Reddit reviews The House Plant Expert

One of he biggest killer of plants is over watering. (Yes, a lot of people pay too much attention to the plant and kill it)

When indoors you're completely changing a plants environment. There is so much that can affect a plant in how it - takes up nutrients, water and light.

When you have a plant that in its native habitat gets a lot of light and a lot of warmth and you have it indoors with considerably lower light and temperature (when bought young they are more likely to adjust without going into shock) it is going to have to adjust to those conditions meaning - since it has less light it will need less water and less nutrients, the plant is not using all its resources up like it would so it doesn't need to "re-up" because it really hasn't lost much.

So even though it uses less there are many factors that affect the soil- AC will dry out a well ventilated area rather quickly depending on the pot type. Also many plants indoors lack humidity they'd have in their native range.

Having a larger pot for small roots is bad because it will not dry out as evenly, the top will become more dry while it could still be sopping wet at the bottom. Seeing that you go and water the plant again when it doesn't need it and the plant becomes water logged, suffocates and dies.

The killing of indoor plants by overwatering is #1 most common, especially since when you bring a plant home, unless you have the same environment as the place you got it from in your home, it is going to go through some shock, many people don't know this and see their plant a little sad after they just got it and then panic and water the plant.

Plants need time to adapt. You can't just keep changing things and expect to see results in a day or two. Often times even if they look a little sad it's best to leave them be, especially if they have enough water, light and humidity. They need time.

Starting small when buying a plant in general is much better practice, for so many reasons. Just don't put it in a huge pot :)

Edit: Wow, didn't think this would get this big lol Thanks so much for such interest in plants and horticulture!

To be clear I was mostly talking about house plants in this, since they are a plant that is usually not of the climate where you live and is why they're a house plant because the can't live outside. (But not always- in FL many "house plants" can do better outside, depending on the plant still)

Doing my best to answer questions- you guys are lucky I'm sick and aren't busy outside :P

Edit 2: Here are a couple pages from one of the best houseplant books I've seen and had. There is helpful info that can be used for other plant types as well. You can get the book off Amazon, its rather inexpensive and 100% worth it.

Edit 3: Forgot to stress the fact that many of our tap water had loads of chlorine and chloramine in it. The chlorine can evaporate out if the water is left out before use but the chloramine will not. These are things that can really affect a plant over time. Along with mineral build up from water and fertilizer. Here's another good resource.

The House Plant Expert https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0903505355

It's the best I've found, every entry has good pics, "keys to success" and problems specific to that plant, plus a larger troubleshooting section for plants in general.

I recently went through The House Plant Expert. It has a chart like that for common house plants. The other "expert" books in this series probably have similar charts. Or I'm sure there are similar things on the internet.

I'd recommend reading through this book.

I'd also look around to see if there's a city owned greenhouse or a botanical garden you can volunteer at. If you have a university or community college around you could see if they offer any plant ID classes if you're very interested.