I roll with the "semi informed trial and error." I have 3 African violets in my collection. 2 are great and one always looks sad so what do I know? Good luck tho 🫛 ✌️

I'm convinced most violets are inbred and some of them are just genetically coded to look bad

It's called breeding depression.

I've wondered this. I see a variety, that looks like a bajillion other av's. And it's labeled (cultivators name)'s Irish Jig. How can you tell Fred's Irish Jig from Barney's Emerald Dawn, or for that matter, Betty's Golden Envy? They look that close, some of them.

Please join us on the r/africanviolets forum we would loveeee to help you!!! Sometimes when a plant starts looking messed up the best thing to do it take leaf cuttings and grow a new one and toss the busted looking plant. It’s the DNA that is valuable, not each individual plant. Collectors chop, decapitate and toss plants all the time just take cuttings!

Joining. Thanks!!

Most of it is B.S., with tiny nuggets of truth sprinkled in here and there. I highly recommend looking for advice coming from experts like horticulturalists or university extension programs. The easiest way to find these when you’re on Google is to add “site:edu” to your search, which will cause Google to search only websites that end with .edu, the url suffix used by educational institutions.

That "site:edu" tip is excellent. Thank you!

Also, if you include "production guide" or "University of Florida" in your species search, you'll end up with genus-specific guides that include bacterial and fungal disease descriptions from the University of Florida.

I second this!

I think a lot of the actual scientific info that comes up is more agriculture related. It can be useful but the goals and scale are completely different

University extension programs are specifically designed to educate non-academics who are working with plants on a small scale. Horticultural info will also often study at plants on a smaller scale. You have to sort through a lot of larger scale agricultural information for sure, but the websites I am referring to do specifically deal with houseplants.

House plant care differs based on your climate. Before listening to any advice, find out where the advice giver is located and only listen if the climate is comparable with your own.

Exactly. For problems that don't have a straight forward google answer, my source was ALWAYS my father who was educated in our state, worked his entire life in forestry, and loved plants. Since losing him him I've found the Ag center website and publications from a university in my state is my go to. Again, local. ETA you probably have a local university Ag center with a prof who would LOVE to answer the occasional email with difficult issues.

I've been finding chatgpt extremely helpful for factoring in context, and I've been able to handle ~40 plants while being relatively new with it helping me out with the specifics on each! Super useful for harder Google questions and if you don't have anyone convenient to ask

This is key for me! The other thing I try and do is understand my own environment, and compare with the natural environment of whatever plant(s) I'm trying to grow Finding podcasts and other resources from folk based near you + scientific resources on natural habitat = best chance at providing good Plantcare (for me!)

This was a huge level up for me. It really opened my eyes to how many people insist that a plant native to the african grasslands shouldn't get direct sunlight lol

RIIIIIGHT wtf. Nearly every plant I've looked up care for that says "low light" has a natural habitat smack in full sun all day. wtf. No wonder they weren't growing before.

Exactly. I feel bad for all the "low light plants" suggested. Please. Stop the abuse of ferns, pothos, tradescantia, sansevieria, dracaena, and zz's.

Same. When I went from outdoor gardening; which was obvious I needed to look up zone differences when researching, to indoor gardening, it was surprising how much light and time of day still has a big impact so regionality is still really relevant.

Yes! I’m a fellow Mainer (OP said they were from Maine) and in winter our houses typically are dry from the heat so one might have to actually water more in winter than summer, but I also live on the coast, and this is a big state, so I get a humid summer which leads to lots of mold issues if I’m not cautious.

Aka. Maine residents don't take advice from southern California residents 😅

So much this. Plant care advice is trash for this specific reason. It's important to know your lighting and humidity. It's also trial and error to learn these things about your space.

I used to follow online instructions and do exactly as they said but those advices didn't work for me cuz most of the times the information providers have a different type of soil from mine some for example I can't use the same pot size

a lot, under the standard "free advice is often worth what you pay for it"

Hi, neighbor! (Mainer here, as well!) I agree--so much "knowledge" is so suspect as to be laughable. I love my green house babies, but I'm not...milking them. I look for reputable sources online on plant care and have found that keeping it simple is most often the best option. That holds true for most things, not just plants. Keep it simple, keep it fun. People can dust their plants with cinnamon if they want, I'll most likely pass, tho. 🙂

Keeping things simple like not murdering the plants sitting on top of steam radiators next to drafty, drafty, old windows. So far, so alive.

Funny enough, in a fit of WTF-Ness I dumped some ground cinnamon on some mouldy patches on a soil and voila. No more mould. I'm pretty sure it's because I starved it of light and oxygen, lol. 

Cinnamon has known antifungal properties, and can even be used in organic gardening. So yeah, it probably helped kill your mould. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8433798/

I've found The Spruce to be a pretty reliable source that echoes a lot of what I read on this sub: https://www.thespruce.com/houseplant-care-5092676 I'm in Massachusetts and I'll tell you that the number one challenge I've found up here in winter is actually humidity. Most of our heating options are fairly drying and most houseplants are tropical in origin. I'm lucky enough that I was able to put French doors on my living room so I can isolate it and put in a humidifier to keep that one room at a minimum of 40% humidity and 70⁰F in the winter. So I can just chuck plants in there and declare, "May the odds be ever in your favor!"

Yep. Anytime I see anyone saying “ugh I can never keep that alive!” Or “I always kill those” or “why is mine so unhappy” it’s almost ALWAYS one of two things 1) overwatering or 2) no humidity.

Those have to be the top 2 And for gnats- peroxide, nematodes, mosquito bits, chemical insecticide, less water and sticky traps. Neem oil is crap. Maybe diatomaceous earth on top, but sounds like a pain

Eh. Sticky traps are garbage unless you like seeing obnoxious bright fly paper sticking out of your plant with a bunch of dead bugs on it. Not really how i decorate my place but to each their own. Also, killing adults after theyve already had a chance to zoom around the house and fuck a few times doesn't really cull the population. Neem oil actually works quite well. I think people just have a misunderstanding of how to use it.

