There is nothing like the stunning foliage of Calathea plants (now reclassified as Goeppertia)! If you can keep them in good condition that is! There are a few things to keep in mind to keep these plants in beautiful condition and avoid the dreaded brown, crispy edges!
Keep reading to find out all about Calathea care, including light requirements, repotting, and how to prevent your Calathea from dying.
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And by dying, most people tend to overreact to every little crispy leaf, but you can quickly kill a Calathea if you are not aware of a few things!
In this post, I will provide my personal experience with Calathea.
In particular, I will show my Calathea lancifolia (also known as Rattlesnake Plant) and Calathea orbifolia.
However, the care and advice will apply broadly to all plants in the Calathea genus.
Some other gorgeous Calathea species include Calathea makoyana, Calathea ornata, and Calathea roseopicta, among many others!
I will go into the care very shortly, but let me show you my plants. Here is my Calathea lancifolia.
I absolutely love the stunning patterns on the leaves! And here is my Calathea orbifolia.
These plants can grow HUGE. A friend actually sent me a tiny orbifolia in a mail and she is starting to grow into a beautiful specimen.
I would encourage you to read this entire post because you can't really separate elements of houseplant care. You have to look at them all together to get a good picture of how to take care of your plants.
By the end of this post, you will understand how to care for your Calathea and how to do your best to keep them in great shape and minimize those crispy leaves and edges that plague many people.
Table of Contents
HOW TO AVOID BROWN, CRISPY EDGES IN CALATHEA
1. HUMIDITY FOR CALATHEA
I wanted to start out first by talking about humidity. There are MORE important topics than low humidity actually, but I will get to those very soon.
If you can provide higher humidity for your Calathea plants, please go ahead and do so.
It is NOT the most important factor in keeping most of your Calathea species in good shape, but they DO prefer humid environments.
First of all, misting will do nothing to increase humidity! Humidity is a measure of moisture in the air. You are just wetting the leaves by misting.
That being said, Calathea can be prone to spider mites and misting can actually help deter spider mites (since spider mites like very dry conditions). There is one benefit to misting!
However don't expect misting to increase your humidity. There are better ways. If you do have a spider mite infestation, read my blog post on Spider Mites: 3 Things You Can Do to Stop Them.
Just don't overdo misting your calathea's leaves otherwise you can encourage fungal diseases, especially if your air circulation is poor.
One great way to achieve high humidity for your Calatheas and other plants is to simply get a humidifier. I honestly only run mine in the winter months when our indoor air is super dry.
My absolute favorite humidifier, and the one that I personally use is the Levoit Humidifier. It honestly is the best one I've used and I've used a lot.
It will cost a little more but is well worth it. It has many features including cool and warm mist, and is quiet and very effective. Not to mention, it is built very well and will last you much longer if you take care of it!
I run it all winter long in my sunroom. Not only is it good for my plants, but it is also great for my dry skin and my dry winter nasal passages! 😀
Central heating can result in really dry air, so I make sure to run my humidifier diligently all winter long.
The Levoit Ultrasonic Humidifier is by far the best humidifier I've tested and I will not use any other.
Another way to increase humidity is to group plants together. Plants naturally release water into the air by a process called transpiration.
The more you group together, the more the localized humidity will increase.
There are no secrets in houseplant care. A lot of people ask me frequently "what is your secret" for taking care of [insert plant of the day here].
The only "secret" is just proper houseplant care techniques, like proper watering. If you have proper watering down, in conjunction with proper light, you are most of the way there in ensuring that your plants are healthy.
Those dreaded Calathea crispy leaves and edges, more times than not, are due to inconsistent watering and/or improper watering! NOT humidity (though high humidity will help).
Proper watering is a much bigger factor in ensuring that your Calathea leaves are in great condition. If you have good humidity on top of all that, all the better! Think of it as a bonus.
You must get your watering practices down and have proper light first. THEN focus on increasing humidity. If you have all 3, you are golden.
That being said, PROPER AND CONSISTENT WATERING is the key to avoiding excessive crispy and brown leaf edges in Calathea (and other plants!)
There are so many watering myths concerning houseplants in general and the word overwatering is terribly misunderstood.
Be sure to read these two blog posts that I just linked to above after you're done with this post. They are critical to growing beautiful houseplants.
Take my Calathea lancifolia plant above. This plant was in great condition for a long time when I was very attentive and consistent in watering.
But sometimes, something called life happens, and I either get too tired or busy and I let my plants dry out more than I normally do. If you keep doing this over and over, you will get crispy leaves.
