10 Houseplants I’m Killing (by mistake) 

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I bought a calathea about 6 months ago without doing any research before. I found out immediately when I got home - it was already in poor condition because some unhealthy leaves were trimmed off and some yellow crispy edged leaves were hidden underneath. After some research, I almost confirmed it might not go well this time. BUT, it’s doing pretty well and even better till now, and it’s still looking great in this winter - all new leaves are very pretty and healthy. No more crispy edges or yellowing leaves!!! I just gave it the right amount of water, and it is the only plant (no more room for another one) lives in my bathroom with a window. It’s a warm, humid and bright spot! And I live in Atlantic Canada. We barely have problems related to dry air but always need to use dehumidifiers in summers. I guess it depends on not only the conditions in your home, but mostly the climate in your area.

I put my tradescantia in a very shady alcove more by accident than design and wow, it's a totally different plant now, healthy and full.

A quick and simple way I catch spider mites early is by spraying a fine mist on the leaves (over and under). The fine water will land on the web to quickly reveal (as you stated) the web of terror. Side note: webbing contained to within a lead is usually spider mites, whereas webbing extending between different leaves is likely a regular spider looking for a gnat meal. 🪴

You are terrific. What a blast to watch your comedic talents in action! Not only are you brilliant, you're very entertaining!

When my begonia started struggling like you described, I discovered they were infested with soil mealy bugs. I took cuttings, sprayed them with neem oil, and put them in water only to grow new roots. After repotting, they are taking off! Just beautiful.

It is so refreshing to see you share your struggles as well as your successes. About the Marmite, never heard of it until today. Sounds gross, but found they sell it in Canada, so I just might try it.

My Birkin was my first in my collection and it's doing great. No problem with reversion of the color of leaves. I keep it under a grow light, water it when it's dry, feed it worm casting tea, and there is a humidifier in the room and a fan blowing to keep air circulation. It's with my begonia which is gorgeous! the begonia is doing great because I water it often, like every 3 days or when it's dry. It is under the grow light too so all the same conditions as with the Birkin. My Zebrina is nearly dead. I've lost 3 calatheas now. I just took my medalion that is nearly dead out of the soil to check the rhizome and it is a little soft, like a potato that has been around a wee bit too long. It's supposed to be firm. I replanted it anyway to see what would happen. However, my little Zebrina doesn't have a rhizome but it's roots look good so I'll see if I can regrow it. I think I gave them too much light. When I moved it to a low/med. light, the one Zebrina seems to have stopped it's downward spiral but time will tell. However, the medallion is probably lost but I won't quit on it yet. I wanted that first plant you showed, "Moses in the cradle" but now, I'm having second thoughts. Thanks for the video. I love your teachings. I've learned so much from you! Thank you. I've had houseplants for 50 yrs. or more but these new tropical plants weren't around in my day so I'm a newbie when it comes to them. You have helped me a lot!

It's nice to see that we're all not perfect I hope all your plans get better sending good vibes your way

That’s one good thing about aquarium plants They’re already completely underwater so you don’t have to worry about overwatering them💯

Had the same problem with my birkin. Repoted it and now it's fine.

Thank you for your honesty 🙏🏼🕊💚 🙋🏻‍♀️Good luck to all of us for our journey of being good parents of our plants😅🙏🏼🍀🐞💚

Most of my plant I have i bought in sale which had most dead leaves. Some bought for me 50 p but they are doing so well now and growing so well

Sorry i got distracted, great channel by the way!! thank you for your effort and much-loved honesty

Ugh, totally agree with you about the calathea. I still love it, but it’s not reciprocated! It hates me! It’s not been happy from week 1 , 😑

I live in semi tropical area so I can observe different plant behaviours during high humidity months and dry months. calathea don't care about humidity as long as they are overwatered= the bottom tray is always wet. And they hate being indoors, they can't even stand a week indoors tradescantia doesn't care being in full sun or part shade once they are clumped together, they are a happy ground cover but they don't seem as happy in pots. Difenbachia type that you have is indeed quite tricky. Other varieties are more forgiving and joyful, they are happy in part shade and doesn't mind being over and under watered. Orchidastrum and begonia, I don't bother with them as they don't even look happy in nurseries!! I often see them dying slowly in hardware stores.

