Houseplant Care

Rubber Plant Dropping Leaves: Causes and Fixes If your rubber plant is dropping leaves and you can’t work out why, you’re not alone. Ficus elastica leaf drop is one of those problems that looks sudden - the plant seemed fine last week, and now there are leaves on the floor and nothing in the pot looks visibly wrong. Here is the part most articles skip over: rubber plants don’t drop leaves because of one fixed condition they’ve been living in for months. They drop leaves in response to change. A new location, a seasonal shift, a watering habit that drifted after an overwatering scare - something happened before the first leaf fell. Find the change and you’ve already solved half the problem. ...

If you’ve ever stood in a garden center unsure whether to bring home the silvery-green Chinese evergreen or the one with hot pink leaves, wondering which one will still look that good six months later, this guide is for you. Chinese evergreens, sold under the botanical name Aglaonema, come in a wider range of colors than most people expect. The green and silver forms will hold their appearance in a dim corner with minimal intervention. The pink and red ones need noticeably more light, and when they don’t get it, the color drains away quietly, without any other warning sign. ...

By KnowYourPlant Editorial Team, updated June 24, 2026. This version keeps the guide aligned with extension and IPM guidance reviewed for the June 18, 2026 evidence refresh. Start Here if You Need the Gnats Down Fast If you are standing over the pot right now and just want the first three moves, do these before you try anything fancy: Put a yellow sticky trap in every suspect pot so you can see which container is actually feeding the outbreak. Let the top 1 to 2 inches of mix dry as much as the plant safely allows, then empty every saucer, cachepot, or reservoir holding leftover water. If adults return after the next watering, add a labeled larval treatment such as BTI or beneficial nematodes and focus on the wettest source pots first. If the plant is a seedling, fresh cutting, or already recovering from root stress, keep the dry-down gentler and lean harder on monitoring plus larval control. ...

You notice a faint dustiness on the leaves. Maybe some tiny yellow speckles, or a leaf that looks a little washed out. You lean in closer and see the faintest threads of webbing in the crook where the stem meets a leaf. That’s when you know: spider mites have found your plant. Knowing how to get rid of spider mites is one of the most useful things you can learn as a plant person, because these pests move fast and they don’t announce themselves loudly. The good news is that if you catch them early, they’re very manageable. And even if the infestation has gotten ahead of you, there’s still a clear path back. ...