Limp, drooping leaves
The most confusing symptom in plant keeping, because too much water and too little look exactly the same from above. How to tell them apart in one minute.
What it usually is
1 Dry compost
| How to tell | A finger to the second knuckle comes out clean and dry, the pot is light to lift, and the plant may have shrunk away from the sides of its pot. The leaves are limp but the stems are firm. |
|---|---|
| The fix | Water thoroughly until it runs from the bottom, then empty the saucer. Most plants stand up again within a few hours, and a plant that recovers that fast has told you what was wrong. |
2 Waterlogged compost and failing roots
| How to tell | The same drooping, but the compost is damp or wet and the pot is heavy. There may be a sour smell. Some leaves may be yellowing at the same time, which thirst does not usually do quickly. |
|---|---|
| The fix | Do not water. Let the compost dry to the top third, empty the saucer, and if it does not improve within a week, tip the plant out and check the roots for rot. Firm and pale is fine, brown and soft is not. |
3 Cold, or a draught
| How to tell | Sudden drooping overnight on a plant near a door or a window, often with the leaves nearest the source worst. The compost is neither dry nor sodden. |
|---|---|
| The fix | Move it somewhere steady and warm and leave it alone for a week. Tropical plants droop below about twelve degrees and most recover if the cold was brief. |
4 Just repotted
| How to tell | Drooping within a day or two of being moved into new compost, especially if roots were disturbed or teased out. |
|---|---|
| The fix | Keep it out of direct sun, water lightly, and wait. A plant with damaged fine roots cannot supply its leaves until it grows new ones, which takes a week or two. Do not feed it in the meantime. |
Through the year. Winter drooping is more often wet compost than dry, because the plant is using a fraction of the water it used in summer while the watering habit has not changed.
This is the symptom that kills the most plants, not because it is dangerous in itself but because it is ambiguous and the wrong response is the natural one. A plant whose roots have rotted droops exactly like a plant that is thirsty, because in both cases water is not arriving at the leaf. If you reach for the watering can without checking, you are as likely to be finishing the plant off as saving it.
So the one minute test, in order. Put a finger into the compost to the second knuckle. Lift the pot. Smell the surface of the compost. Dry, light and no smell means thirst. Damp, heavy, and a sour or stagnant note means the roots are in trouble.
A thirsty plant is a quick and cheerful repair. Water it properly, which means until water runs out of the bottom, and come back in two hours. Most plants will be standing up. Ones that have been very dry may lose a leaf or two afterwards, which they were always going to.
A waterlogged plant is a slower business and the first instruction is negative: do not water it. Let the top third dry out, and empty every saucer. If a week of that brings no improvement, tip it out. You are looking for firm pale roots that spring back. Brown, soft roots that slide out of their skin mean rot, and the entry on a soft mushy base has the surgery.
Two other causes are worth ruling out before you decide. A plant that drooped overnight beside a door or a cold window has been chilled rather than mismanaged, and usually recovers if it is moved somewhere steady. And a plant that droops within days of being repotted is short of working roots rather than short of water; it needs shade, a light watering and a fortnight of being left alone.
The habit worth building out of all this is simple. Never water on a schedule alone. The log gives you a day to go and look; the soil gives you the answer.
Entries that name it
What the journal says about this symptom on each plant.
| Areca palm | Waterlogged compost and root rot. Check that the pot drains and let the top 3 cm dry before watering. Cut away soft brown roots if you unpot it. |
|---|---|
| Bird of paradise | Root rot from wet compost, or a hard freeze. Check the drainage and let the compost dry further. Damage from frost shows a few days after the cold and the affected leaves should be cut out. |
| Chinese money plant | A dry pot, or the beginning of root rot in a wet one. Feel the compost. Dry means water it and it recovers by evening; damp means unpot and check for soft brown roots. |
| Cosmos | A tall plant knocked sideways by wind and rain. Stake the taller varieties early, before they need it. Once a cosmos has gone over at the base it never stands properly again. |
| Cyclamen | A room that is too warm, which is the usual reason and not thirst. Move it somewhere cool and bright, ideally under fifteen degrees. A hallway or a porch suits it far better than a living room. |
| Dill | Wind, or a plant grown too soft in rich soil. Give it shelter and poorer soil. Dill is tall and hollow stemmed and goes over easily. |
| Hyacinth | A forced bulb brought into warmth and light too early. Give it the full cold dark period, ten to twelve weeks, and move it into a cool bright room rather than a warm one when the shoot is up. |
| Hydrangea | Simple thirst, which this shrub shows earlier than almost anything else. Soak the root area slowly and it will stand up within hours. Repeated wilting in the same spot means the soil is too free draining for it. |
| Nerve plant | Dry compost, which this plant announces more loudly than any other. Water it and wait an hour. If it does this weekly, move it somewhere less bright and less draughty rather than watering more often. |
| Parlour palm | Root rot from a pot that never dries or does not drain. Check the drainage hole is clear, let the top 3 cm dry before watering, and unpot to cut away soft roots if it does not recover. |
| Pothos | Thirst, or cold draughts. Water thoroughly if the mix is dry; move away from cold windows in winter. |
| Rhubarb | Crown rot from a crown planted too deep or in ground that stays wet. Lift what is sound, cut away the soft tissue, and replant on a low mound so the buds sit at the surface. |
| Spider plant | Waterlogged compost and the beginning of root rot. Tip the plant out, cut away any brown mushy roots, repot in fresh compost and water only when the surface is dry. |
| Sunflower | Thirst, which shows within hours on a plant this size. Soak the root area rather than sprinkling the leaves. Mulch around the base so the ground holds what you give it. |
Questions from the margin
- Is my drooping plant overwatered or underwatered?
- Put a finger into the compost to the second knuckle and lift the pot. Dry and light means thirst, and the plant will stand up within hours of a proper watering. Damp and heavy means the roots are failing, and watering it again is what finishes it off.
- Why is my plant drooping after repotting?
- It is short of working roots rather than short of water. Fine roots damaged in the move cannot supply the leaves until new ones grow, which takes a week or two. Keep it out of direct sun, water lightly, and do not feed it.
Checked against RHS, Watering houseplants; Clemson Cooperative Extension, Indoor plants: watering.