Your Calathea is not dying if you have one crispy leaf. Keep that in mind. But neglect watering over and over again, and it just may die!
So how much do Calathea like to be watered? How often should you water your Calathea? The short answer is that it DEPENDS!
People ask me all the time how often to water plants. And it really just depends. Don't go by your calendar!
Go by your soil moisture instead! Everyone's conditions are different. The size of your pot, the type of pot you have (terra cotta vs. plastic for example), the temperature, type of soil, all play a role in how quickly the soil dries out.
So forget that calendar schedule for watering and use your finger instead.
Calathea plants like to grow in a consistently moist soil, but they do NOT like to dry out completely.
A good rule of thumb that I like to use for these plants is to allow the surface of the soil to dry out, and then water again.
Maybe the top inch or so smaller pots. If you have a huge pot, maybe allow the top 2 inches to dry out.
But when do you water, water thoroughly! Let all the water drain out of the drainage hole, and you are done.
Then just keep observing and repeat. It really is as simple as that!
By having good watering practices and never allowing your Calathea soil to completely dry out, you will avoid those ugly crispy and brown leaves.
On the other end, make sure that your plant is never sitting in watering for extended periods of time and always ensure that you have a drainage hole. Like most plants, you can have root rot if this continues.
Once you have root rot, you can start to get yellow leaves and also brown tips as well.
You may still get very small brown tips on the leaves even with good care, but seriously...don't stress about those.
As long as the rest of the plant looks healthy and vigorous, you have come a long way!
3. WATER QUALITY FOR CALATHEA
Last but definitely not least, Calathea plants can be pretty sensitive to hard water and fluoride in tap water. You can grow them with hard tap water, but depending on the quality of your tap water, this can also cause brown leaf edges.
Many people have been very successful using distilled water for their Calatheas and have reported great results with minimal to no brown edges of the leaves.
If you don't want to bother with buying distilled water or setting up a complicated RO water system, don't miss my post on the best distilled water alternative for Calathea plants. You will thank me for it! It has worked wonders for my plants.
Of course, you'll also have to make sure that you're not letting your soil dry out too much either.
Avoid cold water, and always use room temperature or lukewarm water. Being native to tropical rainforest, it makes sense to avoid cold water.
Calatheas don't need a ton of fertilizer, but be sure to use some throughout the growing season, especially if you are using distilled water.
My favorite fertilizer that I use for most of my houseplants is Dyna-Gro Grow (easily purchased on Amazon).
Simply add ¼ to ½ teaspoon in a gallon of water and for Calathea, I might use with every other watering, or even once a month or so during the growing season.
You don't want to overdo it because of their sensitivity to salts, but they still need some fertilizer for best growth.
You can water periodically with just plain distilled water in order to flush away any build up of salts.
Watering with pure distilled water in between fertilizer applications will help flush out any salts that can potentially cause brown leaves.
Rain water is also a wonderful water source if you can collect it.
CAN CALATHEA GROW IN LOW LIGHT?
This is a loaded question too! Let me talk a little about "low light" and what Calathea like.
Low light is just too vague and everyone interprets it differently. Let me just tell you what works for me.
Calathea are among the "lower" light plants if you would like to call them that, but they still need to be in front of a window for best results. And by in front of a window, I mean within a couple feet (in most cases).
Light intensity decreases DRAMATICALLY the further you get from a window. You would be shocked!
Calathea do not like a lot of direct sun. The most I would do is some morning sun (which Eastern windows provide) but no more than that. Northerns windows will work well.
If you have any windows that are very sunny, you can either move your plant back a little, or use a sheer curtain to diffuse the direct sun so that the plants are not getting direct sun on their leaves.
Too much direct sun, or even short periods of hot, intense sun, can burn their leaves.
That's it! You're most of the way there now. Giving your Calatheas proper light and proper watering will go a long way in ensuring a beautiful plant.
There is more to consider though that is very important so keep on reading!
WHAT KIND OF SOIL DOES CALATHEA NEED?
Plants can really grow in a variety of mediums and soil mixtures, but the most important thing that you need to keep in mind is that the soil should be well drained.
There is no one "magic" soil mixture.
Many pre-packaged soil mixes can use some help though in the area of drainage!
As a general potting mix, I love using Miracle Gro potting mixand I do amend it a bit to make it fluffier and lighter, depending on what plants I'm growing.
For Calathea, I like to add perlite to mix.
