About Houseplant Care Lookup

What this site is

Houseplant Care Lookup is a single-topic care reference for 8 popular indoor plants: snake plant, monstera, pothos, peace lily, rubber plant, calathea, Boston fern, and jade plant. Each plant has its own page; each page combines a hand-curated quick-fact card with three interactive tools — a watering interval estimator, a troubleshooting decision tree, and a printable one-page care card.

Why three tools instead of more text

A generic 'how to care for X' search now usually shows an AI Overview at the top of the results page that summarises the basic care prose inline. Static text-only houseplant guides struggle to add value above that summary. The three interactive tools on this site exist because AI Overviews cannot complete the same job: they cannot run a watering calculation tuned to your pot, light, season, and humidity; they cannot walk a diagnostic decision tree based on what you can see on your specific plant; and they cannot output a printable card for your kitchen fridge.

Sources and originality

Every plant's quick-fact values (light, water, soil, temperature, humidity, growth habit, mature size, and pet toxicity) are common-knowledge horticultural facts. They are written from scratch and cross-checked against multiple reputable horticulture sources, primarily university cooperative extensions (Clemson, University of Florida IFAS, UC ANR), the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Royal Horticultural Society, and the published grower copy from Costa Farms, Bloomscape, and Patch Plants. Each plant page lists the specific sources used.

The watering estimator

The estimator uses a multiplicative model: a per-plant baseline watering interval in days, then modifiers for pot size, light level, season, humidity, and soil type. The baselines and modifier values are documented in the page source (assets/app.js). The estimator is not a substitute for checking the soil before watering; treat its number as a starting point you adjust based on what your finger tells you when you touch the soil.

The troubleshooting trees

Each plant lists 3-4 common problems. Clicking a problem opens a short decision tree that asks diagnostic questions and lands on a specific diagnosis with a remedy paragraph. The trees are generic across plants because most houseplant problems share underlying causes (overwatering, low humidity, fertilizer salt buildup, light stress, pests).

Editorial process

• Each page lists a Last reviewed date in the hero meta-strip. The current site-wide review date is 2026-06-16.
• Quick-fact values are cross-referenced against at least two of the sources listed above per plant.
• Watering baselines are calibrated against grower copy and adjusted to be conservative (longer interval rather than shorter) — overwatering is the most common cause of houseplant death.
• Pet-toxicity warnings refer to ingestion of leaves, stems, or sap; they are general guidance, not a substitute for veterinary advice if a pet has eaten part of a plant.

Who runs this site

Houseplant Care Lookup is operated by the Houseplant Care Lookup editors. For corrections, suggestions, or partnership enquiries, see the contact page.