Hey cool video (as always). Love that you also share your struggles, I can personally relate to some degree. Having killed 3 calatheas, I have now given up with them even though I find them so beautiful. A video suggestion could be a bounce back from this video or some kind of collection of tips you got from comments/messages. As plant enthusiast we are never short of cool useful tips.

Very informative video. A new subscriber.... Yes , I've lost a birkin, still have another one in a terracotta pot doing well in a north facing window, loves soil to be moist. A lush peperomia orba that died back to one sad branch (not from lack of trying on my part) a small cathalea called Maria that has lots of brown crispy edges,regardless of the humidity it gets, an diffibachia that struggled no matter what care I provided. And lastly, I'm learning that the pink nanouk plant is getting a lot of crispy leaves, very temperamental. Good thing for cuttings. I try my best to save those plants, but now I try to focus my energies on those plants that do well for me in my home environment. 🙏😊

I had the same problems with all my begonias, also with the philodendron birkin.Try to treat your diffenbacia like a calathea, that worked just very fine with mine. It even blossomed. Means, a shady spot, regular water, let it stand without contact to leaves to other plants (it seems not to like it) and spray it once a day with water. As I got my cat, I had to give it away because it is extremely poisoness.

Thank you very much for the video. I just watched this and moved my Dieffenbachia further away from my south-facing living room windows, I'm having the same problem as you had. Moved my Aloe vera further back as well (tip from another video of yours) I bought my Philodendron Birkin in mid-December 2022, for now, it's doing really well about 50 cm from my living room window (south facing) 🤞🏻 I had four Begonia Rex variants a year ago, now I'm down to two. I think they got too little light where I originally placed them, and two of them were too far gone to save Take care, and good weekend to you and yours... and everyone here 👍🏻

I’m having trouble with your first three. I overpotted my Birkin which led to overwatering. I’m getting the mushy new leaves but I have stopped losing mature leaves so I’m hoping we are recovering. I’ve read Peperomia like to be super snug in their pots so I’m thinking it wasn’t completely ready to uppot. Mine like to be super dry so not sure more water will help. I would probably downpot yours. Begonias and Calathea just need to be avoided in my opinion 🤣. Although the cane type and angel wings tend to do well in my care. Good luck and give us an update.

The same problem as everybody.i tryed an elongated pot and make it crawl to the, other side.then turn the pot around,to make it crowl back and so on.

Sometimes I think our problem plants have DNA problems or a sickness that I call a mutant disease. I have some that no matter what it acts ugly giving me yellow leaves, spotted leaves etc. I chalk it up to the plant and not to my care. I even dump the soil and change the pot in case there is something them causing the problem. 🌿

I had a similar problem with my Birkin, except the leaves would come out completely white and then eventually get brown and mushy. My guess is that similar to how sometimes the leaves will come out half-variegated, the plant sometimes gets "too variegated" and decides to produce only white leaves which will eventually die (or die before they come out) because they don't have any chlorophyll. Out of frustration I chopped off the top part of my plant that had the white leaves and it reverted back to its beautiful variegation. I did not change anything else about how I care for it. I chopped off the top about 3 months ago and it now has no issues and 4 new healthy leaves.

I have had my Calathia Zebrina for a couple of years now and it loves the spot it's in, which is about 2 meters from an eastern facing windows on my kitchen floor. It does get those brown leaf edges at times when I have let it get too dry. One of my favourite plants which measures around 75 cm in width. Unfortunately, I also have, and, had plants that don't like me too!

Thanks for another informative video!!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🧡 My son moved far away and left all his plants with me, so I am trying to not kill them!😩Some of them are still adjusting to my home, so I hope they will still be alive when he visits me for the holidays!🪴🪴🙏🏽🤣

LOL! love the honesty my friend. Yes, your so right some plants are just pains but like anything if it was easy everyone would do it. Has to trads yea to much sun and to much moisture i just cropped hard one of mine with brown spots, it no longer lives with my other plants and gets better air circulation and far less light. I have two Calathea`s The Triostar live on my tropical fish tank and two weeks in it`s still looks great, (I know early days yet.), the other has some brown tips to leaves but i think as they are older leaves its from using untreated tap water when i get lazy! As for Dieffenbachia mine was and still is a baby plant, id have more luck grown stones. it seems to be getting better but it really is like pulling teeth, i think i under watered it at first then over watered it but its getting late in the year so im not sure if ill see much now? My new problem is my Adansonia it started getting brown spots so i potted it up its growing well but these spots keep turning up? any ideas?

