Hey Nah,

Rich here, day four of 7 Days to Houseplant Mastery.

Feeding usually plays out in two acts.

Act one: months go by with no feed. Compost only comes with a few weeks of food, coir comes with none, and every watering flushes a little more out. The plant doesn't die. It just goes quiet. Smaller leaves, paler colour, a general air of "meh."

Act two: we notice, panic, and blast it with a strong dose to make up for lost time. Leaf edges scorch, roots burn, and the rescue becomes the next problem.

Both acts come from treating feeding as an occasional emergency instead of a rhythm. In the wild, plants get a tiny trickle of nutrients every time it rains. Little and often. That's what they're built for.

So here's what I actually do. I don't keep a feeding schedule at all. I add a small amount of feed every single time I water. No calendar, and no trying to remember which plant had what and when. Every drink comes with a bit of food. It's the least effort method I've ever used, and my plants have never looked better for it.

Try this: think back to the last time you fed anything. If you can't remember, act one is probably already underway on your shelf.

Now, "a small amount" is doing some heavy lifting there. In the Nutrients module of Houseplant Mastery, I show you which type of feed I use and why (organic vs inorganic makes a real difference to your soil over time), how weak I go, and when to switch things up for flowering plants. I also cover the thing that trips up even careful feeders: pH. You can give a plant perfect food and it still can't eat it, because the nutrients are locked out. I'll show you how to check it in two minutes and what to do if it's off.