Why is my plant dying?

Question

Hi,

I just bought this plant for my home 6 days ago and it is already dying… It did not come with a name tag but after some research I suspect it to be an Areca Palm.
I am desperate because it was quite expensive and I feel like it is a lost cause… All the flowers or plants that I get die eventually. 🙁
The problem with this one is that the bottom leaves get brown/yellow , dry and dye. One leaf died completely green though. It just shrunk and dried. The top ones get dry edges. All these would be signs of underwatering, right? But I watered it well 3 days ago and I just did it again now! I saw that at the shop it was staying on a plate full of water (even though it is not recommended?)
I don’t know what to do… Am I under watering or over watering it? I will attach some pictures…

Please help me! 🙁

Best regards,
Simona

Answer 1

Underwatering and overwatering can cause many of the same symptoms on a plant, and they can be hard to tell apart. I think overwatering is more likely in this case, because overwatering is a more common problem with indoor plants in containers. Don’t worry, it’s a very common problem and can usually be reversed. Many potted plants only need watering once a week or even less.

These articles explain overwatering symptoms and prevention:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/signs-of-plants-affected-by-too-much-water.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/overwatering-container-plants.htm

Your plant may have already been overwatered when you bought it from being kept in a dish of water. Luckily it doesn’t look too wilted yet, so what I recommend is letting it dry out for the next week, then poking your finger into the soil a couple inches if possible to see if the soil is dried out. Then, start watering only when the soil seems dry. You will be able to tell if the plant is underwatered because the leaves will start looking droopy (and the soil will be dry).