You use mixture of compost and perlite to all your plants. I feel that you are over fertilizing the plant. Think over it. Try adding cocopeat and soil to the mixture. I have heard almost every where that calathea prefers distilled or filtered water. Tap water makes its leaves crispy. I saw improvement in calathea when I started using filtered water. Give a try. You are my plant father. I can't see you struggling. I follow every tip of yours. Bottom water is helping me and my plants a lot. Keep up your good work sir. 😃

I am currently struggling with my begonia rex plants. I purchased four around the same time. Two of them completely died, one is hanging on, and my escargot begonia rex seems to be ok. I just purchased a moisture meter at my local garden center this morning as per your recommendation. It has totally changed how I'm watering my plants today. The moisture meter is a complete eye opener. I'm also struggling with my Schefflera umbrella plant. I thought I may have over watered it because the leaves are falling off and I only purchased it about two weeks ago. Because of the moisture meter, I now know that over watering was definitely the case. I'm still a bit unsure about watering from the bottom with some of my plants. My "rabbit's foot" fern was really suffering until I decided to water it carefully from the top. She's perked right up since then. Good luck with your spider mites!

I have a very fussy dieffenbachia that appears to be on its deathbed yet again. I'm about one more dropped yellow leaf away from tossing the whole thing in the bin! (Yours looks actually better than mine! )

You said it your self.tap water does damage.whith some plants sooner then the other but in the long run.

We've just come back from Norfolk 😁💚 hope the sun was shining.

In my experience, Begonias like the one you have are not easy because their leaves like the air to be humid, but the roots do rot quickly, if kept too moist or even wet. Mine got brown and crispy leaves from too much sun in an east facing window, but since I have put it in a more shaded place, I find it quite difficult to adjust the watering accordingly. Fortunately, they are easy to propagate from leaf cuttings... 😉

I love begonias too, my absolute favourite ( after my Hoyas :) ) but IV found they like bright light and regular watering, your right they are super thirsty no worries about over watering with them lol i noticed you have them in a clay pot they will need more water being potted in those :) hope that helps and your beautiful begonias blossom 🌸

I needed this video..I repotted a root bound pothos yesterday and it was in bad shape..I had to trim roots and separate the plant..I hope I didn't kill it

The tradescantia grows along the ground rooting itself as it grows. If the stems get too long, it suffers. Keep the stems fairly short

I don't understand my jade plants. Once I bring them back from the nursery, the leaves slowly turned black from the edges, shrivelled and dropped off one by one. I watered them from the bottom when the soil was dry and gave them morning sun for 5 hrs daily. They simply decided to die anyway.

With the new red, idk how long it’s been, but treating should be every few days for a couple of weeks to get any hatching or they’ll surely return! In the meantime, take to the shower & give it a good rinsing all over & under every leaf & stem. Regular showers is the best preventative since systemics don’t work (though lifesaving for mealy bugs!!) and check the other plants you’ve mentioned here, as they spread easily & quickly!!

My philodendron birkin is my favourite plant, because when I first started out it was the first one I never worried I'd kill! She's always got at least three new leaves growing, usually more, even in winter. She gets constant sunlight - she's about three metres from both west-facing and south-facing windows (I'm in Australia). On hot summer days I have to lower the west-facing blinds in the afternoon to avoid my apartment from boiling, but the south-facing window stays open. When I got her, she only had very dark leaves with the faintest lines on them, but over time the variegation has gotten whiter and whiter, and the leaves are getting larger. I water her once a week, have only ever fertilised when repotting, and haven't pruned her other than removing the occasional rotten leaf. I feel your pain on calatheas! Mine is on her last legs right now and I've just moved her again in hopes that different light might help. Fingers crossed she makes it!

