Most houseplant advice assumes a window you don’t have.
Everything here comes out of a rented apartment with one north window: what went wrong, how long it took to show, and what actually fixed it.
How this is written
Sourced, not recycled
Numbers come from cooperative extension services and botanical gardens, cited in the sentence that uses them. Where the published scales disagree with each other, which happens more than you would think, that gets said too.
Timed
Every diagnosis says how long things took: when the symptom showed, how many days to confirm the cause, how long recovery ran.
Straight about gear
Reviews state plainly what has been used here and what has only been researched. No pretending either way.
Where to start
Yellow, brown, drooping, dropping. Start from what you can see.
OpenLightWork out what your window really gives you before you buy anything.
OpenSetupsCabinets, humidity, and air, for apartments that fight you on all three.
OpenPlantsPer-plant care and lookup tables for a north-facing room.
OpenReviewsLights, humidifiers, pots. Including what has not been tested here.
OpenTool
Is your window bright indirect light?
Six questions about your window and you get a foot-candle range, built on the scale published by University of Illinois Extension, plus what will grow, merely survive, or slowly decline there.
Who writes it
Dana Reyes rents a small apartment where the only decent window faces north. Her plants have moved with her, been forgotten and brought back, and taught her most of what ends up on this site. The oldest is a pothos in its seventh year. She writes about what has worked, what has not, and what she is still working out.