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Calathea Growing Tips Update | Prayer Plants, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ค. 2022
- I share some of the tips for growing calathea, maranta, stromanthe and ctenanthe that have worked for me.
Some of these might surprise you and might be controversial, but they have worked for me so I thought I would share.
These tips have meant I find caring for my calathea is now a breeze, very rarely do I find pests and no leaf tip browning 😊
Update Video
#houseplantygoodness
Calathea Ornata Image
Dinkum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
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I adore my prayer plants. They are what made me fall in love with houseplants as a hobby. My Mum kept them so they’ve always been in my life and they will always hold a very special place in my heart and in my collection.
I absolutely agree that baby plants will acclimate to your home better than the teenagers and adults. That said, I find this has been the case with ALL houseplants. People just notice it more with prayer plants.
Maybe I’m lucky but I’ve had few hardships with my PPs, with the exception of my White Fusion which Instamelted when it got spider mites lol.
My secrets include:
1. using an aroid mix.
2. Watering when the water meter = 3.
3. Half-strength fert when it is growing and they can absolutely grow in winter.
4. When repotting, just place in the new pot and backfill. Do not mess with the roots
Understand that no matter what your conditions you will need to accept they won’t always look perfect. But that’s okay. None of us look perfect 100% of the time.
Best of luck 🌿✅
I wish people would stop saying the white fusion is super difficult. I also wish more people would talk about the fact that it’s not uncommon for Calathea to die all the way back to the soil and then come back bigger and stronger than before. That’s actually what happened with my white fusion. I got a little overly aggressive treating spider mites a few months after I first got her and she ended up losing all but two of her leaves and even those two were starting to turn yellow then less than a month later she started pushing new growth back up from everywhere in the pot and now she’s bigger and more beautiful than she was when I originally got her which was over a year ago. Now I will say the spider mites definitely like her more than any of my other Calathea so you do have to stay on top of the preventative pest maintenance with this one. But she’s a fighter. I had one of my rattlesnake Calathea die all the way back to the soil as well and it has come back but at a much much slower rate than the white fusion did.
Omg you're right! It just hit me lol Three out of four calatheas of mine (pinstripe, jungle rose and orbifolia) did exactly that, died down to two leaves that were also dying, and as I was about to give up on them and toss them to the bin, they started pushing out new growth. Now, two of them have a couple of new leaves each. The orbifolia I actually gave away to a friend thinking it won't survive, but she wanted to give it a second chance, and it bounced back better than ever after almost dying completely. My rattlesnake lasted the longest of them all but started to slowly die now. So, it probably will do the same as all the others 😅 Now thanks to your comment, I have hope that they will all grow back to their previous glory 😄🫶
Seeing the title of this video in my subscription list really made me smile.
Let's face it, most people buy a Calathea (or 5) when they are starting to get into houseplants because they are so eye-catching and they're a real 'baptism of fire' 🤣
I had a large Warscewiczii, large Ctenanthe Amagris, Medium Borrusica and small Maranta, Makoyana, Orbifolia and Stromanthe Thalia. I found that all did "well" (except for the Borrusica) for about 4-5 months and then the tantrums started. They were kept in the correct temperatures and humidity with the correct watering schedule (using rainwater) and they would still crisp up and discolour.
The irritation of constantly trying to establish the cause of the problem (especially as they wouldn't all do it at the same time and would 'temporarily' sort themselves out again) started to diminish the pleasure of plant care, especially as the causes were never established.
