Troubleshooting
What's wrong with my plant?
Pick the symptom you can actually see. Each one lists the likely causes, the clue that tells them apart, and what to do about it.
Most garden problems come down to five things: water, light, nutrients, pests, or disease — in that order of likelihood. Work through the checks below before you buy anything.
- 1Check the soil moisture 2 in down with your finger before assuming anything else. Over- and under-watering look nearly identical from above.
- 2Look at the undersides of leaves and the soil surface at dusk. That's where pests actually are.
- 3Note whether the damage is on old (bottom) leaves or new (top) leaves — that single detail separates most nutrient problems.
- 4Ask what changed in the last 7–10 days: weather, transplanting, fertilizer, a new sprinkler setting.
- 5Only then treat. Spraying a watering problem never works.
Old leaves or new leaves?
Where the symptom shows up tells you which nutrient is short, because some nutrients move within the plant and some don't.
Oldest / bottom leaves first
Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium
Mobile — the plant strips them from old leaves to feed new growth
Newest / top leaves first
Iron, calcium, sulfur, boron, manganese
Immobile — the plant can't relocate them, so new growth suffers
Find your symptom
When to pull the plant instead of treating it
- Late blight on tomatoes/potatoes — remove and bag the whole plant the day you see it.
- Verticillium or fusarium wilt — no cure; pull the plant and rotate the family out of that bed for 3–4 years.
- Aster yellows (deformed, discolored, weirdly proliferating growth) — remove; it's spread by leafhoppers.
- Any virus symptom: mosaic mottling plus stunting and distorted growth — remove, wash hands and tools, don't compost.
- Squash vine borer that has already hollowed the main stem to mush — start a fall succession planting instead.
Still not sure?
Take a photo of the affected leaf or fruit and let the AI identifier narrow it down.