How To Tell If Your Plant Is Dead — Or Just Dormant During The Winter

You're not the only one who gets a little lazy in the winter. Houseplants typically spend the season taking it easy and conserving their energy for when conditions are more conducive to growth. Cued by the changes in light, most varieties significantly slow down their growth once colder weather hits while others stop growing altogether.

This dormancy is totally normal, and growth should pick back up again once spring really gets into full swing. "The longer days will kick-start the process since the plants get their energy from the sun," Kierslyn Kujawa, a plant expert and Earth's Ally ambassador, tells mbg. "Where you live and how much the temperature and humidity are still fluctuating in spring will affect [when plants start] coming 'back to life,'" she adds.

Less sun means less photosynthesis and less visible leaf growth, but it shouldn't affect what's happening under the soil too much. So one way to diagnose dormancy is to gently remove your plant from its pot and check on its roots.

If you don't want to risk getting soil everywhere, Joyce Mast, longtime florist and designated Plant Mom at Bloomscape, says there are a few ways to check on your plant's growth without taking it out of its pot. For one, if your plant has some longer stems, you can do the "snap test" and sharply bend a pencil-length section of one of its stems back on itself.

Another fuss-free method from Mast, the scratch test requires using a fingernail or knife to scratch off the outer layer of a plant stem. "If you see green, it is alive. If brown, work your way down the stem to see if it's green farther down by the soil," she says. If the plant doesn't show signs of green life closer to the roots, it could be seriously struggling. (Poke through our guide to diagnosing and saving sick houseplants if so.)