W the peperomia, if the pot was too big before, definitely is now! So bottom watering isn’t good…either it’s not getting enough water because it has to draw up so far, or staying wet too long because there’s too much wet soil for that little plant to use up efficiently. You can always plant in plastic nursery pot & drop it in your terra cotta pot for better aesthetics. That’s what I do w a majority of mine now~even if the plastic pot is smaller, just hide it w soil in the bigger pot. I’d switch to watering from the top again for a bit unless you repot again. Still, if it was young, it’s roots are shallow so they’ll get watered better from the top. I went thru a similar issue w that plant, but ultimately figured out it wanted less water more often~wanting to barely have the surface dry before more, but not pouring enough that it soaked to the bottom. Pouring a little very slowly. As it starts rebounding significantly you can slowly increase. While bottom watering is great for some plants, it’s definitely not best for all plants!

Oh I was watching to see what to do about my orange green plant. It used to be huge and bushy with two stems and babies growing. I repotted it and gave the babies away. Ever since then it hasn't been doing well, I now have one stem with two small leaves, I was looking for help! I've had it for years and no idea what has happened.

Going to comment as you go plant by plant because it’s so much~1st is your nanouk…you’re correct that they don’t like water ON the leaves, but not true about them being succulent like or not liking humidity. As they’ll easy prop in water, & can, in fact, live solely in water, so def not like succulents in that aspect! I live in South Carolina, so May-Sept Isas humid as anywhere on earth, w levels commonly in 90s-100 & temps the same!! Most of my plants move outside under a ginormous Crepe Myrtle, either hanging from branches or on tables under w their location varying from a side that gets tons of direct am sun, to mostly shade w dappled sun breaking thru the leaves, or where there’s direct late afternoon sun & they ALL love it & thrive. I grow mostly aroids…lots of monstera varieties, philodendron, aglaonema, Syngonium, pothos, Epipremnum, scindapsus, etc, but lots of tradescantia, snake plant, spider plants, hoyas, calatheas, & several other, w succulents & cacti also, which obviously need drastically different conditions most of the time. Water on the leaves, as you already know, causes damage~though you mention bottom watering quite a bit, if not just ensure you’re watering low directly into soil~tradescantias are also fabulous prospects for semi hydro w leca, like calathea, because they like more water than ppl think. But nanouk is definitely quickest to show lack of water damage. Idk what your meter is recommending, but in general it wants to stay moist consistently~2 inches shouldn’t be dry before watering. Enough water should solve the problem but if not, more humidity.

My Fiddle Leaf Fig was doing so well and putting out new growth FAST. It was drooping to one side to I pruned the top and ever since then it declined fast. :( I'm pretty sure I overwatered it. Or maybe because I cut it down it wasn't able to reach the sunlight like it did when it was taller? I don't know. It lost all it's leaves, but I still have some cuttings in water so maybe there is still a chance to bring it back.

Good Plant Food For Thought🤔... And SO I Subscribed!!!

I have a huge Diffen. panther plant. I have it right by the window but the window has blinds I keep the blinds open but... I got tension bars and put in white sheer curtain in the window behind the blinds. This works !00% on keeping my leaves from getting too much light. When I water this beast I take her to the kitchen on a cart put her in the sink and keep running water through her then let her drain in the sink for a 1/2 to a hour. Move her back on the cart and wash down all her leaves giving her a spa treatment of sort just to always look her over then return her to her catch pot. I water her at around 6 at night closing off the window before hand so she has a long span of time so her leaves dry before the next morning.

4:05 I think the problem with that Dieffenbachia is that it doesn’t like to dry out! I’ve found that matte/velvety leaf dieffenbachias like more consistency than the shiny leaf dieffenbachias that like to dry out and then get a good soaking.

I live in a South Indian village, near the sea, My calatheas that were struggling and drying up on the portico surpringly picked up well when I demoted them to the back garden , under a big metal tray , 3 feet high, filled with episcias( flame violets ) and pothos.There they are drenched in the summer rains and surrounded by snakes, mongooses, bandicoots, frogs etc. There are some six types, thriving for the past six months or more. I had to repot them in gravel and sandy soil and water them twice a day. A trick that our nursery people advise us is to use antifungals for any plant that is not thriving well. I use Saaf ( mancozeb and carbendazim) occasionally when ever leaves rot and start falling off.

I also wouldn’t rely on a moisture metre for determining watering either. They are notoriously unreliable . The finger test or simply picking up the nursery pot and seeing if it’s light or heavy is a really good way to see if they need watering.