I never killed any, but after a year with them I decided that Calatheas either like you or they don't and so I gifted them all away for others to try their luck, with the exception of the Maranta...although that is still on probation 🤣
My experience of 1 year with prayer plants (I started as a complete beginner in houseplants): My White Fusion died within few months due to heavy spider mites infestation that I failed to fight. Ornata and Illustris followed - spider mites got way too bad and it was too late before I learnt the best method to kill spider mites. However, I still have my Makoyana, Lancifolia, Beauty Star, Muzaika Red and Lemon Lime Maranta and Stromanthe Triostar. They all survived first spider mites (I managed to fight it in time) and later thrips as well. They suffered, but recovered well after all that. Stromanthe Triostar is a beast - it grows super fast (both roots and leaves), way faster then others. Red Maranta grows super fast too. After all the madness at the beginning, they really taught me a lesson. Now they grow very nicely and except for little bit of crisping, they are well. Marantas (water propagations) live in Lechuza pon and love it - they grow even faster than before - I believe that pon is the best for maranta.
I never experienced curling leaves - my only big problem were the pests (total nightmare - it spread to most of my collection of other plants too, but prayer plants got the most damage and death rate).
What works for me really well:
- buing a plantlet of 5/6 cm pot - all my plantlets survived spider mites and thrips, all "bigger ones" died quite fast
- north facing window, humidifier and keeping the humidity at 60 % nearly all the time - 70 % makes them even happier though - but I don´t like 70 % for myself :-)
- filtered water kept min. 24 hours rest before watering
- only organic and very gentle with fertilising - I once burnt stromanthe´s leaves a bit, so learnt a lesson
- I let them dry out top half and then I consider watering
- using my aroid mix, when repoting I never ever mess with roots
- no misting, except for occasional clean up and pest prevention treatments
- I keep the conditions same as much as I can manage
- pest prevention & humidity = so far key to sucess for me
It was a lot of stress and time, but now I think I start understanding what is needed. Let´s see in the coming years. They are so beautiful that I find it is still worth it. And if they die - I´m going to try to regrow them from the rhizoms (at least as an experiment). I do love them despite everything
Awwww thank you for sharing your story in such detail I am sure everyone appreciates reading about it and seeing what they can learn from it too 😊
Can I ask, what's your best solution to fighting spider mites?
@ShonjiPowerOf2 For me,combination of Vertimec (abamektin) and Careo Substral - spraying the whole plant and top watering with it. Spraying every 3-5 days. The worst it is the longer it takes to get rid of them - it took me about 6 weeks of this routine. Neem oil didn't work for me much when it went bad - I find it better as prevention
Thank you so much I am very new to Calathea’s I only have two. And my neighbour has much more. This is what made me want them, because hers are so beautiful. Great video and great tips and tricks too
I killed my first because they said let all soil dry. I found that it's a moist loving plant that loves water. Had finally grow it big and in a large pot.
I bought a mystery calathea from a local box store's 'save a life table' (clearance shelf), cut all the dead foliage back, treated it for pests, set it up on a sub irrigation system and left it there-it's happily pushing new leaves every other day or so! I believe it's a Calathea Misto.
I've killed most of my other prayer plants (one stromanthe left) but this one is thriving! In my experience, the self watering/sub irrigation system makes all the difference!
(USA-zone 6b/7a, indoors, East window, 50-70% humidity, aroid mix medium)
Always appreciate your content Memo! 💚🌱
ornata likes to live outside in shade and very humid place. It loves rain, many calatheas that are a bitty fussy need to live outside. I live in Brazil but in a subtropical zone, here in winter ( 10 celcius) is very dry and if they are in a very windy place the leaves will curl. the ctenante setosa and the oppenheimiana are used here in public spaces under trees, very resilients. The bigger calatheas as cylindrica and crotalifera love sun and hate cold. The fussier calatheas as the white fusion need outdoor life or a terrarium that simulates the ideal condition( high humidity, bright light but not direct). If they get spider mites, they need rain. Harri Lorenzi has some books here that are great .Love this channel.
