So, this plant has typically been the lowest maintenance of my Calatheas. It never makes a fuss and is always putting out new growths. Recently I underwatered it and it suddenly collapsed rather dramatically. I see a couple dead bottom leaves I'm going to trim. Two new ones that just opened have now curled back up. I've never seen one of these just give up at the stem and bend like this so suddenly, 🫠. My questions are…
- Should I check the roots, spray it down, and repot asap?
- Do I treat for pests or would that stress it out enough to kill it faster?
-Trim the bent leaves even if they still look okay otherwise? I can't imagine they come back from that… 🤔 I don't want to take off too many… How many can I… 😂
I'm aware that it's a little deep in the pot, but it had been thriving til now, so I was going to repot in spring with a little better mix. Top is kinda wet because I gave it a soak last night. I'm not really asking for general soil/light/humidity advice etc, as I've gotten a good idea of all that now and it was doing great for like a whole year (so I let it be).
I've been in this situation before many times of: Calathea becomes dramatic and I over-correct so that it has no option but to die of stress. So naturally, now I'm scared to do anything. I did also notice what might be some little mealy or mites in the photos, but idk if it's normal plant residue because I've also over-reacted about that before lol.
Thanks for any advice on my next move.
by [deleted]
8 Comments
Sorry, idk why it formatted like this in to one giant paragraph. Basically, I underwatered and this happened. I don’t want to stress the plant in to dying by over-correcting. It’s been doing GREAT for a year til now. Light/soil/humidity advice not really needed, just what my next move should be and how much can I trim.
I would give her a gentle shower. Like in the shower lol. Take it out of the soil and wash the roots. Then leave her be for awhile. Like half an hour. Then repot or just put in water. Plain food glass jar works just fine.
ETA: i trim only the dead leaves or half brown.
I’m rehabbing mine as we speak.
I have my plant in a plastic bag and it’s starting to come back. It in a chunky soil and as it’s in a high humidity situation 23 hours out of the day. Its rebounding nicely. I have a long way to go to be fully healthy but I’ve gone from two shoots to three and lots of small but healthy leave.
It’s desperately dry. The soil is hydrophobic and not absorbing water properly. You’ll want to bottom water soak for a few hours or do as other suggested, gently in water remove all dirt and repot carefully.
Bright indirect sunlight, humidity, make roots are moist but not waterlogged.
Downsize that pot put a large bag for Humidy or mist it or get a humidifier
I think she s standing to dry
It does look like there are white-ish spots in the pictures (quite a bit), so maybe spidermites?
You definitely need to treat pests and also check if other plants at home are affected too.
I usually use and recommend predatory mites – they cost more but are effortless to deploy and you can “overdose” without problems. They never harm the plant in any way. Use 2-3 generations and you should be safe. Try to wipe off most pests before your first mite deployment to remove a big chunk of pests at first and then do not wipe or shower plants afterwards, as this would also wipe away your beneficial predatory mites.
I’d actually be more careful of overwatering now. The plant has lost a lot (or nearly all) of its foliage but is still sitting inna rather big pot. Maybe spread out your watering schedule a bit (let it dry out a bit more) and water it a bit less frequently. Or if you bottom water, only let it soak up a little water instead of a full soak. Big plants can adjust soil conditions more directly by evaporating more water or directly excreting it (like “dew”) through their leaves compared to low foliage plants. From my own experience: If a calathea sat in a pot too big for its foliage, water less frequently or it can curl its leaves and even whole stems and look like it’s “drying out”.
Number one priority is to check and maybe treat the pests tho. No recovery possible if there are pests. You could deadhead the whole plant (remove all foliage above-soil). I’d still treat my pots with some predatory mites tho. But in that case I’d probably not water the whole pot thoroughly anymore, I’d only water it partially so to not overwater the roots until foliage recovers. It should recover fine.
Lol why is half the soil wet? Inconsistent watering