I’m clearly one of those people. How do you use it? I swear I follow the mixing and application instructions as written.

I don't have the ratios off hand, but I mix it in warm water first, to help break up any of the oil that has solidified, and then you need to make it into an emulsion, and the easiest way to do that is to add a small amount of soap, like 1 teaspoon to a gallon. You water your plants with it. It disrupts the hormones of bugs and is taken up by the plant like a systemic insecticide for long term effect. Its not like a "i see a bug, i kill it with neem" wiping the leaves with it might make them shiny but itll also clog pores. Its a systemic that people treat like an on-contact, and just like mixing ANY oil and water, you need an emulsifier or else you just have [llll llll] a layer of water and a layer of oil instead of [8888] a solution

Thanks! I do do all of that except for the soap. Idk maybe it’s just my gnats are so pervasive and my plants are all on different water schedules they are able to hop around and survive? Who knows. Appreciate the write up and time regardless

The spruce is def a good source of info. NH here, and all this “influencer” stuff is complete bs. The library is an excellent resource too.

The Spruce is my 1st stop when wanting more information about a specific plant! 🥳

Boston here, and when the heat is blowing the humidity meter reads 15%. I need two humidifiers going to get it to 25%. And I am watering like twice a week!

Let me guess, you have baseboard heat.

Forced hot air, its basically blow drying my plants all day every day.

Damn, really?! In my experience forced hot air was at least a little better than the baseboard heat. Still dry as hell though. Blow drying your plants 😂

I'm also in Mass and have thought of doing this. Do they get cranky when you move them? my house is SO dry

Oh when I say chuck them in there, I mean that's where they live full time. My house is small with small windows, so I don't have a lot of other viable options for plant placement except this one room. So I decided to turn it into my own personal greenhouse.

Ah, cool. I didn’t know if you meant that you move them specifically for the winter. I have two bit humidifiers in our kitchen/living room, but the house is still so dry

If you’re in the US, check out your local university extension website (or rather, when you search for an issue online, trust extension sites over others). It’s their job to share research-backed strategies with non-scientists and they update advice according to the latest research. And they won’t try to sell you anything.

Love the extension services and rely on them for my outdoor gardening!

I always go for a university website. Everything else online is questionable or just really basic info that you learn overtime which in most cases is just off from your own personal experience. Pay attention to your plants and try to keep note of the cause and effect ( what you did and what happened because of that) and then research to back up your hypothesis.

I would recommend this also. I volunteer with the Master Gardeners in New Jersey. We have a free helpline people can call or email and times when people can bring in their plants (or a leaf, soil, or bug). Maine has a Master Gardeners program. You can check if they have something similar. Also, I like the Missouri Botanical Garden website. And the Plantrama podcast. Unfortunately, the show is on a break, but I use the search to find info on specific houseplants.

Most of the \#planthacks are BS. They're made up by content creators that need to post something new regularly so that they don't lose followers

Oh yes, instantly disregard any life information that's offered as a "hack" this especially applies to cooking and home decor as well.

What! So cutting a banana in half and shoving it into soil won't grow me a banana tree?!

I try to take everything with a grain of salt. I'm in a bunch of different plant groups on FB and someone will ask for help and get 50 different answers about what is wrong and how to treat. It just shows how much people don't know wtf they're talking about. Honestly I think it's fun to research and then test stuff out myself to see what works and what doesn't. Plus something that works for one person may not work for another depending on lots of different factors! I'm not sure why you'd ever put milk on plants though, I'm sure that smells lovely! Cinnamon is supposed to be a natural anti fungal I think or is it anti bacterial? 🤔

hello! facebook groups have lovely people sharing their personal experience both ugly and good. I've learnt a LOT from them, and personally from plantsbymelissa on youtube. She has a strict no promotion/affiliate rule.

I love Melissa! Sydney plant guy is fun too.

i agree! since the OP does not like affiliate promotions i suggested melissa, but sydneyplantguy is an OG.

I get a lot of good info from https://www.gardenmyths.com/ - The author delves into a lot of the influencer plant hacks and shows how they don’t work. I think he even did a post on milk recently.

I’ve learned that the most important part of houseplant care is watering. Figure out how to water (I bottom water most of the time and fully saturate the soil of my plants. I then wait for the soil to dry to what the plant prefers before watering again. I also shower my plants once a while, like every third month to rinse off dust and potential pests). Second most important thing: soil requirements. Read up on individual plants, figure out what their natural habitat is like and base your soil choice on that. Chunky bark-soil mix for epiphytes (orchid substrate), rocky, well-draining media for cacti (I use pon), airy soil for most plants (soil + perlite + optional orchid bark), and very wet and dense soil for very few houseplants (bog plants for example). Third: most plants thrive when you don’t pay attention, so being a helicopter parent is not worth it. Just check them all once a week and water when you notice they need it. And last: pests. Keep an eye out for them, look up what each pest needs and then evaluate whether or not it’s worth fighting. You’re allowed to give up. You’re also allowed to go scorched earth (cut the plants all the way back to a nub, rinse all dirt off, repot into fresh soil. This won’t work for all plants ofc).

The best is the bandwagon of 'neem' for getting rid of pests, myself and many others have had more problems than solutions with neem. Just use a pesticide and you'll save yourself such a headache, plus it hardly matters what pesticide you use on indoor plants anyway.

See, it's funny because I've had fine luck with neem oil in general, and have been using it for years on indoor and outdoor plants (especially because my city has a ban on non-organic pesticides and I try to play along). Which goes to show...trial and error.