I’ve found it easier to keep it happy when they are already a bigger plant. I’ve killed all the little ones lol. I’m with you 100% tab water 😅
Wow that is really interesting I found the opposite actually, I had better success starting the off small. This is what I love about plant care, there isn't only one way of doing it, different things work for different people with different environments and care 💚🌿😊. Definately on the 💯 tap water 💦
My pinstripe is a few years old. I’ve managed to keep it alive and somewhat happy. It’s a Diva no doubt. I water it with distilled water and at least in my area, it seems to do better when I keep it away from tap water. I haven’t had any problems with pests but I tend to keep it clean and baby it a bit too much. It’s a few feet away from a south facing window for now. Yes I’ve had to move it around quite a bit to find it’s happy place and for now it seems to like where it’s at. It is a Diva after all. But I love her very much. ❤️
I almost killed one of my prayer plants, because I had kept it next to the window sil. And I was very upset on how the leaves just dried out within a month of getting it home. So I moved it far away from the sil, inside the room and it survived. I didn't over water it, because I tend to that with new plants.
It's 9 months since then and it has survived.
Then recently (2 months ago) I moved it next to window sil protected from sun by a white plastic and curtain, but some of the leaves have started to turn yellow on the tip. So i will keep it down,away from direct sun next to the humidifier.
Also other prayer plant is thriving and flowering as well, and I think what i did right is that it was surrounded by a lot of plants, so it was a part of the eco system
thank you for another great video. I will share my experiences in case someone might find it helpful (I have six varieties including some fussy ones like white fusion for a bit more than two years). in my apartment humidity is 60% in spring and summer but less than 40% in fall and winter but my calatheas are doing fine(I rarely use humidifier and I just mist them heavily once every two weeks to prevent spider mites). their leaves get black and crisp in margins only when I let their soil dry out completely or when I use tap water. they don't like overwatering either(I water them once a week.they tend to like a fixed watering schedule).
I mix one part cocopeat, one part peat moss, two parts chunky perlite, two parts chunky cocochips,half a part vermiculite (a mixture of fine and chunky vermiculite) and two or three strands of long fiber sphagnom moss. they love cocochips and some vermiculite in their soil mix and these two components make a real difference. they live in a corner that has no natural lighting. just artificial lighting (and it's not even real growth light! it's one yellow and one white lamp(they're long linear lights that people usually use them under cabinets) one feet away from their leaves) twelve hours a day. I fertilizer them with a half dose diluted 20-20-20 fertilizer about six times a year. none of them were doing well in first year but they started to thrive after repotting them in mentioned soil mix, watering them once a week with filtered water and putting them under artificial lights. now they're growing rapidly and I rarely face crisped edges on their leaves.
Thank you for this video! It totally makes sense to grow them from small plants to acclimatize them! I have a calathea makyona and a rattlesnake calathea, a lemon lime maranta and a stromanthe green sanguinea. All are doing well and growing quickly but when I first got my marantas it took a good 4 months before I saw any new growth. I keep my calatheas with my blue star fern and crispy wave fern as they seem to theive in the same conditions in my home. Bundling plants with similar care I find really helps to keep plant care simplified. My maranta has been growing since day 1. It is in a bathroom with no window but I use a grow bulb for it and it seems to thrive.
Also, thank you for normalizing some leaf imperfections. So far mine are okay but it is a bit overwhelming to see all the gorgeous plants that appear to be perfect. I appreciate real stories, it makes plant parenting less intimidating!
Again thanks for the info! I love your channel 😊
i've found that calathea like light more than they're reputed to need light. orbifolia and musaica chill out and aren't as much drama queens. the ones with the broad leaves like Dottie are the hardest to keep in good condition. they won't die but are resolved to look horrible permanently
Pon pon pon! Trust me mine absolutely lobe it!!
I've had quite a few prayer plants in the time that I've kept plants, I've even rehabbed them from big box stores. I've noticed they love semi hydro! Every few months you get some crispy bits but thats normal.
