You walk over to your plant and notice it: a hole in a leaf that wasn’t there before. Or maybe you just brought this one home and are only now seeing it in better light. Your first instinct might be to panic, assume something is eating it alive, and reach for a pesticide. Before you do anything, slow down – because a plant with holes in its leaves is not automatically a plant under attack. ...
You notice something off with your plant. A brown patch on a leaf, a crispy edge, a pale splotch that wasn’t there last week. Your first move is probably to search the symptom and find one answer. The problem is that leaf damage identification doesn’t work that way: a brown spot can mean thrips, sunburn, fertilizer salt buildup, overwatering, or damage from handling at the nursery. Treating the wrong cause does nothing, and sometimes makes things worse. ...
You moved your pothos closer to the window on a sunny afternoon, or brought a new plant home from the nursery and set it on the sill. A few days later you spot it: a pale, washed-out patch on a leaf. Or a crispy brown edge that definitely wasn’t there before. Your first thought is that you’ve done something wrong, and now you’re trying to figure out what before it spreads. ...