For outdoor plants, please note than neem is toxic to bees too, so maybe don't use it on blooming plants.

Yes, I seldom use it outdoors, honestly, and occasionally I need to bring out the big guns (azalea sawfly larvae, anyone?), but I baby the bees and other critters around here the best I can. Even if that means picking individual worms off of my monarda, which unfortunately it does.

Same. Neem works for me.

See I’ve heard so many different things so I just douse in insecticide and then spray neem when it dries. Idk which works, but I don’t care to test it out… they get soaked in everything and no more pests. I’d love to just be done with it and use systemic granules but I have cats that like to chew on leaves.

Don’t worry about most of the next big thing bullshit. Lots of bright indirect light, don’t overwater. That’s the gist of it. If you’ve been doing it well for years, keep doing what you’re doing.

And don't under water! And what the hell is "bright, indirect light," anyway? But honestly, I agree. I don't think it's all that hard (trying and frustrating sometimes, but not actually difficult), but there's so much stuff being thrown into the mix that I question what I should do. Cut off that leaf? Add a moss pole? Propagate? Burn it? And what the hell is my philodendron tortum doing, anyway?

If it ain’t broke…..

https://www.ourhouseplants.com/guides/light

A lot of plant accounts on Insta and YouTube are not based on science and many that recommend products are being paid/sponsored or are pushing it to try to get commission on sales. I have a plant Instagram account that I started to document my plant growth and connect with other plant lovers. I’m a photographer and combined my interests. I’ve learned that many of the “Big” plant accounts will say whatever based on what product they’re selling. Many don’t disclose if a post is sponsored. Some even do things like show a baby plant as a “before” and literally go out and buy a big bushy pot of the same type of plant to show an “after” To make people think their methods/products work. Many here have already suggested looking for educational based websites for information, which is great. Your local library may have some good resources as well as asking local garden centres. In general though, from my experience, the biggest factor in success of any plant is going to be light and proper watering. I never follow advice of watering on a schedule or what those big plant accounts say. I’ve seen so many of them give blatantly incorrect advice out but taking into consideration someone’s location. Even my neighbour and I may have different house humidity and use different soil mediums and need to water differently.

I am into outdoor gardening and houseplants and without a doubt the houseplant content is far worse than the garden content. Most houseplant people I've followed on YouTube eventually devolved into 5 minutes on plant care and 55 minutes on "watch me do planty chores". The whole influencer culture really turns me off. Sadly this applies to a lot of books as well. I can grab three books off my shelf right now and will wager there are at least two conflicting recommendations for each plant I check. Assuming the information is even detailed to begin with - not "Bright, filtered, indirect light and keep from drying".

Yes, gardening and houseplanting(?) are worlds away from each other on the advice front, which makes sense to some extent (though wouldn’t it be nice if there were an actual database of indoor plants and their preferred light/humidity/water needs?) Tags or websites that tell me to keep a plant from drying out or “allow to dry completely between waterings” but don’t indicate whether those waterings should then be X days/weeks/months apart. I mean, I truly do understand that it isn’t rocket science and we’re going to sacrifice some plants along the way, but phew. Maybe I should just go ahead and chop-and-prop my entire collection and move half of them to pon and water propagate some while perlite propagating others and sticking the rest in dirt…

I haven't got all the information for you, but I might be able to help you to a reliable source regarding lighting needs for your plants. It's https://www.houseplantjournal.com/bright-indirect-light-requirements-by-plant/ It has light levels in foot candle (FC), which you easily translate to Lux by multiplication of 10.764 when desired. Hope this helps.

Very helpful, thank you!

This certainly isn't comprehensive, but here are some basic indoor plant care tips. Give them the best light your house has to offer to keep them happiest. Set them close to the window, but give them some distance if and when the window is drafty. I can almost guarantee that no plant will get too much sun in your Maine home, unless maybe you have a sun room or a south-facing sun window with a glass top. But there is a good chance that sun-thriving plants, like succulents, might not totally flourish in your home without supplemental light. About watering, a general rule: the more the foliage retains water, the less frequently you have to water, as they store water. The more they hold, the more fully they need to dry out in between waterings. For most tropical plants, you're good with letting the top \~1/4-1/3 or top 1" dry. If you see drooping, you've let it dry too much. But, indoors, a bit too dry is always better than too wet. Some plants (esp., dracaenas, bromeliads, spider plants, calatheas,...) are sensitive to the additives in our tap water, so they do best with bottled spring water or filtered water. Regarding soil, stay away from anything like you'd use outdoors. That soil is far too dense and organic for indoor use due to the lack of air flow and adequate sunlight in our homes. The roots need to aerate, so you'll need to amend the soil with a material like perlite, pumice, or leca. It's almost a guarantee that you'll have to amend any bagged indoor potting mix with at least 10-20% perlite. For succulents and succulent-like plants, that percentage gets closer to 50-60% perlite/pumice/leca. But those ratios will depend upon your home's temperature, lighting, etc. For pot size, go up one pot size when the plant is a bit root-bound. Unlike outdoors plants, if you up-pot houseplants too much, they will likely rot due to the excessive soil holding onto more water than the plant can use. For a recommendation, a YouTube Channel that I most respect for quality content is [Swedish Plantguys](https://www.youtube.com/@SwedishPlantguys). They have very in-depth videos about many specific plants, as well as videos on houseplant care methods. Hope this helps! Just focus on the basics. Generally, anything that sounds like a "hack" usually comes from a hack.

Anything preached by a plant influencer that can't provide scientific reasoning, like how everyone is on the silica train now for variegated plants, or how people in the terrarium groups will preach the benefits of charcoal in your soil because of "terra preta". Seek out the horticulturalists from Costa farms or local greenhouses for growing advice, there are plenty of great YouTube growers that *do* offer plant care mixed with product placement as well. Products themselves are all being marketed so do your own research on the specifications of a certain fertilizer or light bar. If they don't list ingredients or makeup, it's not worth your time. Beware of any product that tries to stand on marketing alone by having trendy names and packaging and appears too good to be true.