Definately I say embrace the odd crispy leaf it's ok 😊💚🍃
I’ve had my Calathea for about 8 months. I only use distilled water. I mist them every morning with distilled water. I also use organic fish emulsion at with each watering diluted at less than Half strength. So far no spider mites or pest. I never let them fully dry out ever. I don’t have any crispy leaves. I currently have: my Medallion is in a North facing window, Rosy, Dottie, Musaica is North facing window with a grow light. My maranta care is similar but they do prefer to dry out and also prefer brighter light. I have silver band maranta, lemon lime and red maranta. I also have a smaller plant collection so I can baby them more
This was a really helpful post. Thank you
I have fish emulsion how do you get the smell not to be there 😅
@@Growingwithselena if you dilute it, it’s not so bad. I dilute to a 4th of the directions on the bottle
I got my white Fusion in 14cm pot 2 months ago for 15€, I'm situated in Germany. It was an impulse buy and I had no idea what this cultivation is... After some research I thought that I would kill that plant immediately, but luckily it's alive up to now.
Honestly, I personally have had 100% success in transitioning from soil and growing various types of prayer plants in Lechuza pon. I haven’t had any issues with foliage dying off or even crisping of the leaf tips. I use filtered water when flushing the plants and filling the reservoir and once acclimated to the pon they grow like crazy! If you are struggling with prayer plants in soil, I would consider trying semi-hydro (either pon or leca).
Very interesting, I have tried to transition mine to pon a few times and I have not had great success, so you fully remove the soil?
@@Houseplantygoodness yes I fully remove the soil… at least as much of it as possible but I can usually get almost all of it out. I know you aren’t supposed to use the self-watering feature with those type of pots right away, but I have found that mine transitioned best when given a water reservoir immediately after the transfer. I also thoroughly flush the pot once or twice a week or so and I’ve never had any issues with overwatering using pon either. You might experience some leaf curl or flopping for the first few days just from transplant shock but the plant should perk right up after that. I also love to use SuperThrive when transitioning any plant into pon because it really helps acclimate the roots better and faster (I think).
@@spikedout2323 Did you transition small plantlets or more mature ones? Also do you think that removing soil and putting them in water for a few days before putting them in pon with a water reservoir would help or be damaging? I know they would love pon, but I´m too scared of them dying in transition.
@@SparkleInMoonlight I have transitioned both and have had the same results either way. I don't think putting them in water for a few days prior to transitioning into pon will make much of a difference. If anything, I think the pon is more beneficial for the plant's roots because it has such a great water/oxygen ratio. I have yet to have a plant die off from me transferring it into pon. Even if some of the foliage dies off for some reason (very unlikely in my experience), the plant will still be working on developing a really good and strong root system which will eventually help it push out a bunch of new growth. If you wanted to experiment, and you have some sizeable prayer plants that you would be able to separate a few plantlets from, I would start there and use good ol' trial and error! I actually was able to successfully propagate some pieces of my prayer plants into pon as well so I could give them away to others. Do not ever be scared of killing a plant!!! Especially ones that are fairly inexpensive and easy to replace. Learning from your mistakes is all part of the fun :)
@@spikedout2323 Thank you for sharing your experience :-) I´m going to give it a go and see :-)
I have prayer plants for 2-3 years. Marantha family is much more easier to care. And also i realised the ones that which has thick leaves are much more easy to look after... Calathea orbifolia is easy to kill 😅.
I have had my Ornata for a year. When I bought it it had some chomp holes in 2 leaves. It kept growing and putting out leaves. It was on the bigger size. It ended up getting some bug that was eating it and my bad I soaked the leaves in warm dish soap too long. I cut all the foliage off, replaced all the soil and it came back. I never let it dry out completely and I am in Colorado. I agree that starting smaller with this type is better as it acclimates to your home
I love my prayer plants, had them for years. I treat them exactly the same as all of my ferns, and they're happy and growing. However, I do use distilled, bc that was the advice, but I'm now thinking of trying my tap water which is very good water.
Wow, to gift that beautiful plant away after all the effort to get it there is amazing and that person must be very dear to you.
