From our perspective deep in the soil, water is life, but its balance is everything. When you overwater, you flood our world. The air pockets in the soil, which we roots need to breathe, are filled with water. We begin to suffocate. Without oxygen, we cannot function properly. Our cells break down, and we become soft, brown, and mushy. This is root rot. Once this sets in, we can no longer absorb water or nutrients effectively, creating a cruel irony: the plant above shows signs of thirst because we, the roots, are drowning and dying in excess water.
Conversely, when you underwater, our environment becomes a desert. The soil pulls away from the sides of the pot, and we are left straining for any tiny droplet of moisture. We become dry, brittle, and may even start to shrivel. Without adequate water, we cannot transport essential nutrients and hydration up to the leaves and stems. We are desperate for a drink, and our physical structure begins to contract and suffer, unable to support the grand architecture of the plant above.
Our leaves are the most visible storytellers of your watering habits. In both overwatering and underwatering, we may wilt, but the reason and feel are different. When overwatered, we wilt from the root rot below; we become soft, limp, and often turn a sickly yellow, starting with the older leaves. We may feel cool and damp. You might even see dark, water-soaked spots or blisters (oedema) because the damaged roots are sending up too much water under pressure, which bursts our cells.
When underwatered, our wilting is a dramatic cry for help. We become dry, brittle, and crispy to the touch. We curl inward and brown dramatically at the tips and edges, desperately trying to reduce surface area and conserve water. Our color fades to a dull, pale green or yellow, and we feel thin and papery. The entire leaf structure becomes weak and may crack or shatter easily. The soil will also be dry and pulled away from the pot, confirming our thirst.
We, the stems and petioles, are the structural support system. Overwatering attacks us from within. As the roots rot, they cannot supply us with strength. We become soft, weak, and may feel spongy. We can no longer hold the leaves upright reliably, and we might even develop dark, soft lesions near our base. In severe cases, we can collapse entirely under the weight of the foliage, as our internal tissues are breaking down.
Underwatering affects us differently. We lose turgor pressure—the water pressure that keeps us firm and upright. Without it, we become limp, weak, and may bend or droop significantly. We do not become mushy; instead, we become woody, brittle, and may shrivel. We are simply lacking the hydraulic pressure needed to perform our most basic job of holding the plant proud and tall, leading to a general appearance of deflation and exhaustion.
From the plant's holistic view, improper watering halts our grand ambition: to grow and reproduce. Both extremes cause severe stress, forcing us to divert energy from growth to survival. Chronic overwatering leads to a complete stall in growth. New leaves are rare, small, and may emerge distorted. Flowering is out of the question, as all energy is spent trying to fight off fungal pathogens and root decay. We are in a state of decline.
Chronic underwatering also halts growth but for a different reason: a lack of building blocks. New leaves are few and far between, and when they do emerge, they are often stunted, small, and may unfurl with brown, crispy edges. Flower production ceases, as we do not have the resources to support such an energy-intensive process. We enter a state of dormancy, merely existing rather than thriving, waiting for the consistent moisture we need to resume our life cycle.
