The four-week rescue program

1. Photograph it before you touch it

Scan the plant as you found it. That first photo becomes your intake record, and it is the only honest comparison you will have in six weeks.

2. Diagnose in the first 48 hours

Rot, drought, light starvation and pests all look like 'sad plant' from across the room. Pull it out of the pot and look at the roots — white and firm is alive, brown and mushy comes off.

3. Change one thing, not five

Repot or move or prune — not all three in a week. If the plant improves you want to know what caused it, and if it declines you want to know what to undo.

4. Set a rhythm you will keep

A check-in you actually do beats a perfect schedule you abandon. Two minutes, twice a week, in the same place in your day.

5. Log it, even when nothing happens

Most of a rescue is uneventful. Logging the nothing is what makes the something visible when it finally arrives.

Week 1 — stabilise

Stop the bleeding

• Intake photo and scan on day 0.
• Root check: cut away anything black, mushy or sour-smelling.
• Repot into dry, fast-draining mix if rot was present. Do not water yet.
• Move to bright, indirect light. No direct afternoon sun, no radiators, no vents.
• Remove leaves that are more than half dead. Leave the rest — they are still feeding the plant.

Week 2 — establish a rhythm

Water on evidence, not on a calendar

• First watering once the top two inches are fully dry. Soak, then drain completely.
• Two check-ins this week: finger in the soil, eyes on the newest growth.
• No fertilizer. Damaged roots cannot use it and it will burn them.
• Photograph again at the end of the week, same angle, same light.

Week 3 — watch for the turn

Look for one new leaf

• Keep the watering rhythm identical. Consistency is the treatment.
• Check leaf undersides and stem joints for pests every check-in.
• Prune anything that went fully yellow since last week.
• Do not move the plant. Figs and calatheas especially punish relocation.

Week 4 — feed and reassess

Confirm it is genuinely recovering

• Only if there is new growth: first feed at quarter to half strength.
• Final photograph and rescan. Compare it against day 0.
• If the soil now dries faster than it did in week 1, the root system is working.
• If nothing has changed at all in four weeks, re-diagnose rather than repeating the plan.