I have two tradescantias. The one in my window is doing fine. The one in a terrarium is brown and crispy. I don’t think it likes humid air.

Your P. birkin may be suffering from slow root rot initiated when you first overwatered it. Maybe a repotting with removal of the rotting roots and use of hydrogen peroxide can still save it. Alternatively, do all that but put it in water instead for a while.

For the zebrina for sure you need to use distilled water . It does not like minerals. There are other plants that cannot stand tap water because of the minerals - for example chlorophyllum and all the prayer plants. Also when reporting you need to. Use a soil low in minerals as well.

Hi Richard....sorry about your new red philo and the mites....yikes...what a bummer....sad about your Birkin too....your new red should spring back....your Birkin hopefully too....the thrip are the ones to go bug my philos....calatheas are out for me except the makianna, and rattlesnake....and I do have one more making a comeback...I thought I had them all in control but so many have died...I just need to stop buying....when the plant is mature...they do better for me.....thanks for the video on struggling...I think we all have a list :) my marantas are being stinkers for me right now!! At least we can struggle together.

The diefenbachia is tricky. They look like they should get a lot of light, but I dont think they like having all that much of it. My father brought me a bundle of cuttings about 4 feet long, canes the thickness of my wrist, wanting me to propagate them. I thought he was nuts. I trimmed them down to 3-6 leaves each and 2.5 feet of stem, staked them, to keep them from topping over, in old, bone dry outdoor bedding mix in a 5 gallon planter. Added possibly 3 gallons of water to hydrate the dirt and put it in the shade of a curtain of a whack load of other plants, approximately 8 to10 feet from a North-East-East window. Misting it twice a day at forst(on the advice of a horticulturist friend of mine to help support the protective wax) and removing the bleached leaves (it would receive maybe 1.5 hours of direct sunlight at sunrise) is the extent of care it received afterwards. After 1.5 months new leaves formed. 2.5 months later, i found 3 flowers among the new growth. I havent moved it, gets watered probably more frequently than it should, and it is freaking thriving! I discovered the baby df i had purchased the year before seemed equally content in a similar arrangement in the adjacent room whereas it was extremely tempermental if i placed within 4 feet of that same exposure window regardless that the light was never direct on it.

Calatheas in general I have such a love hate relationship with. By far the prettiest plants I own, but after buying the biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen from a local plant parent my house is FULL of fungus gnats. Ended up having to do a full repot to kill their eggs and now she's having a tantrum wilt. Hoping it's temporary. 😑 Another one I regret is my verigated pothos, never had a plant sunburn so easily. Even in a west facing window with ~3 hours of direct light they get peppered with sunspots. Hopefully I'm never foolish enough to invest in something like a verigated monstera!

The chlorophytum I’m a little unsure about because again, haven’t had any issues, but 2 things….looks like a large plant in a fairly small pot~could be root bound? If so, even upping the water may not have been enough. A root bound spider plant will drink waayyy more than you’d think! It would need watering every other day probably. And the brown/yellow tips are usually from that. If watering from below, not a problem, but water in between leaves will cause similar issues. 2nd thing is possibly salt build up? I saw at least 1 video where you addressed chemicals in water, so I’d think tap water isn’t the issue, but just in case, leech it really well, whether it’s sticking in the sink & flushing w plain water or using a diluted vinegar mix. Or it could need fertilizing, but extremely diluted. Humidity shouldn’t be a concern & they love sun~though too many changes in a short time will continue to stress anyway, so put back near the window w the birkin after checking roots. Then figure out how much water in that sunny spot.

I keep the first plant (I call inch plant) inside my fish tank. So they like water for sure. I think aged water may be the key, chlorine and flouride can burn tips

The orange green plant is part of the Spider plant family. I give all my spiders water from a filtered Brita pitcher. By filtering the water I do not get brown tips to their leaves. I wonder if* this plant too being in the Spider family those black spots might be a sensitivity to the water? You might trying using filtered water on her for a month experiment and see what happens.

My diffenbachia has been doing good since I put it in a self watering pot!! I also keep it in indirect light! I killed my previous one!! They are tricky indeed!! My philodendron birkin has been doing good as well! I make sure not to overwater it!!

My calanthea was stuggling before I took it on the floor Out of direkt sunlight and forgot it in underwaterin pot. Tadaa. Now it's liking it's inhabitant and I'm nyt moving it anywhere :).