I really do believe your houses age, structure, insulation has a baring on how your plant survives as well. I have quite a few Calatheas & living in New Zealand I’m sure our light is stronger here because I keep mine well away from windows which they much prefer. I’ve had indoor plants forever & I’m still wildly in love with Calatheas 😂😂 so what I’m trying to say essentially is think of the type of house you live in, ceiling height, country, where you position them in your home (north east is wonderful for me), as well as all your basics, watering, pests etc. it’s alit more bespoke than we think. Good luck 🥰
My sister lives in NZ and since it's tropical I feel like you guys don't count lol all the plants love it there. She doesn't have to do hardly anything and keeps a fiddle leaf fig happy. I'm devastated 💔 🤣
@@ShonjiPowerOf2 Come on down 🥰
I would love a white fusion but since I tend to be a bit forgetful with my watering routine that's a no.
I've been quite happy with the maranta lemon lime and calathea beauty star for almost 2 years now, and agree that they can take a tiny bit of drying. Luckily, I have had no spidermites issues so far, but my beauty star still tends to develop a sticky residue on the underside of leaves. I stopped worrying about it though, apparently a few people associate it with dry stress, so that would make sense for my care regime 🤷♂️
I have been watching your videos for a while now and really enjoy the content and the atmosphere you foster here. Looking forward to learning more from you 😊
Yeah now that you mention it I get the stickyness too sometimes, but no spider mites either.
Awww thank you for the kind words, I am so glad you are enjoying the content 😊 💚 🌿
I love your mad hatter laugh 🤣 it makes me giggle every time 🥰
Love your videos and your laugh! I have 12 varieties of calathea..never had spider mites but did get thrips. My pinstripe is in an column aquarium high humidity and is growing well. Lost my Dottie to thrips. My daughter has an amazing Dottie 12 feet away from south window, low humidity but she’s very consistent with her tap watering. She does treat the water with Prime a aquarium water conditioner. I’d ad a pic but don’t know how!
Thank you! You have been so informative. I love prayer plants and this video has been great.
Watching from the UK and love watching your unboxing, so exciting, such lovely plants, enjoy! X
I’ve had a marantha leuconera for a couple of years that seems happy. Surprisingly enough it only start thriving when I moved her to a window sill (where it does get some afternoon sun) + combined with a grow light. I water with rain water and pot is on a pebble tray.
I like your plants and the way you have grown them.i have the calathea ornata the one that survived with me. I have the one with the one with dark green stains on the leaves. My magic star died thou i cared for it.
I wish I watched this video before repotting my 5 year old rabbit track marantas. I decided to pot them together and with that I had to remove soil and manipulate the roots. Needless to say they are now doing very poorly and I won’t be surprised if I lose them completely. I’ve taken some cutting to try and be preemptive. Live & learn 😅
I have had my calathea white fusion for 2 years now. Such a picky plant but so beautiful! I have near a humidifier especially during the winter! I always monitor it for spider mites because it seems to be so prone to them!
Hi Memo, I've come across your channel recently, and I love it. So much inforrmation for so many plants, and you've already saved me from buying plants that would've otherwise been thrip magnets lol. Came across the video about hoyas and mealybugs after I already bought two, unfortunately lol, but I saw your hoya australis and fell in love cause it's absolutely gorgeous. I'm somewhat new to plant care and was wondering what app you use to water your plants?
Oh so your dealing with the home from Vaca too 😀 You are such a good friend, because your Orbifolia is gorgeous, probably the nicest I’ve seen. 💚 I’ve managed too keep the Rotundafolia, or Facsicita happy a few yrs now. My Rubifabarbra suffered from my Vaca also. 🥰
Oh wow no way we both had suffering Rufibarba 😮😅 after Vaca. Thanks yeah the Orbifolia did OK grew it from 1 leaf, but happy to share the love with a friend... And make room for more plants on my side 😬😅😂
@@Houseplantygoodness Hey! It’s a win, win situation 😂😁💚
When you mentioned the ornata I went 🙂. That thing just died out of nowhere while the other calatheas were doing just fine. Same with dottie, that started curling on my way home and after couple days it died...
