at the wrong time of year.
Leaf scorch & brown tips (1,552 plants)
Sun, dry air, or salt build-up from feeding — the plant is losing water faster than it takes it up.
Yellowing leaves (1,317 plants)
The most over-diagnosed symptom on the internet: far more often watering than feeding.
Not sure what you are looking at?
- Diagnose by symptom — start from what you can see
- How often to water — the root of most problems
- Humidity requirements — brown tips and crisp edges