Sorry to hear you are still having those black spot issues with your green orange! (Hope you enjoyed Norfolk at least! Its where I am from!) My green orange is so easy. Its sits in a fairly dark spot and doesn't need much watering, its been putting out some new growth! I find my 2 dieffenbachias don't want much light so are far from windows in the shadier part of the house and seem quite happy. As for my disasters both my crotons are recovering from spider mites, not sure the smaller one with make it but I'm keeping everything crossed for my bigger one as she was one of the first plants I got! I've managed to kill 2 begonias I picked up reduced. I think they had been overwatered to try and bring them back in the shop and turned to mush and died. I have a love hate relationship with my begonia maculata some days he seems happy others not so much! And the least said about my white fusion right now the better, she is just 3 sad leaves right now!

The Zebrina is the same as most calathea….consistent moisture is imperative!!! And often high humidity, requiring a humidifier & not just grouping or pebble tray. For this reason, after suffering thru many gorgeous calathea struggling or dying, I move them all directly to leca in an inner pot sitting in a couple inches of water in an outer or cache pot. I know others use self watering pots, but soil needs to be airy so it doesn’t get soggy & choke roots. Leca has been my only way to be successful w calathea after moved in for winter. They love it outside in summer regardless but my husband isn’t fond of recreating tropical conditions inside for some reason 🤷🏽‍♀️

I have the same problem with my Philo Birkin. It was shooting healthy new leaves like crazy. Then all of a sudden NOT ONLY did it start producing stillborn leaves, BUT the other mature, healthy leaves started falling off too ! 😭 It used to be super bushy with 20+ leaves. Now it's down to 3 and I'm desperately trying to keep it alive. I've stopped watering for now.

If your Calathea has browning on its leaves, along with your other beaut that is thirsty… put them in the humid bathroom with indirect light. I saw some mineral build up on one of them. For these beauts it’s important to only use rainwater OR distilled water. When watering and light are not in question an they still don’t seem happy try adjusting their humidity.

Diffenbachia are tricky. Either you’re great with them or not. I have a super healthy one that lives in a west facing window (mainly indirect light for most of day, however direct sun for maybe a few hours). I only water when completely dry, or when the leaves droop slightly. So far (a few years now) she’s been doing great! Funnily enough, I’m terrible at Chinese evergreens, one of the plants they are often compared to.

How weird..... I have literally found out this morning that the blackening leaves on the orange spiderplant is a natural process as the plant pushes out new leaves, so just keep removing them. My biggest issue with some of my plants currently is over-transpiration at night causing the leaves to lose their chlorophyll and to try and combat this I'm leaving fans on and reducing the amount of water they receive at the time of watering so it's just a case of monitoring now. In the last week the natural levels of humidity have shot up and it appears to be having a negative impact on lots of my thin leaved plants. I had to put my Birkin into a self-watering pot as it started to do the same as yours (previously in a chunky aroid mix) and that has helped. I watered it through the inner pot without leaving any water in the reservoir for the first six waterings then started with just filling the reservoir after that and it has definitely picked up. On the New Red have you noticed the striped brown markings on the petioles? I had this issue and thought it was Thrips as I was battling them at the time but I have since found out there is a type of soil mite called a Broad Mite that does this damage; they also do the same leaf damage as Spider Mites but without the webbing and are harder to get rid of. I have found Diatomaceous Earth or Sulphur powder to be the only thing to beat them. I hope these things help you and you succeed in getting your other plants to recover.

I see that you use a moisture meter but I found that my readings weren’t always accurate. I have the same one, but found my finger gave me a more accurate reading. So I ditched the meter. I have my Birkin in a terracotta pot with a well draining chunky soil. I only water when the top few inches are dry and I’ve had great success. I almost ignore it and I never have a problem. Same for my dieffenbachia. I actually have my plant in a sunny spot and it’s giving me lovely new leaves every week. I don’t own any of the other plants you named so can’t offer any information on those. Don’t give up! 🌱

Spider mites I treat with "Captain Jacks Dead Bug Brew" I isolate that plant and keep treating it for like 3 weeks. Then I take hydrogen peroxide and pour the entire bottle over all the soil in the pot and let it bubble up killing anything living or in egg form in the soil. Then too I also take Dawn's dish soap and wash down all the leaves...

