Hey guys! So im relatively new to calatheas. I do have a couple marantas, a dottie and a rattlesnake…and I recently acquired this ornata that truly just seems to hate me. She looked great when I got her, and at first I thought maybe she was just having a rough time acclimating to my space, but every day I look at her she just gets worse and worse. Ive checked the roots and thwy all seek ti be healthy. I do plan on repotting soon because she seems to be in a mostly peat based medium, but im almost afraid 5o repot right now with the condition she's in already. Could this really all just be from humidity? I keep most of my plants in the basement at the moment and the humidity stays around 40% so i was thinking that may be the issue? Idk. I dont know what to do, but this is a plant I've wanted for a little while now and was so excited to finally get one so I really dont want her to die. Im so sad. Does anyone have one of these tjay are thriving? If so can you please tell me what youre doing?! Also..I only water with distilled water and keep her under grow lights.
by Wonderful_Song8765
2 Comments
I do not have one of these but, are the curled leaves ones that didn’t unfurl? If so that’s usually humidity. If no, then a watering issue possibly caused by the medium it’s in.
I’d def try to up the humidity and if you don’t see a change, try repotting. My ornata died on me in October (still don’t know the cause tho) and I cut her all the way down in December 2025 & put her into some new potting mix and watered it maybe twice total (i didnt wanna Water log the soil since there were no leaves) and now I have two new leaves that look healthier than the previous ones. I do have her right by a humidifier though. 55% humidity. She’s a foot away from a southwest facing window but on the floor so she gets filtered light most of the day and few hours of afternoon and evening sun as it sun sets. All that to say, if you do end up having to cut all the leaves back, the rhizomes will push out new leaves if they’re in some good soil/potting mix & the humidity & lighting is right