system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How can I kill a plant by overwatering it, yet propagations of the same plant will grow in water?
gpt
Overwatering is not about the amount of water, it's about the frequency of waterings, In fact you can literally inundate most common houseplants in tons of water and they'll be completely fine as long as you let them dry thoroughly afterwards. If you keep the soil damp all the time, not letting it dry up properly between waterings, it will grow bacteria and molds which will suffocate the roots and kill off those delicate root hairs, making the plant unable to suck up water, which will ultimately kill it. This is not a problem in water simply because the lack of soil prevents molds and bacteria from building up.