I have had trouble with njoy pothos. But I still keep buying another one because of it's beautiful variegated leaves. In my opinion thick leaved plants are less fussy like snake plant, zz plant etc.

If you finally kill off your Dieffenbachia, invest in a Aglaonema. They look very similar but are way less finnicky ;)

Peperomia, I'm probably spelling it wrong but you get me, probably reacted to the repotting because it was too big of a pot. I believe they prefer to remain more on the dry side and when you added the extra soil around it, it wasn't able to absorb the water from the soil around it. I've got a peperomia I have no idea the variety, it is doing great in the pot, I barely water and it's a tiny 2 inch pot. It's more on the succulent side of plants than one which needs or wants a lot of water around it. Just my thoughts and my experience, but I live in Texas, USA, lots of heat and sun here. Killed many a peperomia in my years of being obsessed with plants. They can be very hardy or boom dead and not really tell you what you did wrong! Hoping you got yours happy again since making this video. Thanks for all your insights!

Good luck bro lol...I have the same issues with my begonia

That just happened to my Nanouk! I just cut it all up to prop it into new plants. My plan is to bottom water the mother plant from now on. I had gotten water (and mosquito bit tea as I'm fighting fungus gnats) on the leaves and am sure that hurt the plant.

These are almost all fungal issues that can be fixed with a topical or systemic fungicide

In my experience, you can never overwater plants in terracottapots. Maybe your peperomia needs more water. I would suggest that you really give the plant and the pot a good soak. Good luck with your plants🌿🌱

My Dumbcane Dieffenbachia plants do not like bright light. Definitely not sunlight and even dislikes artificial light if pointed directly on them or too close to leaves. Receives about 12 hours of indirect low light.

I would try it in Leca. Many plants I have trouble with, I take a cutting - or buy a small one - and try it in Leca. I am being pleasantly surprised with a lot of them. My Diffenbachia sits in front of a window - not on the sill but a table in front of the window. it looks great. I don’t water it until it is bone dry and the leaves are starting to look a little bit lax. I have another one in Leca and guess what… growing like a weed. So is my Calathea (sorry😉) An absolute bonus is way less pests. Yes there is the bug of having to flush them and give them fresh nutrient every few weeks but I think having the guesswork taken out of watering is the top reason I like growing my plants this way. I’m having trouble with my bonsai ficus ginseng and Pachira Aquatica with the leaves turning yellow. I use a moisture meter for watering so I don’t have a clue what’s wrong. Any suggestions for me?

dont worry, I have similar experiences, plants do not last long in our conditions, since there would be no gardencenter any more

The Birkin I’d need a little more info on its other conditions but I’d start w checking it’s roots & make sure there’s no rot. How long has the new growth done this? Any other damage? Idk what type of substrate you’re using but it could need more aeration? May be staying wet too long? Last initial suggestion is give more light. I have a couple & have rehabbed several w no issues at all, but they love lots of light! They like a lot of water too, but I use a custom substrate of coco bark, large perlite, pumice, worm castings, charcoal, & a hemp meal replaced coco coir because it has more minerals & nutrients. No peat moss & no typical planting soil~though you can add enough to soil to make it less dense, in general it’s not great for aroids as it’s often too wet or too dry.

I'm done with tradescantias - I've had quite a few large hangers as they're often cheap here, but all those crusty brown leaves that you have to pick off constantly was annoying me to no end. Nothing helped. I also just finished killing off a birkin :( it was absolutely stunning when I bought it, no problems to perceive, however they were suspiciously cheap - I think it' because the seller(big box store that always has an excellent plant section) knew it was a pain in the ass to take care of and if they don't sell them out fast, they will loose their good looks and will have to go into discount pile

You can kill the spider mites with 70% isopropyl

Oh it is the twilight zone for me. Tradescantia, Birken, difenbachia, orchid (any and all kinds), begonias (any and all) and calathea (any and all). These are all plants I’ve owned, could not make thrive, and now I refuse to replace. I have over 100 plants, so if they want to play games…. We’ll I don’t have time. ❤❤ Don’t worry. Some plants are harder to thrive.