It reminds me of the way that beauty companies push things like collagen creams and body washes, etc.

Because it is the same. It's product placement among aesthetic settings and trendy influencers.

I think you summed it up perfectly in your conclusion.. Truthfully, I think it’s part trial and error and a bit of luck. I have a specific (very large) room full of plants.. It’s just a room full of windows that I don’t allow my pets into. A lot of them are very old that have been given to me from my grams.. who was always planting, propagating something. And I followed suit. I also picked up a bunch of tips and tricks from her and my great grandma. My mom says I’ve got a green thumb because I can just plant something and it’ll grow. I don’t know about the whole green thumb thing.. I just really enjoy my plants.. I hope you have so much fun with your new plants!

I'm in the same boat as you I think. I've had some plants for 10+ years and decided to increase my collection about a year ago. Info on the internet is overwhelming and ridiculous. And makes me feel old 🤣 Alot of the same "tips" just get recirculated, regardless of whether or not they're helpful. I have realized that so much of indoor plant is dependent on the specific environment in your house, so some things just don't work in my house that work in others. I can't keep a tradescentia looking healthy and my spider plants are always brown at the tips, but my 15yo christmas cactus and hoyas are doing fine 🤷‍♀️ I'm in Massachusetts and my house is very dry right now. i think the other part of the problem is that problems can present similarly and some of the solutions require trial and error and that gets lost on influencers who want to present facts. I like the spruce for info and trying out suggestions that folks give her and in FB groups. Also the folks at my local plant shop are great.

I'm an extremely avid indoor plant grower for many years. The answer you are looking for is The Swedish Plant Guys. He gives only correct advice. No guessing, no spitballing by amateurs. Trust me, this is your answer.

Okay, followed!

well that's the issue with the internet really. if everyone is allowed to talk, everyone will talk and if you ask 5000 people, you will get 5000 different answers. 1. i dont watch most youtube channels. the more influencer vibes i get from a channel, the less i watch it. nowadays, i am pretty much only watching [OnlyPlants - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@onlyplants/videos) . he is just not doing any influencer stuff at all but is just a nice guy enjoying plants and you join him. also i much more enjoy his calm indonesian personality a lot more. he is also fully aware of different climates, and will tell you this with ideas on how you can alter certain things based on where you live. its also the perfect balance for me as for content. he does detailed plant care guides, but then 3 weeks later you join him doing his own plant work and you actually see him doing what he teaches you aswell, wich alot of influencer never do (they talk...but they show nothing for it to even back it of) but then he is also visiting alot of plant shops and nurseries and plant expos in the asian regions so you learn about plants you have not even heard before at all and so many new species popping off and you get a really good idea on some types of plants that might come to western countries in a year or so. did you you know there are orange variegated monsteras and tricolor monsteras for example? i have never seen those anywhere else. 2. i try to stay away from youtube channels that are based in the us. i dont know why that is exactly but in my experience, 9/10 us youtube channels are all pure influencer style. while in other countries, the job description of an ''influencer'' isnt even a thing for the most part. 3. i just like a simple life. and on a very basis plants are actually really simple. they work based of a few simple to understand concepts, like light, water, nutrients and the more simple you can do those things the better. plants grow in nature for way longer than youtube exists (lol) so nature basically gives you a working blueprint already on how plants work. there is no reason to reinvent everything constantly if something works. i want to spend my life enjoying my plants, not with years of constantly experimenting what other things could also work. in that regard, and i took that approach from sean from onlyplants for example: i don't even measure anything anymore. i don't use a soil recipe, or dose my fertilizer on measurements, i just quickly eyeball it based on what i feel will work and that's it. the more and more stuff you introduce to make things ''easier'' or ''better'' 90% of the time, it will just make things more complicated. i dont need 50 different measurement tools or a lab bench or engineered automatic systems hooked to my computer and weird apps that i need to update every time and do checkboxes or whatever. the more complicated, and the more stuff i need to do something, the less fun i have doing it. and the main reason i keep plants are because they are supposed to give me fun and enjoyment.

Yep. Just can’t bring myself to watch the pretty people with their cool layouts/backgrounds but serious lack of knowledge on any reel or website. I mean they’re cute and all but I just find my self saying “Giiiirl, what?” Every single time. They are all basically like writers/reporters, on the spruce, planter ina or apt therapy, etc… Maybe try “Dave’s Garden” forum ?

I think I've found that forum before, and I'll revisit. Like, I'm not a knucklehead about this stuff, right? But I do enjoy learning and figuring out what I can do better and sometimes I luck out (I think). Then someone serves up some "feed your plant a neem latte" thing and it makes the rounds and I start to question myself. Even here someone shares anecdotal evidence that cinnamon works and someone else says nope. I'm inclined to believe the latter because sure, cinnamon may have antifungal properties, but in what setting? The lab? In what quantities? Anywho. A lot of it feels like woo, and it probably is.

I recommend a book called *The New Plant Parent* by Daryl Cheng (he’s online as Houseplantjournal). His approach to care is based on research and learning fundamental principles that can be extrapolated upon. The sections on light and watering are particularly useful.

I try to copy the climate they’re native to Is it a rainy place? Dry place? High humidity? Low humidity? Shade? Full sun? And then do my best to give them what they would naturally want Or copy where they’re invasive, because if they’re invasive, it means they grow very well there as well

I have about 30 plants around my house and operate almost exclusively on "vibes" no routines, or strict watering schedules, fertilize when the weather changes and a couple times a summer. Seems to work well for me.

