137 useful answers · Page 4 of 6
Understand light, watering, repotting, and indoor plant care.
Search this topicMoney trees can produce large flowers in suitable outdoor tropical conditions, but houseplants rarely do. A healthy indoor Pachira grown for its foliage does not need a flower to demonstrate good care. Provide appropriate light, warmth and drainage rather than trying to force flowering with heavy fertilizer. Check its identity too, because the common name money plant is used for several unrelated houseplants.
Check light, humidity and soil moisture together. Low humidity, insufficient light or mix that stays too dry can contribute to brown tips and loss of lower branches. Provide a bright position and water thoroughly when the surface becomes dry, letting excess drain. Use a humidifier if the room is very dry. Avoid compensating with constantly saturated soil, which creates a different root problem.
Give it a bright location and rotate the pot regularly so one side does not receive all the light. Iowa State suggests weekly rotation. Check that the container is stable and that the trunk's lean is not caused by loose roots or physical damage. Improve inadequate light as well; turning a plant around does not make a dim room bright enough.
A broad, firm base is normal for Beaucarnea recurvata and stores water. This plant is a drought-adapted succulent, despite its common name, so let the mix dry between thorough waterings and reduce watering in low-growth winter conditions. A soft collapsing base is different and needs investigation. Use a well-drained mix and bright light rather than treating it like a moisture-loving tropical palm.
It needs a sustained short-day, long-night routine as well as healthy daytime growth. Minnesota Extension suggests sixteen hours of uninterrupted darkness and eight hours of bright light daily beginning around late September, continuing until late November. Keep the plant at suitable temperatures and water appropriately. Room lights during the dark period can interfere; simply putting it in a dark closet all day is not the same treatment.
Remove the decorative foil or outer container before watering so excess water can drain freely. Water in a sink, let the pot finish draining, and return it only when the wrapper will not trap water around the roots. Check the soil surface and pot weight rather than letting it wilt repeatedly. Decorative packaging can hide standing water even when the nursery pot itself has drainage holes.
On a healthy schefflera, prune a stem just above a leaf attachment to reduce height and encourage a more compact form. Use clean tools and make deliberate cuts rather than shearing randomly through the leaflets. Keep it in suitable medium-to-bright light while it regrows. If stems are weak and leaves are yellowing, check light and root conditions as well as the shape.
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Schefflera foliage can show cold damage several days after exposure. Move it away from an air-conditioning outlet, cold open window or other draft and keep conditions stable. Check moisture normally without adding extra water to compensate for damaged leaves. Dead areas will not regain living tissue. Monitor new growth and inspect for pests if the pattern continues despite a stable warm location.
Use a clean, airy propagation medium instead. Garden soil and compost can contain pests or pathogens and may compact around a cutting before it develops roots. Choose a medium that balances moisture with air space, in a clean container with drainage. Match moisture and humidity to the plant type; a succulent cutting and a soft leafy cutting do not need identical conditions.
Use division only for a plant that naturally forms separable clumps or offsets. Remove it gently, identify sections with their own shoots and roots, and separate them with your hands or a clean cutting tool. Replant promptly into appropriately sized pots with suitable mix. Keep a single-stem plant intact if it has no viable divisions; another propagation method may suit it better.
It uses a healthy leaf with its attached stalk, called the petiole. For suitable plants such as African violets or some peperomias, insert the stalk into moist airy rooting medium so new roots and plantlets can form at its base. Keep the leaf above the medium and provide suitable indirect light. This method is species-dependent; an arbitrary leaf from any houseplant will not necessarily produce a whole new plant.
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Treat it primarily as a foliage plant. Seed-grown avocados usually do not flower or fruit in ordinary indoor conditions, and reaching fruiting size can take many years and considerable space. A warm greenhouse may improve conditions without guaranteeing a crop. Growing a seed is an interesting project, not a dependable grocery supply.
Watch for roots emerging from the drainage holes and move the plant into a container only slightly larger when it needs room. Use a freely draining potting mix and maintain suitable moisture. A much larger pot is not automatically better: it can stay wet around a small root system.
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RHS recommends shortening a healthy seedling’s main stem by about half when it reaches roughly six inches, cutting just above a leaf. Later tip pinching can encourage further branching. Provide good growing conditions while it recovers, and use clean sharp tools; repeated cutting will not compensate for an unsuitable dark location.
Yes. Take a healthy young leaf in spring or early summer and cut it crosswise into sections about two inches long. Insert each section’s basal end into a moist, free-draining propagation mix. Keep warm in good light with a cover for humidity until rooted plantlets develop.
Some Cape primroses naturally shed the ends of their leaves during autumn or winter. A defined line can develop across a leaf before its tip yellows while the base stays green. Trim dead tips; investigate wet soil or spreading basal rot separately rather than assuming all browning is seasonal.
Choose a wide, relatively shallow pot with drainage, only a little larger than the current rootball. Repot in spring when needed rather than moving it into a much deeper container. Extra wet mix around a small root system can create problems, so pot size matters as well as light.
First identify it. Indoor florist azaleas, usually Rhododendron simsii types, are frost tender and differ from hardy garden azaleas. In a cold climate, keep yours as a container plant. It can spend suitable warm weather outside in light shade, but bring it under cover before frost threatens.
Use a mix intended for acid-loving plants, often labeled ericaceous, and avoid alkaline additions. If repotting after bloom, increase the container diameter only modestly. Water with rainwater where possible, particularly in a hard-water area, and keep the roots moist without leaving the pot waterlogged.
If the rootball has dried through, immerse the pot in water until air bubbles stop rising, then remove it and let it drain. Do not leave it soaking indefinitely. Afterwards, monitor the potting mix closely; indoor azaleas should not repeatedly dry out completely between waterings.
Give it a cool, bright winter rest around 50°F, watering sparingly without letting the mix become completely dry. As spring growth and buds develop, move it somewhere warmer and brighter and increase watering. An established, slightly crowded plant is more likely to flower than a recently disturbed one.
Usually not. Clivias dislike unnecessary root disturbance and can remain in one container for several years. Repot when roots are tightly crowded or emerging through drainage holes, commonly every three to five years. Use a slightly larger pot and keep the leaf-producing neck above the potting mix.
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Wait until all flowers in the cluster have faded, then cut the entire spent flower stem at its base. Wear gloves because the sap can irritate skin. Leave healthy leaves in place; routine clivia care does not require cutting back the whole plant after its flowers finish.
Check the light first. Too little light can prevent anthuriums from flowering, while harsh direct summer sun can scorch the foliage. Move it to bright indirect light and maintain warmth. The colorful display is a modified leaf called a spathe surrounding the flower-bearing central spike.
Source checks for these answers: September 22, 2026. Product instructions and local requirements can vary.