Indoor plants can perish for a number of reasons, but the key reasons are too much or too little light, too much or too little water. Lack of humidity, the wrong soil and food, and incorrect temperatures can all combine as well, to cause a plant to get weak enough to be attacked by bugs and diseases.
Light is a variable that is difficult to pinpoint. How much light a plant needs is often a guess unless information on the plant tag indicates.
Even then it is a matter of deciding where the plant will go. Bright light to one person might be low light to the trained eye.
Plants should always be located as near a light source as possible. It is always surprising to me when someone asks me for plants that can grow in the dark. Save for mushrooms and fungus, no plant can survive in the dark. Some last longer under these circumstances than others, but they all will have a short shelf life.
Leaf drop and yellowing leaves, and stretching or sprawling branches are all signs of low light. If the situation is not corrected, it will eventually kill the plant.
Just as unfortunate is the plant that is placed in full sun when it really requires shade. Leaf scorch and fading leaves occur in these conditions. The plants will turn crisp and dry up but can be revived if moved soon enough. Unfortunately, the dried leaves and branches are lost, and this ultimately changes the look of the plant, and sometimes so much so that the symmetry of the plant can be lost forever.
Watering is key to the health of a plant. Over-watering kills a plant faster than any disease, and it is difficult to downright impossible to bring an over-watered plant back to health.
Safer's Oxygen Plus is useful in reviving some plants that have deteriorated, but much of the time over-watered plants wilt and are soon dead. If you over-water your plants consistently, try planting them in clay pots. Clay is porous; it breathes throughout the pot, unlike plastic.
Under-watering can be just as hard on a plant. Keep plants watered regularly on a consistent basis. Depending on the light, you may have to check daily to see approximately when your plant is beginning to dry out.
If you are in tune with your plants, you will see the changes before the plant collapses. In the case of succulent plants, when they feel plump, they do not need water. Even if the soil is dry, refrain from watering them. When the plant feels soft or lacks turgor, it should be watered.
-- -- Canwest News Service
