Card 1 — The Goal
☝️ The Finger-Depth Test: Push a finger exactly 1 inch into the soil. Dry at that depth? Water. Damp? Wait. Overwatering kills more houseplants than neglect ever does — this 5-second check ends the guessing.
Keep It Alive: 5 Houseplant Basics for People Who Kill Everything
Card 2 — Step 1
🌑 The Low-Light Trio: For dim rooms, only three names matter: ZZ plant, pothos, snake plant. Keep them at least 3 feet from the window and rotate each pot 90° every Sunday for even growth.
Card 3 — Step 2
🫙 The Propagation Jar: Snip a 4-6 inch pothos stem just below a node, drop it in a clear jar of tap water, change the water every 5 days. Roots in 10-20 days — pot it up once they hit an inch. Free plants forever.
Card 4 — Step 3
🪤 The Sticky Trap Early Warning: A $5 yellow sticky trap in the pot catches fungus gnats before they're an infestation. More than 3 in a week? Cut back watering and add a half-inch sand layer — it suffocates the larvae safely.
Card 5 — The Cheat Sheet
🥣 The Bottom-Watering Bowl: Set the pot in a bowl with an inch of water for 10 minutes and let the roots drink upward. Even hydration, no soggy topsoil, no gnat paradise. Pull it the moment the surface feels slightly damp.