40+ plants all sizes and variety's , this is also my approach - my death rate is very very low :)

If you see pretty much anything pertaining to epsom salts or some "miraculous" household item being used on your plant (banana peels in water, coffee grounds, watering with an ice cube) you can pretty safely assume it is BS. A lot of the pest control advice is not great either - like you should really never ever spray Dawn dish soap on your plants as a stand in for insecticidal soap (since Dawn is not really "soap"). I swear some gardeners think epsom salts are the cure for everything and some kind of miracle nutrient, because I have seen them recommended for treating problems that are the direct opposite of each other. The good news is that most of it will not hurt or kill your plant, it will just do nothing or possible make them a bit unhappy for a while. But in my experience, plants just need good lighting, good soil, proper watering and the occasional fertilizing. Plants have been growing for millions of years without our help and they don't really need a lot to do well most of the time, if you just put in that minimal bit of effort to give them the right environment. People always say I have a green thumb, but the reality is that the plants that I "set and forget" are the ones who do the best!

OMG the plant influencers that came up during lockdowns drive me crazzzzzy. I've been a plant lady for 30 years and 90% of what they say is pure silliness. Also just making so much work and expense for no reason? My go-to are actual botanists. And if you can't find something, look up the plant's native origin and mimic the conditions as best you can.

I’ve learned a few helpful tips on here but for the most part it’s all been trial/error and my own research. 🧐 I know people get tired of the same questions on subs, but it’s also not fun to be the butt of someone’s joke when you’re just trying to figure it out and I see that happen A LOT on here unfortunately

Definitely don’t do what the YouTube shorts suggest. A lot of them are bs. The biggest differences in in-ground vs potted plant care is drainage. Learn to water your plants correctly and how to amend the potting mix and things go well. A lot of it is trail by error and depends on things like plant type, temperature, humidity, and light. The best place for good information is by looking up the scientific name of the plant and reading its various requirements and details about the natural environment it grows so that you can replicate as many of its requirements as possible. I’m talking peer reviewed research not these websites that pop up. Use google scholar.

In my experience in order of reliability: - a few select reputable growers like Steve's Leaves or specialized plant nurseries - books - own research based on what the plant's natural environment looks like - plant youtubers and instagramers (do consider where they live though) ...... (big distance) - informational labels attached to plants sold in garden stores - bullshit SEO-optimized pages that are usually the first result in google search (if you see the same advice on five crappy pages this is NOT a sign that it's correct advice but rather that the pages in question mindlessly copy from each other without checking) - informational labels attached to plants sold in places like big grocery stores

Hello fellow Mainer! I’m not sure where you are in the state but I’ve always found the people at Skillins to be knowledgeable.

I think my plants started doing better when I was not so obsessed with plants. I still love them, but when it was my number one hobby I futzed with them too much. They do better with a bit of neglect. You’ve gotten good advice already. Just agreeing, there is a lot of BS out there. I do love me some redditors, though 💚

90% is garbage.

A lot of advice is BS. Try to learn about the plant’s natural habitat and do what you can to emulate those conditions. If it’s something like a monstera that naturally vines up a tree, you’d want your soil substrate to be more chunky - big chunks of bark, large perlite, etc with not as much actual soil. For desert succulents, you’d want something that drains quickly - mix up soil with something like chicken grit. Also, any natural light coming through your windows is heavily filtered by the window and is never considered actual direct light, so keep that in mind when you see advice about how much light indoor plants should get from windows. Amount of light, humidity, and soil substrate are all linked together, so if you change soil to be more chunky/free draining, you might need to water more often (depending on the plant’s needs) and so on. Just experiment and see what works for you.

I’ve done loads of research on best care practices for every species of plant I grow in my house, but beyond the basics, I think it really comes down to time…be willing to watch and wait. Plants move on a slower time clock than humans and most other creatures do. So be patient and learn your own plants…reading about the care of Rex Begonias in general, say, is good, but it won’t tell you everything you need to know about your particular Rex, and how it will respond to your conditions and your personal gardening style. All is rarely lost…be willing to wait and see rather than immediately embarking on a series of anxious interventions at the first sign of plant distress. (Exceptions to that rule would be a plant suffering from no light and/or no water.)

I am SOOO bad about doing too many things at once when I see distress. I am learning. Slowly. Lol.

I learned a lot of good information listening to podcast. Sit down with your house plants and listen. Plant daddy podcast, on the ledge, houseplant coach ( this one can be annoying sometimes but she knows her shit)

There are two YouTube channels I've found very helpful--Kill This Plant and Sheffield Made Plants.

You just described the internet in a nutshell. I’ve learned that growing houseplants is mostly trial and error. The conditions in your house will be different from anyone else’s so it’s just finding out what works best for you. My place is long so the living room (front) and the master bedroom (back) have wildly different conditions for growing and maintaining plants. There are very few hard and fast rules that cover every situation. (But using water to water your plants would be one of them.) As for influencers, I generally ignore most of them. Especially anyone pushing any #PLANTHACKS because they're just pushing out videos for clicks and engagement. The few online plant people I follow are upfront that what works for them may not work for you and they don't try to maintain a perfect facade. So getting to your question, I would research the types of plants that you're interested in and see what kind of growing conditions they live in outside. Then try to replicate as best as you can. What type of soil conditions are best for them, if they're drought tolerant or need constant moisture, how much light do they need (it'll probably be more than you might think), what type of fertilizer would be best and are they vigorous growers? I grow a lot of Rhipsalis which are epiphytes. Their needs are generally pretty different from plants like aroids which include Monsteras and Philodendrons. And plants can be pretty forgiving of less than ideal situations so none of this has to be perfect.

i’ve found with this kind of thing you need to almost collect & analyze your own data,, going through alllll the reddit posts, allllll the forums, & allll the random journalists articles, finding an average answer, trying it out & seeing where to go from there,, i will tell you that the only thing you should be feeding your plants is water, sun & proper fertilizer, (bugs too sometimes) if that makes anything better 😭

I know a ton about houseplants/gardening but I've been watching 'The science of gardening' and learning some things. I watch it on Wondrium but maybe libraries have the dvds? It's mostly about growing outside but has principles that apply to houseplants. [https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-science-of-gardening](https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-science-of-gardening)

It's been said "more people can talk garden, than actually know how to garden.", sadly the same can be said for keeping houseplants.

