This is the first Calathea I've owned, gifted to me last year. I've tried to keep it in bright light with no direct sun and I water it frequently. I think maybe I havent watered it quite enough, I've had bad fungus gnat infestations a couple of times in the past so I always prefer to underwater slightly and not let plants stay moist for more than a few days, I always let the soil dry before watering. That said, for plants like this I only let the soil just about dry out, I never make them stay bone dry for days.
I repotted it after I got it, in a mix of good quality compost and perlite. I can't remember the exact mix ratio but I looked it up at the time. Before winter I fed it (using baby bio in water) about once a month, then gave all my plants no feed from November to February.
The leaves were damaged when I got it, its a chain garden centre plant so the care it received before I got my hands on it is potentially quite basic.
How can I make it a bit happier and perkier, and should I remove these more damaged leaves, or will the plant naturally decide when to drop them? I'm never sure with leaf damage if its more harmful to remove them or let the plant figure it out.
by Additional_Lion_1670
2 Comments
Would love to know this bc I just bought the exact same kind from a store and it’s also not looking happy and in the same condition as yours. Idk what to do to make her happy
First off calathea do not like to dry out. They like to stay moist. Second they like a lot of humidity. You shouldn’t have repoted when you bought it home wait a couple of weeks. Leave the leaves. Every calathea gets yellow or brown leaves because it’s not in its natural environment. It’s hard to get the right in environment for a calathea. Get a self watering pot and fertilize once a month. If you let them go dry they will throw a tantrum. Even if you move it around from its original spot it will throw a tantrum