Overwatering and underwatering have similar symptoms, but an overwatered plant is much harder to save. Overwatering causes root rot which dries out plants.

A good cadence to water is often every two weeks, or even less.

Water when poking a finger into the soil feels dry or the leaves are curling up.

Instead of watering a little bit all the time, fully water your plant when it’s dry. This means thoroughly saturating the soil and letting the excess run off.

An easy way to fully water is from the bottom up: place your planter in a container of water and let it sit for a while to draw water up the drainage holes. This avoids problems with hydrophobic soil. I like to use a clear deli container so I can see the water level go down.

Also, have drainage holes in your planters!

It can help to write down when you’ve last watered, which may be more or less recently than you thought.

If you are an overbearing plant parent with a habit of overwatering, get a spray bottle to regularly mist your plant with instead.

Use filtered or distilled water instead of tap water.