When a plant sits in a pot with a drainage hole, you’ll know you’ve watered it enough when the water starts running through the hole. With no hole, you won’t know when your greenery is properly hydrated and you’ll run the risk of overwatering—a leading cause of plant death. With nowhere to go, all that water will essentially drown your plant’s root system. “It won’t have the same spunk or ability to stand on its own,” Greene says of an overwatered plant. Droopy, leathery leaves or brown spots are also signs that a plant is getting too much water. It’s not a bad idea to start keeping plastic pots after using them so that you have them on hand when a houseplant needs to be repotted in a larger space. Less to recycle, too! Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She’s spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.