So sorry for your struggles..I personally cannot keep any plant with the names calathea, fern, begonia or spider in the name 😔

Anche il mio filodendro aveva i ragnetti rossi,per eliminarli ho immerso la pianta al contrario in una bacinella di acqua e pulito tutte le foglie. 🤞🤞🤞

I have a dieffenbachia (Vesuvius to be exact!) and it is doing really well, was my first plant to the collection and I have had it for 3+ years, all it has is 3-4 hours evening sun (if isn't raining in sunny ol' England) and medium light the rest of the day. variegation is great, growth is amazing, considering I don't feed it, only problem I had was it was getting a bit top-heavy so I had to stake it, but that's it really, hope this helps!😃

I feel better. I have most of the same plants and I seem to have the same problems. Except my Birkin. I killed my first one within 2 weeks. Eventually I bought a different one, from a different nursey, and it's done great and is getting BIG. It's on the floor by my grow shelf. I'm scared to move it, so I haven't. I have noticed it has lots of tan spots now that I'm not sure of... maybe fungus or those extrafloral nerctury things. I can't find bugs so, IDK.

Again, not quite sure what you’re using to gauge w your meter, but looks like under watering on the Dieffenbachia for sure! They also like very consistent moisture & only the top inch or so should be dry but the soil shouldn’t be dry entirely

I would check some of your plants for thrips, some of the photos of the bad leaves looked as though they had tiny white specks on which is what the young form of them look like and they are rife in summer months. They cause yellowing and browning on leaves.

I have always rot the trandescatia. 3 or 4 times after that I'm over it

My Birkin leaves always start turning brown around the edge when matured. I've had it a while now and still can't figure it out. The 2nd one Trans something has been down to a couple of stems but is making a comeback now.🤷‍♀️

Re: pepperomia I made the same mistake. Mine is doing better since I repotted her in a plastic pot. Re: calathea - have you tried distilled water?

My rhizomatous begonias have all died, my cane begonias are doing amazing, not sure what the difference is in the two. They get full light from a grow light and are next to my humidifier.

I killed my begonia within a week of taking it home :( I feel like I probably repotted it too soon and possibly overwatered. Argh! I also can’t seem to keep my jade plant happy.

That Peperomia get it outta the terra cotta you want it in a plastic liner pot. You want a good mix of fast draining soil perlite, orchid bark, cactus soil, charcoal, worm castings. I find Pepperomia thrive for me in plastic liner pots I recycle from nursery pots I can periodically lift then to see if they are light and in need of water but then I can hide them in cute catch pots. Never use pots that are un-glazed on the inside they suck away all the moisture protect your plant with using plastic then you have no worries of what's going on inside that pot.

I had 2 of the first plant in your video - they looked amazing for quite a while then…oh dear…I tried some good tips from a YT gardener but nothing saved them - I hope you have better luck with yours. Also had a problem with a dieffenbachia - the only time it ever picked up was when I had to go away and put all my plants in the bath for my friend to come and water. As soon as it came out of that environment it slowly deteriorated (it’s now deceased) - so maybe yours needs more humidity?

I just tossed a diffenbachia same type same issue. I moved it about the house for different light changed to more water and repotted idk didn’t like my house

I have a poor begonia that got overwatered and/or got its leaves wet, and I've been battling some sort of fungus ever since. The leaves start to die, the stems go mushy, and nothing seems to help. It's a common enough problem, apparently, but it is making me sad.

I agree that calathea is not for beginners in general. However I have zebrina for couple of years and I find her way easier than most of other once. I have around 20 different once and some of them can be really fussy, specially yellow fusion.

This may be picky, but I wonder if leaf tip/edge browning issues are connected to the water source you have? Some water treatment facilities use chloramine in place of the more typical chloride. Both serve as sanitizing/antibacterial molecules in our drinking water, but contribute to a salt burn on plants’ roots and may negatively affect beneficial bacteria in potting medium. Chloride will dissolve into the air after sitting for 24 hours, but chloramine is more chemically stable and will not.

I just threw away my Nanouk after saving 2 healthy leaves to root and repor! Maddening plant indeed

I'm on my 5th Dieffenbachia! I've tried different areas, soils, fertilizers/no fertilizers, and too much water, or not enough water. Always within 2 wks they start to go down hill, this is the last one! 😉