I like to use my wheelbarrow outside for this to keep the mess down and keep it easy! My ratio will vary, but 2 to 3 parts of Miracle Gro potting mix to 1 part of perlite is a good rule of thumb!
The reason that you want good drainage all has to do with oxygen to the roots. If you incorporate things like perlite, which I buy often all the time from Amazon, it will increase drainage and oxygen to your plant's roots.
This is very important for all plants.
ORGANIC POTTING MIX
If you don't want to mix your own, I HIGHLY recommend the Oh Happy Plants mixes that you can use straight out of the bag. The Pray For Us soil blend is formulated specifically for Calathea and plants in the prayer plant family. If you use my link, you will automatically receive 10% off at checkout on any product.
The Pray For Us soil blend also contains no chemical fertilizer additives, and uses organic additives instead to slow-release nutrients over time, so you won't have to add fertilizer for a while and there are no chemical fertilizer salts to worry about giving you brown leaf tips since they are sensitive to salts.
There are also concerns with perlite being a source of fluoride which can cause brown tips in Calathea leaves, but Oh Happy Plants does not use perlite in their blends.
As a basis for that blog post, I survey my readers about all of their frustrations with potting mixes. All of these questions have been answered, and I also talk about my amazing experiences with using the mix.
In fact, I'm currently transferring most of my plants to this mix after seeing the amazing results it produces!
Let's talk about how to repot Calathea now.
CALATHEA REPOTTING
Are you ready to repot your Calathea? How do you know when to repot Calathea, or any other plant for that matter?
Has your plant been in that same small pot for a long time? You can simply slip your plant out of its pot to see if it is root bound. If it is, it is time to repot.
Maybe you see roots coming out of the drainage holes. Time to repot.
Or maybe you just have a lot of surface roots, and the pot just seems to dry out really quickly. Much more quickly than before.
These are all indications that you may want to repot.
Let's take a look at my steps that I used to repot my Calathea lancifolia. This applies to almost all houseplants.
If you have a flexible plastic pot, you can just squeeze the pot gently to loosen it so you can take it out.
I had mine in a ceramic pot so I just used a metal chopstick and passed just inserted it around the whole perimeter of the plant.
You can also use a knife to do this as well. Once you do this, gently see if the plant comes out of the pot. If it doesn't, keep using the chopstick or knife until it does.
You can see from the photo above that it is pretty potbound. It could be worse though!
Then the next thing you want to do is to loosen the root ball. Gently take both hands and loosen the bottom and the sides of the rootball.
If you break a couple roots, please don't worry. This step is necessary! Your plant will thank you!
If you don't do this step, your plant's roots will find it much more difficult to grow into the new soil in your new pot.
Once I had a peace lily that I didn't do this do, and years later when I repotted it again, none of the roots had grown into the new soil! The original pot-bound look was still in-tact!
I ended up combining two plants into one pot. When you add your soil mixture, be sure that there are no air gaps. You want the roots to have contact with the new soil.
Gently press down to ensure that this occurs. Then give your plant a good watering, and you are done!
CALATHEAS HATE THE COLD
Lastly, I'd like to talk a little bit about temperature. Calathea plants HATE cold temperatures! Aim to have temperatures no lower than 60F (15.5 C)
Numerous people have written to me about their Calatheas suddenly having these issues:
Leaves are starting to curl.
The plant is no longer upright and leaves seem to droop.
The plant is no longer "praying." Healthy Calathea plants should move their leaves upward at night and then lower them during the day.
I've come to find out that many of those plants with these issues have been exposed to cooler temperatures. Calatheas prefer temperatures in the 65F-80F range (18C-27C).
Temperatures much below 60F (15.5C) will cause many of the issues described above. So try your best to avoid cold drafts, or cooler temperatures as described above!
CALATHEA PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS
Should i bottom water Calathea?
I do not recommend bottom watering Calathea, especially if you are using tap water or using fertilizer. Fertilizer salts and minerals from tap water will accumulate through bottom watering. If you do bottom water, be sure to periodically top water with distilled or filtered water to remove any accumulated salts that can cause damage to your plant over time.
Does Calathea like coffee grounds?
Although Calathea like a soil pH of around 6.5 and coffee grounds tend to be around a pH of 6.5-6.8, making it acceptable from a pH standpoint, it is not recommended to add coffee grounds directly to your Calathea soil. In order to make any nutrients in coffee grounds available to plants, the coffee grounds must be composted first. Adding coffee grounds directly to soil before composting will rob the soil of nitrogen and can actually harm your plants. Using any uncomposted kitchen scraps will actually create conditions that are favorable to fungus, mold, bacteria and also can attract fungus gnats.