hahaha me too, i just bought one a few days ago, let's see if i can keep it alive :') i also have a ctenanthe which isn't thriving but still alive after a few years and being abused occasionally (read: not getting enough water and being the home of some mourning flies)
@@violentbob oh! I have/had a ctenathe tricolor that was beautiful and somehow i managed to keep it beautiful for at least 3 weeks. Then all the white parts of the leaves started browning and the rest of the leaves followed the browning so i cut it down to the soil to see if it comes back.
Love your honesty! Have a few, my big medallion has new leaves with brown crispy spots on them already! What do you think it is? I love them... Especially my triostar stromanthe
I have one calathea rufibarba I neglect a lot and it hasn't been repotted for some 20 years and it does great. The calathea white star (have it 2 years) I have is hanging on and crisps a lot but seems to love that I repotted it in a bigger pot so it stays moist longer. the calathea lancifolia the same, bit hardier than the white star and it loves its bigger pot and has flowered. The cnenante I can forget a lot but will revive after watering, even if bone dry
Amazing, thanks for sharing your experiences, yeah definately the ctenanthe are so good at bouncing back
I dont have prayer plants anymore but i'm trying Kampferia. It's a group of (edible) tropical ginger plants with marking very similar to a prayer plant but are supposed to be way less sensitive. I agree with it for the sole fact I was able to grow it from a minuscule piece of rhizome. For the moment I have one single leaf and a new one forming.
The draw back it that it need a winter rest and lose all it's leaves in the fall.
Ohhhh very interesting, I had not heard of Kampferia, did a Google search, they look awesome, even better if edible. I have a spiral ginger (pretty sure it is ornamental and not edible sadly 😕) but the Kampferia sounds great.
Yeah I get it, it can be so frustrating if they loose their leaves in winter
I can’t keep the first one you showed alive for anything lol! all the others thrive in my humid kitchen (NE facing window). I only start from a very small plant though.
Unfortunately, they’re not going to do too well there in the winter since there’s an electric baseboard heater below.
I do have a Maranta that keeps pumping out new growth that crisps and dies off before it even unfurls though 😢 not sure why.
I have a few but the biggest is about 5 foot wide/tall I planted outside, however I live in Ecuador. So my take is warmth and humidity. Ive had the outside planted one about 7 years. I give it more compost and fertilizer once a year. the potted Calathea I have are not doing great.
I got a tiny little pin stripe calathea from Josh's frogs a year ago, and while it's still alive somehow and has never had spider mites, it hasn't added any leaves and has even dropped a few. It's still small
For some reason, white fusion calathea are the ones I just can't get to flourish. Prayer plants, stromanthe, no problem! But the WFC just never likes my house.
I have 2 in self watering pots for about year and half but the leaves on both have started to turn a chirp yellow around the edges 😒 hopefully I can save them.
Omg! I just replanted my red-veined maranta and messed with the roots big time! It was saturated and removed all the old soil. I think I just killed it.
In my experience, ctenanthe is much easier to care for than calathea. I have two that are in semi hydro, even water culture.
What do you think about foxfarm soil
They have one they flush the salt out of
How much new leaves can I expect with my Calathea Orbifolia? I just got him a couple of weeks ago. There was one new leaf growing. Now it's opening a little bit. How long will this usually take? Should I be worried if this takes a couple of weeks?
Does anyone know the equivalent of the Liquid Gold Leaf product in the United States? Unfortunately, it's not shipped to the States. Thanks!
what type mites do we need to get to battle spider mites? wha?
My zebrina was pretty easy to care but it collapsed (curling and yellowing) due to the recent heatwave 😔
Yeah I feel you with that one I think a heatwave is how I lost my zebrina too 😢
How do you care for an ornata
Where is orbifobia