Curled up or under
When things don’t feel right, it can be difficult to know what we need.
Less or more, and of what? Our bodies show clues.
The money plant had lost a few leaves. I blamed the cat. She nibbles a few of our house plants, so the money plant must have been her fault too. All you cat lovers who are now concerned about my cat, I assure you, she's fine. The plants she eats with regularity are not toxic (I checked). We should be worried about the plants.
And I was in fact worried about the money plant. It was my new favorite, given as a wee 3-inch starter from a woman I had just met the year before. I had grown attached to the year-old plant and how it reminded me of the woman and her kindness.
I started keeping a closer eye on the plant, and a few days later I noticed a brown leaf still attached to the plant.
So no, I should not have been blaming the cat, and yes, I should have been blaming myself. In this case.
I never know if I'm watering a plant too much or not enough. The advice "look for discolored yellow leaves" doesn't help—like at all—because yellow leaves can be a sign of over- or under-watering. Seriously, I cannot be the only person who struggles and gets confused by this.
I searched online for the hundredth time about watering, but this time trying to figure out what the brown leaves meant: look for yellow rings around brown spots. This was great news, a different clue.
I examined the recently dropped leaf. Yes, maybe, I'm not sure? I was still confused and tossed in some water.
A few days later, a brown leaf dropped again.
Concerned and practically sticking my nose in the plant to see what was going on, I noticed some curled leaves. Back to the internet and more good news:
Curled under: not enough water or sunlight.
Curled up: too much water or sunlight.
Gosh, I felt exactly the same way sometimes (and maybe you too?):
Not enough of what you need? Curled under and away—depressed and shut down.
Too much of what you need? Curled up and away—anxious and irritable.
The money plant's leaves were curled under, by the way. So I gave it some water and moved it to a sunnier location. It's doing much better now. What do you and I need?