Do Calathea like to be misted?
Misting does NOT increase humidity. It will only wet your leaves and if you overdo it (especially if air circulation is poor), you can also invite fungal issues. Raise humidity by using a humidifier.
Does Calathea like small pots?
They should be up-potted to a larger pot once root bound. Leaving them constricted in a small pot will eventually inhibit growth.
Should I shower my Calathea?
Yes, it would benefit your Calathea if you periodically took your plant to a shower or a sink in order to be rinsed off to remove accumulated dust on the leaves that can inhibit photosynthesis. Be sure to use lukewarm water and never cold. Rinsing your plants off will also help to deter any pests that may be present, especially spider mites.
Can I put my Calathea outside?
Yes, absolutely. Remember that there is no such thing as a "houseplant" since all plants evolved outdoors. When you move your plants outdoors, be sure that conditions are warm (above 60F) and that you have your plants in the shade.
Is Calathea safe for pets?
According to the ASPCA, Calathea are non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses.
Can I put Calathea in the bathroom?
Yes! Bathrooms typically provide higher humidity which can benefit Calathea plants. Just make sure that your bathroom has sufficient light for your plant.
RELATED POSTS
If you want to explore different kinds of Calathea, check out my blog post with 39 Calathea varieties that you can hunt down for your own collection!
I recently acquired a calathea rufibara (fuzzy feather) a few weeks ago, and for a while it was doing quite well. I accidentally let it dry out a bit too much in the beginning, but watered it throughly and it didn't cause much fuss from there. I had it in our Eastern bedroom window where it only caught bits of morning sun, but can get somewhat chilly in the winter evenings ~15 degrees Celsius at the very lowest at night likely. It seemed quite happy- I also have it with a small pebble humidity tray underneath it to help give it a little extra humidity. It even has started throwing out a little flower bud at the base of the plant! However, last week I accidentally let it dry out a bit, and noticed a few leaves curled at the base of the plant. I immediately watered it quite thoroughly and filled up the humidity tray again. However the leaves continued to curl and its getting worse every day! I'm usually quite adept with plants, and keeping them happy and alive, but I've tried everything with this plant... At one point I thought it might've gotten mealybugs and gave it a quick spray of my usual houseplant insecticide. Yet it is not getting any better, despite misting it, making sure the soil is moist since I last watered, I've even tried it in different windows, and it continues to get more and more unhappy. Every single leaf is now curled (no brown crispy edges), and the stems are starting to fall and lean over from where they used to stand tall. I've scoured the internet and can't seem to find any real diagnosis for all the leaves curled yet still fully coloured, only finding mostly articles about brown edges, which is not the problem. It's going on a week of being like this now.. Please help!!
Hi Jennie, can you please email me some photos of your plant? It will help if I can see it. Also, let me know in the email the size pot that it is in, if you have drainage holes, and how exactly do you water when you water.
Sorry I did not get your reply until now. So, the plant continued to worsen until all the stems had wilted and fallen over the sides of the pot, I've never had this happen to me before, and didn't know what to do, it was in terrible shape! The plant in full colour, yet leaves firmly curled in and closed, so all you could see was the burgundy on the outside of the leaves, and stems no longer standing tall like a Rufibarba should. I decided to cut almost all of the stems down to soil, leaving 3 stems that still seemed hopeful. It has since thrown out a couple new shoots, and the 3 leaves left seem to possibly be slowly slowly opening again. I am worried, hoping this cycle doesn't repeat itself.
Any suggestions on what could've been the cause and how to avoid it with the new growth?
In answer to your questions the pot is the nursery pot it came in, about 5", with drainage and good soil. I water from the tap (our city water is good here), thoroughly until water is running out the holes in the bottom and then return to pebble tray. Sorry I deleted my pictures of it all wilted after I cut it down as it was depressing to look at.
Thank you in advance for your help!
The soil did not go dry, I usually water them before repotting so that they can easily come out of the pot. The compost is about 50/50 potting mix to compost: coffee grinds, tea leaves, veggie waste cut small such as lettuce, cabbage, carrot peels, and some banana skins cut to approx 2cm pieces. When I add in more scraps I also add some potting mix and I turn the compost with the trowel. It is less than a litre a day and it is half way up in a 40 litre bin so there is about 20 litres of compost in the bin. The day before I repot I turn the whole compost bin, so I only use the soil that was lower in the bin. I think it was broken down and there were worms in the compost. They move quickly away from the top of the compost pile. Then when I repotted I used 50/50 the compost mix to more potting mix. I gave the pot a good watering as per your blog on Saturday and noticed small worms in the drained water which I then tipped into the compost bin. Could the worms have been causing the trouble? Have I been going about this all wrong for Calathea ..My ferns are thriving.
