You glance at the windowsill and notice your bunny ear cactus pads tilting sideways, wrinkled, soft, or slumped over the rim of the pot like tired ears. The short version: Bunny ear cactus drooping almost always comes down to water, light, or roots. Soft, yellowing pads that sag usually mean too much water. Thin, wrinkled … Read more >>
Your majesty palm stands by the window with its long, arching fronds, and your cat is batting at the lowest leaf and starting to chew on the tip. The short version: The majesty palm (Ravenea rivularis) is generally considered non-toxic to cats. It is not known to contain poisonous compounds, so a nibble usually causes … Read more >>
Soft, golden light pours through your east window each morning, then fades to bright shade by lunch, and the sill sits there waiting for the right plant. The short version: The best houseplants for east-facing window light are plants that like bright, indirect light with a few hours of gentle direct sun, such as African … Read more >>
Your fiddle leaf fig stands a few feet from the window, its big leaves angled toward the glass, and you are wondering how much light a fiddle leaf fig needs to stop leaning, dropping leaves, or sitting still for months. The answer depends far more on where the plant stands than on how often you … Read more >>
You lift a pothos off the windowsill to water it and notice a soft white fuzz spreading across the soil, a few patches thick enough to look like cotton. Knowing how to remove mold from house plant soil takes only a few minutes, and the fix matters less than finding out why it appeared. The … Read more >>
Your plants sit on the windowsill under a gray sky, a radiator hissing below them, and a few lower leaves have started turning yellow. Learning how to care for houseplants in winter mostly means adjusting habits that worked fine in July but cause trouble once days shorten and the heat comes on. The short version: … Read more >>
Your new cactus sits on the windowsill in its nursery pot, and the empty bowl beside it has room for two, maybe three plants. Before you start filling that space, it helps to know how far apart is it best to plant a cactus so the arrangement still looks good and stays healthy a few … Read more >>
Your cactus sits on a sunny sill, the same size it was last spring, and a bottle of fish fertilizer under the sink has you wondering whether it would help or hurt. The short version: Yes, you can use fish fertilizer on cactus plants, as long as you dilute it to a quarter or half … Read more >>
You brushed against the cactus on your windowsill, and now a fingertip or the back of your hand looks puffy, pink, and tender to the touch. The short version: Yes, a cactus can cause swelling. Most of it comes from spines or tiny glochids lodged in the skin, which trigger local irritation and sometimes infection. … Read more >>
Your windowsill is crowded with cactus pups, a few columnar cuttings are calloused on a paper towel, and every shelf near the glass is starting to look like a small nursery. The short version: Yes, you can make money selling cactus, but for most indoor growers it is a modest side income rather than a … Read more >>