Look What Happens When You Don’t Water Plants

Hi Judy,

We are looking after a friend’s apartment with lots of plants – and although we followed her instructions on watering them once every fortnight – a few of them seem to be on their way to plant heaven. Neither of us have a very good track record with keeping plants healthy – they always seem to die on us, but we are not sure what we’re doing wrong. The hanging plants look dull and droopy with some leaves yellowing and others brown and lifeless.

Hi Tom,

I think the plants are extremely under-watered (which is much better than being over watered). The two hanging plants are a pothos and a spider plant. You need to take them out of their decorative pots and put them each in a deep saucer of water. Allow them to sit in the saucers of water for 15 minutes, refilling the water as it is absorbed through the drip holes in the bottom of the pots. The plants should perk up by the next day. You will have quite a few yellow leaves that need to be removed, but the plants themselves will recover.

You can read all my care tips for a pothos and a spider plant in the Popular Houseplant section of the website.

https://www.houseplant411.com/houseplant/golden-pothos-how-to-grow-care-epipremnum-aureum

https://www.houseplant411.com/houseplant/spider-plant-how-to-grow-care-guide-airplane-plant