Three mistakes you might be making as new Plant Parent

    With my journey with houseplants, I found three major mistakes that I was doing as a beginner. I still make a lot of mistakes and it's a constant learning process. 

Everyone says that ZZ plant is a great indoor, hardy and easy to care plant. But my ZZ died because of root rot 😢 Reason was very simple. I potted it in ceramic planter with garden soil and coco peat mix. On top of that I kept it indoor and was watering it every week. There was no way this poor plant would have survived 😓 

I made all the mistakes possible. So majorly, light (ofcourse 😋), soil mix, pot type and watering makes all the difference.

1. POT

I did not pay much attention to pot type and size earlier. This beautiful N'joy pothos rotted because the white planter had very small draining holes. Soil mix was absolutely fine, but since water was staying at the bottom, the roots rotted eventually (Although I spotted it earlier and managed to save this plant ✌). 

For a beginner, I feel nursery pots and terracotta pots are the best. Water will drain well and dry up quickly. 

Also, pot size should be according to the plant size. It will ensure that plant is getting right amount of water. A small plant in bigger pot would not be able to absorb all the water, and a bigger plant in small pot would be under-watered.

2. SOIL

Soil mix should be according to the plant type. We should not use high moisture retaining soil mix for succulents. They would rot if soil is not drying up well. 

So, researching a little bit about the plant type and making a soil mix accordingly really helps. 

Especially for indoor plants, as they might not get good sunlight, having well draining mix is my go to soil mix. 

3. WATER 

Chances of plant dying because of over-watering is much more than under-watering. Plants can tolerate less water upto some extent and they would bounce back when watered properly, but would mostly die if they are staying in overwatered soggy soil.

Earlier, I used to water without checking the soil and without knowing water requirement of the plant.

You don't need to have a watering schedule, just checking the soil and watering when couple inches of top soil is dried, is more than enough. 

These small little changes have helped me with caring for my house plants better. 

I hope this blog would help finding the reason for your house plants that might not be doing well and help you to take better care of them.

Let me know in the comments what mistakes you have done as a new plant parent.