How many houseplants do you kill?

[Gabitule]

I know the title is a bit weird but I didn’t quite know how to put it…

I have around 20-25 plants in my house. Some are easy case such as snake plants and others more difficult to grow such as rarer Alocasias.
I make sure not to water them too much (I use a moisture meter) and that they have enough warmth, light and moisture. However, every so often, my plants die! I feel like I’m not doing anything different but out of the blue they start losing leaves etc and die. The internet is full of contradictory reasons for this (eg too much water, too little water, too much light, too little light). Is it me or is it them? 😀

What percentage of your plants die every year?

(a few examples just over the last year)

• I’ve had a prayer plant (maranta) for the last 3 years, grew beautifully but recently its leaves started going yellow and crinkly. I checked water levels, etc. looks like I can’t save it.
• my philodendron started developing brown spots- a fungus I guess. I took cuttings before it died but the new plants are also developing the same brown spots. My friend bought one at the same time as me, hers is beautiful.
• alocasia - also developed brown spots, couldn’t save it
• begonia polka dot leaves started to crinkle up and fall. In the end the plant lost all of its leaves.

Try moving them to a different position, sometimes that's all they need.

I will get lynched for this But we just switched to plastic ones. IKEA do some fairly realistic ones as long as you don't look TOO closely.

But I do think, sometimes it can be the quality of the plants in the first place or the quality of the soil. Are you repotting them when you get them? In our last ditch attempt to keep a real plant alive we did this and it did last much longer than the previous ones but we aren't consistent enough to keep up with them, so we did lose it eventually.

As many as I buy 😭

going on hols they don’t like it and when I come back there is always one gone

Not sure about this. Some have been moved, others haven’t. Still dying :(.
I repot them, use rain water, fertiliser them occasionally.
I always buy plants when very small as it’s cheaper so it’s Very upsetting to see them grow and then die.
If my Alocasia jacklyn dies I’ll be distraught.

None, since I moved to fake succulents.

And before? Don’t say all 😀. Rate/ number per year would help

I don’t know but I think one of mine of 10 yrs is a goner… can they die of old age??

2/10 every 1-2 years

Too many for my green heart to handle.
I've decided that if I buy the same thing and it's dies more than 3 times then it's not happy in my home and I won't buy it again.
So far all the ones I have are happy with a little neglect so that's the way I keep it!
Although super sad because 3 of my cactus have decided to give up the ghost after years of thriving. Sigh.

I've got a cheese plant that a friend gave me as a cutting a few years ago. I remember to water it about once a quarter, have never repotted it and it's still only got 5 leaves but it's determinedly alive.

I also have a spider plant on the kitchen windowsill which is surviving on steam and the occasional half cup of water. It's the child of the child of the child of a friend's plant. Friend's plant is thriving, the other two generations (which were also mine) are dead.

Apart from those two, they always die as I'm so neglectful. I feel guilty buying plants now so only have ones that are given to me.

Honestly, all of them at this point. I couldn’t deal with fungus gnats this summer so I tend to not keep plants moist or near windows anymore. It sucks but I’d rather not have to bat flies away every day

I can look after orchids but most other plants don’t stand a chance. I’m much better with outdoor plants.

I keep killing cacti..... Weird, as they are supposed to be indestructible. I think I am overwatering tbh. They get really tall, with fat bulbous tops, then just keel over.

The small round super spiky ones are fine, it's just the tall ones. I'm not great with succulents either.

I have about 45 in total and lose about 3-6 per year. Weirdly they can be happy for a few years and they give up. Like you I take proper care of them but sometimes they just decide to decline.

I have the same issue, but if you think about it, bringing plants into your home is already an artificial and unnatural environment for them, so they're at a disadvantage from the off.

There are all sorts of things that affect plants and all you can do is look up and follow the care instructions for that particular plant as closely as you can - remember each plant is different - and try not to buy them in the first place if they are not well suited to your home environment.

Yes they can, but all of mine who died/ are dying are young

I killed Steve. He was one of a pair of dragon plants. Got my bottles mixed up and misted him with isopropyl alcohol. He belonged to my OH who was a bit sad. This was nearly ten years ago. Brother Kevin is currently propagating about twenty babies tho.

I only have peace lily's and they are very good at letting me know when they need attention.

This is making me feel a bit better. You are obviously a massive plant lover if you have so many plants, so if yours also die (not just of old age) then perhaps I am not doing something terribly wrong.

What your favourite houseplant? :)

I had a little collection of cacti and succulents. Was given a new one. That quickly died and all my originals also died one after the other like dominos falling. The interloper must have brought an infection of some sort in with it that quickly spread.
Sounds like something similar has happened to you.

That’s most likely from overwatering. Every time I check my cacti soil with my moisture meter it shows me that they have enough water even though I barely water them

Awww, I know how it feels to get used to seeing your plant in your house year after year and then to see it become sick and die.
I ask my sick ones out loud in frustration ‘’what is wrong with you, why are you dying’’ 😀
(they never answer 😔)

DD & I developed somewhat of a houseplant habit over covid and have nearly 100 of various types & sizes now.

Quite a few have died, sometimes I can work out why, sometimes not.
I seem to have worse luck with expensive ones, DH bought me a lovely large monstera which lasted about 6 months before half of it died, the £15 Ikea one has now outstripped it!

Have you checked for bugs? That has accounted for several of my loses, I now spay liberally at the first sign of the little buggers.

Alocasia do periodically seem to die off, if you cut them back and have somewhere to stick them while they look ugly they will often grow back.

I struggle with the spotted begonia, I have one that is fabulous, (touch wood) but I have had several die on me for no apparent reason.

However if I buy a plant and enjoy it and it lasts longer than a bunch of cut flowers (so that's pretty much anything) I count it as a win!

Also as we have no more space I'm trying to restrict myself to one out, one in, so every loss is an opportunity 😁

Weirdly spider plants hate me, got any tips?

I have a near 100% kill rate of plants. I just have to look at them and they seem to die.

Although I can grow very good weeds 🤦‍♀️😂

I feel your pain on this. My mum can grow anything from a tiny cutting!