Help! Roseopicta/Calathea

by PatriotForever65

4 Comments

  1. a_fizzle_sizzle

    These guys are super picky. I own 50+ tropical plants and I don’t own one single Calathea for this reason. They are very picky and humidity is one of them. They also get spider mites, often. Picky about the type of water they need, some say diluted is best.

    Yours looks like dry rot? I can’t tell.

    Anyways, don’t be offended if she dies.

  2. Seriously-Worms

    When I had a similar issue I found my only option was to clean the roots with H2O2, cut any mushy roots, cut the leaves in 1/2, pop in clean soil (or even just perlite with about 1/4” of water at the bottom), put a bag over it for humidity and cross your fingers or pray.
    Saved mine and now it’s coming back. I also used some azomax since they are known for having spider mites, especially when stressed out.
    I now use a mix of = pumice (or #3 perlite or 1/4” bonsai stone), tree fern fiber and about 5-10% worm castings. Then I use a diy self watering wick pot or careful no drainage with a thick layer of leca on the bottom. So far the no drainage is working better but I fine tuned my alocasia and Rhipsalis in these so know how much water to leave in the bottom and how long to leave without any in the bottom.
    If there are any nodes that aren’t rotted all the way up then there’s a chance you can save it but you’ll need to watch it carefully to ensure it doesn’t dry out. I’ve found they get dry rot easy and that turns to wet root rot as soon as they are watered.
    Good luck. Hope you can save it.

Pin