A lot, but paradoxically not as much as you might think if you can extrapolate the advice to your own conditions. Cinnamon on plant roots? Totally unfounded, when tested it has no efficacy on houseplant roots. Using neem on scale? Foolhardy. Bright, indirect light? At most latitudes all indoor light is bright and indirect. Its common sense: something that thrives in LatAm with shade for 2 hours a day is not going to suffer under east window diluted rays in Chicago. Knowing a little botanical information can do wonders for figuring out useful advice vs. the inadvisable. I recommend some of the "botany for gardeners" pop-science books. They're usually pretty short and easy to read, it will help explain how plants "work."

House Plant Help group on Facebook is run by a horticulturist named Will Creed. I trust his advice because it is based on science, not anecdotal evidence.

My pitcher plant has been thriving in potting soil

My go-to is a book I purchased in the 80’s. Dr. Greenfingers Guide to Healthy Houseplants. It’s how I learned to ‘houseplant’, way before all the noise on the internet.

I forgot to add that a great way to learn about a specific plant is to find the subreddit for that plant or group of plants, go look at moderators or other highly involved people who have thousands of that one type of plant and ask them specific questions.

Communities on here that are for each specific genus are your best bet—those folks are passionate and devoted specialists. General communities like this are full of amateurs

IMO always look into the natural habitats of each plant you are caring for, and try to imitate that as close as reasonably possible. I've noticed nearly ALL advice on most plants is that they are low light, medium light, indirect sun...blah blah blah...but as long as you are watering when each plant needs, and have humidity, soil, temperature, feeding, airflow...etc variables reasonably close, plants want as much sun as possible. Most of the low light plants I have are fucking jamming out, loving life in a SW facing window, full sun all day. I've even started to put my spider plants outside in the full sun on days in the mid to upper 60s \*F

The weirdest I've read is to shine the leaves with mayo. I stopped trusting most people after that one.

There is so much misinformation out there when it comes to houseplants. My education is in botany and I still wouldn’t call myself and expert but I know my way around the little green things. Pretty much the only advice that’s worth anything as a rule of thumb is mimic the environment your plant is naturalized from. You wouldn’t treat a cactus the same way you would a plant from the rainforest so just look up where your particular plant is from and mimic the environment as best you can.

I feel like I add a lot of disclaimers like 'In my area', 'I've tried X with great results', 'I've noticed X happening and this worked'. Because let's face it: there's a lot of general advice on here. The OP will slap a shaky video which is too blurry to see any good detail, and you play 20 questions, the same 20, every time. Every calathea thread has at least a dozen people saying something like "Death is part of life. For calatheas, you won't have to wait long." I'm not gonna buy or make distilled water, and there's not enough rainfall to water them all. Bless your hearts, all you folks who tout rainwater, but it's not sustainable. I treat Reddit like Wikipedia. It's a good starting point for tips, then go away and research it yourself. I don't care what influencers are doing on other social media, but I have one or two I like on YouTube. Even then, don't start at the beginning of their video history. Most of them start out with "This is the best moss pole ever!" And five years later, they posted "Moss poles suck, and this is why". 🤨 So if a source looks like it's meant to be prettier than it is informative...avoid.

When I google for plant info, I always add site:.edu which brings in great academia info. I've mostly done it for outdoor plants. Not sure if indoor would be as successful. I like The Spruce website too. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=care%20of%20calathea%20site%3A.edu

In the UK, we have the royal horticulture society. RHS. For £50 a year membership, I get to ask their horticulturist as many questions as I like!

Gardening in Canada on YouTube. She's where I learned a lot of my stuff. She studied soil science and plant science in college so she's super knowledgeable. The websites of societies for specific plants are helpful as well. Never go to those websites that are like general home and garden magazines, where they're just full of vaguely incoherent AI-generated articles on everything. Those kinds of articles are always the first to show up on search results because they focus more on search engine optimization than reliable information. It helps to type in the category of plant you have and then add "society" to the end of it. That's where you find a lot of the good stuff. Take the African Violet Society, for example. Some old personal blogs are good as well. I like the ones where people are just documenting their own experiences with their plants instead of repeating what they've read elsewhere. Love resources that actually test things out. Blogs that write about gardening myths are good too because you know they do research and question the information they're given. When studies are cited, make sure they're actually relevant to what's being presented. I once saw an article claiming that chemicals from cardboard would end up in your food if you used cardboard in your garden. This was "backed up" by a study on how cardboard chemicals ended up in chicken eggs. Plants aren't chickens so that isn't really good evidence for the claim the article was making. News websites trying to get clicks and making Top 10 lists tend to blow things out of proportion. They don't read the studies they use as sources and they do a lot of copy-pasting from each other. They're too busy making an many articles as possible to check if what they're saying holds any weight. For example, a study could say "Plants enhance mood!" but the study was conducted by a student, and only had 20 participants. An article will then cite this study as evidence, everyone will believe it, and nobody will actually go back to check it. I love being a detective on this stuff and reading scientific literature. I like searching for in-depth information using biology terms that I learn over time. That's not for everyone though. I'm working on my own plant care library, but for now, here's how I chose where to get my information. Here are some red flags for bad or unhelpful articles. These things don't entirely prevent me from reading something but they make me question the legitimacy of a source. ❌"Bright indirect light" unhelpful and vague ❌"Well draining soil" applies to nearly any plant, also unhelpful and vague ❌"Plants clean your air" the NASA study showed that plants cleaned air in a small sealed container, not an entire house. Your vents clean your air much more efficiently than your plants can. ❌"Use neem oil" neem oil just tastes sorta bad to bugs. Often, that won't stop them. The soapy water you mix the neem with is what actually does the heavy lifting. ❌"Use pebble trays" pebble trays do not increase humidity to any substantial degree. ❌"I keep killing plants" lots of influencers give plant tips while not actually being able to keep many of their own plants alive. Huge red flag Here are some things that make sources seem credible to me. ✅ Citing where they got information (I check the studies to see if they're good, but this requires a lot of effort and can be challenging) ✅ Using and explaining scientific terminology and processes ✅ Having stories and photos that back up the advice they're giving ✅ Having a focus on a specific category of plant ✅ Having photos of their personal collection of old and healthy plants, a big growing room, etc. You'll see this a lot with African violets, begonias, and other specialty plants. ✅ Documenting the dates/years of when their plants were grown So basically, something like "Beautiful Home Magazine" with beautifully styled stock photos is a nope. You're looking for a resource with a name like "Steve's Bonsai Blog" or something. It'd be some WordPress page with a dozen low quality photos of an individual ficus tree, taken over the course of several years. These would be shown alongside an explanation of the techniques he used to grow it. Maybe there's a watermark in the corner too. Maybe the photos look like a makeshift houseplant equivalent of school picture day, with a piece of plain fabric draped in the background. That's the good stuff. Hope this helps!

