Got her from a friend who had heard that Calatheas are "easy to care for". Ha. Haha.
She fussed about the water, which was to hard. About the soil, which wasn't chunky enough. This diva developed root rot out of spite, threw of half of her leaves overnight, complained about it being too drafty, too cold, and then about getting too much light.
In the beginning of this year I thought I'd finally met all of her needs, and THEN, she conjured an army of evil fungus gnats to invade my home, and all other plants for that matter.
After getting rid of these little pests following months of waging a relentless war, FINALLY, she seems somewhat content. It is more of a ceasefire than a peace, but it is what it is.
Pray for mercy that the Lord may spare me from any further calamities 🙏
by Cheshiremycelium
20 Comments
congrats!
So happy to see someone else affirming my belief that Calatheas are, in fact, devil plants 🙌🏼 have tried twice, both times resulting in a dead plant after many months of struggle and decline.
Glad your adopted plant has decided to give you some peace, long may it continue!
that’s super impressive, i’ve never seen one that big before!
She’s a beauty 😍
Calatheas exist out of spite and no one will convince me otherwise. 😭🙃
Overall, you appear to have won this battle but we will see if you have won the war.
You’ve fought a good fight and now you may rest. 😴
Good luck and great work so far! I’m impressed by your fortitude.
When I first started buying plants I was a TikTok that said to avoid calatheas. Noted. Went to place an online order and what did I do? Ordered a calathea not paying attention. Specifically this one. It is now my favorite plant! I love how the leaves open during the day and close back up. I’ve had her since beginning of May and she has no new growth but she’s still alive.
That’s a beautiful plant ! ❤️
All it took was tying her up? 😉
Beautiful, great work. Truly a passion too get that size and quality
Sounds like a plant I will not attempt yet…that said I already had my fun with fungus Gnats. I literally carried em home with a plant I had bought and they started swarming absolutely everywhere.
After trying a bunch of things…clay granules ontop of the soil of every potted plant I have fixed this problem pretty fast. They could no longer get the next gen in/out of the soil so they pretty much disappeared…but yeah.
Maybe I’ll try a Calathea once I can manage to keep my non-Succulents alive. That said my Monstera has been surviving being manhandled for 2 years now…I might be ready soon.
Do like how you kept her tag for all these years 😂 tryna return her any chance you got lmao
This is amazing!
I can share your pain and was it is with these things
But a bit of patience and look what happens just beautiful
Pretty
Beautiful
DO NOT say that outloud around her or war might come back
Hoooow? Mine has been living a half life for the past theee years 🥲
I have a Calathea Roseopicta that I put on the boxing gloves just waiting 🙄 I promised myself that she’d be history after just one tantrum and I’d never look back. Well the little sucker surprised me and behaved to my surprise !! 🌿
https://preview.redd.it/8cr0udpx1yaf1.jpeg?width=2992&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f92aa269a7c6f061ae8adbc745f7c4f3770741d
Tremendous job. Glad you stick with it OP. She’s a beauty.
Bich? Birch?