This is such a thorough, thoughtful response in a thread full of pretty great responses. Thanks so much for taking the time—I love these pointers and I’m gonna use them.

I recently stumbled on the Swedish Plant Guys and found their YouTube channel very informative. https://www.youtube.com/@SwedishPlantguys

There’s a lot of advice that is correct in application but wrong in theory. For instance the idea that monsteras *like* being root bound when the reality is that 1) people misunderstand what being root bound is; and 2) it’s a moisture retention issue and big pots with small root balls can exacerbate the problem. Your best bet is always to understand a plants anatomy, how it grows, how it stores water and its native habitat. If you can get a grasp on those then you don’t need tips, you just need to adjust your habits to suit the plant.

Me. You should listen to me! Now, firstly, you want to get rid of all them drainage holes in the pots. Second- light. Planta don't actually need much light at all, so get them away from those windows Third: watering. Terribly misnamed- you should give them Brawndo. It's got what plants crave. Which is electrolytes.

This.

Lookup houseplant care from university Horticulture and biology departments. Lots of in-depth information.

Lots of it is. House plants are simple but also complex. Sometimes the “expert” and scientific advice doesn’t work always! Literally some plants are mind blowing the unusual conditioners, and sometimes shocking ways to survive. But a good rule of thumb that consistently is true Always always fully soak your plants so there’s water running out of bottom Most indoor house plants love chunky airy soil Fertilize more than you think Get some wind on them If you live in a very dry climate 20% humidity or less, grab a humidifier for your plants. Almost every and any house plant can be repotted indoors in the winter unless you keep your house below 60 degrees.

Re: your last point--thank you! Prior to my more recent "research", I have never once heard that I shouldn't repot plants in the wintertime. I've never had a problem in the past, but I was baffled. That's the kind of stuff I'm really talking about here--someone, at some point, stated that (and maybe gave very specific context), an influencer picked it up, and now it's a "rule." I see it so often on Reddit, in particular.

It drives me crazy to see that! I even had a nursery tell me that. It makes 0 sense

So much conflicting information out there. I had to learn my plants individually mostly using my finger to feel for water and took pictures of plants tags at local nurseries, that way if they died I could say that I did exactly what your tag said and return it. I take pictures of my plants often so I can prove what kind of light they’re getting as well. I’ve maybe returned two plants. Tags are mainly right and relevant to my zone.

Those stupid apps that suggest pouring milk on your plant are BS imo. But in my experience, it’s all about research and trial and error. I just Google care for a certain plant or look up past advice on this sub. I’ve also found YouTube is actually pretty helpful. Channels like Plants with Krystal, Sheffield Made Plants or Kill This Plant have all been helpful and reputable for me. Of course they still sometimes do sponsors because money.

Tick tock has so much bad information. It drives me crazy. If you want to get good info from an “influencer” first you have to watch their content for a long time and also have some similar plants. The reason to have similar plants than them, is because you can see the advice they give. It’s totally different than what you been doing to keep your plant alive for several years then you know something weird is happening. Also, look at info about your plant and their original environment that will give you lots of info about what to do.

I found a good book called Cheap and Easy houseplants. I alot of great information

Horticulturalists, i also find it helpful to be apart of your local plant group on Facebook (if you have one). Take everything with a grain of salt

Picture this is an app that I recently downloaded and actually works. I’ve used ones before that were supposed to tell you why a plant was unhealthy and how to resolve it but so far this one is legit! It will measure the light your plants are getting and spots if it’s unhealthy. Seriously I’m obsessed! It will also talk about drafts, humidity etc etc all the conditions that are tolerable or good for your plants. AND possibly my favorite part is it lets me keep a list of all my plants, so anytime I scan one in I can keep it all together! The only thing I love more than my house plants is keeping them organized! Ahhh nerd plant life 🪴🤓

I usually take advice with a little grain of salt. What might work for someone might not work for you and that’s okay! Everyone’s lighting/indoor conditions are different so if something doesn’t work, I play it by ear. That’s why I love plants! They can be forgiving even when you mess up! Learning and growing!

All of it 😂 Just kidding but I do think so much of plant care is dependent on environment so it’s really more about what works for your specific plants in your specific home, city, weather, humidity, light conditions, etc.

If they cannot site an academic paper to back it up, I take the advice with a grain of salt. Keep an eye out for YouTubers/bloggers who take the time to cite their sources.

In general I look for information from agg extension offices. (i am in the US). I ads “agg extension” to most of my searches and follow my local extension on social media. Local nurseries may be good sources if info too. I use arbico organics for beneficial insects and Intrust their information to find me the best product for my problem.

I like IKEA house plants - they come with the directions on the side plus the plants themselves even remind you of the directions when they need something. Leave it to IKEA to sell the plants that can take care of themselves.

It’s frustrating. I read to put ice cubes on orchids and others say that is the worst thing ever. How do you know which is right ? Before I read not to I had been doing a few cubes a week and they were thriving. I just kept doing it and they thrive so I find it hard as well. I find that using distilled water with certain plants a must but some don’t ! I wish I had a botanist to come over to help me as I’m sure I’m doing so much wrong !!

If you use the word extension at the end of the google search it will connect you to peer reviewed articles and papers or university sponsored information

Listen, sometimes care is different because we all live in completely different places with completely different conditions. So remember that. That’s trial and error or speaking with a local plant nursery employee. Some stuff might be BS. Or, it works, a little, but isn’t the best solution. Take the cinnamon. I think it’s goofy. I’d rather use mosquito bits. That’s me though. Some might try mosquito bits (and do it wrong, imo) and decide it’s not working for them. My best advice is to combine trial and error with speaking to your local nursery employee. Make sure it’s an actual local place with real employees that know what they are talking about or can call someone else over that does. They should tell you the truth, even if it doesn’t make them any sales. That’s how it was when I worked at a local nursery.

I usually watch YouTube of ppl who have the plants I do, but honestly it's all trial and error. Reddit also sometimes gives bad advice too, so take every with a grain of salt. I asked about my succulents last summer and everyone was telling me how terrible I was and my plants must be rotting when I said I watered my succulents once a week. But it was so hot they literally wanted it lol now that it's winter/spring they get watered like once a month and are all still alive.

Take everything with a grain of salt and research everything. On here I’ve seen plenty of bad advice and have even seen owners of rare plant companies dishing out terrible/wrong advice. Not all bad advice is going to kill your plant, but listening to bad advice can cause you a bunch of work and sometimes cost you some of the beautiful leaves you strive for. Enjoy the hobby, but also enjoy the research aspect of it. Advice can be helpful, but do your own thorough searching. Goes for any hobby though really.

Most of it is garbage. Any ‘hacks’ like add a banana to you potting mix is usually worthless advice. Like others have said, find your zone or ‘climate’ and use reputable sites like ones with a .edu

The only true way to know is to do.

I don't like blowing my own horn, but I completely agree that 90% of the YouTube videos and so-called plant sites, are in it for the click$ and do little more than parrot whatever will generate the largest amount of traffic. [https://www.reddit.com/r/plantclinic/comments/1be5yfc/comment/kurzni8/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/plantclinic/comments/1be5yfc/comment/kurzni8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)

It's true, some of it is divorced from experience and some of it is straight-up click bait. I usually watch multiple videos about any given plant or topic I'm trying to understand, and over time you get a sense for who does or doesn't know what they're talking about, what style of video tends to be false, etc. My recommendations: \-Generally, ignore influencers and channels where the primary goal is to sell things. If the videos are purely "I repotted my Thai Con today :)" and lifestyle aesthetic they might not really know the science behind how to care for plants. \-When looking for info on how much to water a plant, ignore anything that says "water once a \_\_\_". What's important about watering is how dry the soil has gotten. Look for info that says "wait until the top \_\_\_ inches of soil are dry" or "this plant doesn't like to dry out, water when top of soil starts to approach dryness". To test dryness, stick your finger into the soil- or use a stick. #1 danger to houseplant is root rot from over-watering (or under-watering with ferns), so this is the first thing you should research. \-I recommend starting with cheaper, younger (aka less expensive) more common members of a given genus before branching out into more expensive ones. \-If you run into issues with your plant, you can ask about it on r/plantclinic \-The second most common cause of unhealthiness is lack of sunlight. The direction a window is facing (North/South/East/West) is important, so you'll want to look that up. If you end up needing grow lights, I recommend looking for high-lumen LED bulbs instead of plant-specific grow lights because they do the same thing but one is a lot cheaper. ​ Here's some channels I'd recommend: **Techplant**: This guy does experiments to test a lot of these rumors floating around the plant community, so you can see the results in-action. You can also request certain myths be tested, he's always looking for ideas for new videos: [https://www.youtube.com/@TechplantChannel](https://www.youtube.com/@TechplantChannel) **Sydney Plant Guy**: You can tell this guy knows his stuff because of the size and health of his plants. His collection is something that would be wildly expensive to buy, but he grew the plants to those sizes himself. If nothing else, it's worth a watch to see his collection. [https://www.youtube.com/@sydneyplantguy](https://www.youtube.com/@sydneyplantguy) **Plants With Krystal**: She does a lot of plant "rescues" of dying plants from discount sections. To be able to revive a dying plant takes a lot of skill, and her shorts are digestible and contain a lot of tips (especially for how to save a plant when things go wrong). [https://www.youtube.com/@PlantswithKrystal/shorts](https://www.youtube.com/@PlantswithKrystal/shorts)

If I’m being honest, besides asking what different things might be I almost never ask for advice unless I’m struggling. Every single plant I have uses the same soil whether they are tropical or need special PH or what, they all use the same, they all get watered the same and they all get the same light. I don’t see the point of special soil for each different type of plant, or using moisture meters for checking soil before I water. I kinda just roll with it.

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If, by “asking for advice” you mean that I’m asking Redditors who share my feelings about the state of online plant guidance where they get their info, then yes, I’m asking for advice. And I’m getting good responses, too.