Hi Frances, it depends on what kind of worms you have...are they just Earth worms? I would maybe sift the compost before using it indoors so you don't bring in any unwanted critters. Another concern I have is if your compost has matured enough. If it still needs to break down further, it might cause issues. Just a couple things to consider.
I water twice a week, during the hot summer we have been having here in Brisbane Australia. The soil drains well and tends to dry on top in that time frame. It has been very humid of late. I have it inside in an room that has windows east south and west And I control the light from the west with vertical blinds. I repotted it about 8 weeks ago perhaps I went too large. I allowed about 2cm all round. I mixed potting mix with my compost, which has coffee grinds, tea leaves and raw veggie waste mixed with potting mix. It was growing really well until about 2 weeks ago. Should I re-do the soil? I’ll email you a photo.
Hi Frances. I just saw your photo. Before you repotted it, did the soil go completely dry for a while? These plants are very sensitive to going completely dry and often respond in protest to brown spots, and the new leaves are especially vulnerable. I assume that the compost that use used was completely broken down? I just want to make sure you didn't use any veggie waste that wasn't completely broken down. Please give me more details of your soil mix and maybe the amounts/ratios that you used of all your components.
I have a Calathea Zebrina which was growing really well but lately the edges of the leaves have been going brown. Worse the new growth has brown spots before they even open.
Hi Frances. Are you following the information that I have laid out in the blog post in terms of light, watering, etc? Does anything stick out that you're not doing?
I have a calathea makoyana that has brown spots in the middle also my lancifolia that also has brown spots and its leaves are very sparse. They are both watered with distilled water, are near a humidifier, kept in. Indirect light and I also have a fan running to keep the air moving around them. I water then when my moisture meter says low moist. Any advice greatly appreciated
Hi Julie! How far are the plants from the window? I would be very weary of the moisture meter. They can be very dangerous and most of them on the market are pretty junky. I even wrote an entire blog post on moisture meters and why you shouldn't use one. I would use your finger to feel the soil instead. Calatheas are very sensitive to very dry soil so you never want all of the soil to dry out completely. I would follow exactly what I have written about in the blog post under the watering section.
Hello. I have a Calathea Vittata, I keep it in my bathroom for high humidity which has an East facing frosted window. The plant is about 2.5ft from the window. This rooms tends to get colder this time of year, more than my other rooms. I live in Canada which means cold winters and lower light. I do have grow lights throughout the house for other plant as well as humidifiers but don’t know if I should move my Calathea. Since I bought him about 6 months ago he has had browning/crisping leaf edges. I’ve cut some away and left some alone in hopes that he would recover. He has new leaf growth but about half of his leaves have at least some brown on them. It is also a very small plant in a pot with about a 3inch diameter. I never repotted him. Am I taking the right steps? Is there anything more I can be doing to prevent/care for the browning leaves? Thanks 🙂
Hi Katie. How cool does the bathroom get? Everything you have described sounds good to me, except maybe the pot. Is it drying out very quickly in that small pot? If you're finding it hard to keep up with watering in the small pot and the soil is drying out a lot all the time, it could be aggravating the browning leaves. I'd have to see a photo to be sure, but you may want to repot into a larger pot soon. Hope this helps!
Great tips, thank you Raffaele! I have a couple of new Calathea plants and trying to find ways of keeping them healthy. I have one question regarding the humidifier, do you use it on warm or cool mist?
Hi Michelle! I use different settings depending on the humidity in the room. If the humidity is really low and I want to increase it more quickly, I use the warm setting on high. If I just want to maintain my humidity level, I might do the cool setting. The warm setting will deplete the water in the tank more quickly, which of course makes sense. I'm actually going to expand my humidity post to explain the settings that I like to use and will include this information. Hope this helps!
Your advise saved my calatheas. I increased the sunlight exposure and adjusted watering, and this did the trick!
Most if not all other articles on the internet constantly mention humidity and i have a humidifier, but i found this to have little effect as you mention.
I recently bought calathea lancifolia. It’s in a plastic pot atm and I wanted to repot it into a ceramic pot. When do you think is the best time to repot it? Should I wait for a week or month before doing so? Appreciate any of your recommendations. Thank you!
Hello!
I am in need of some emergency advice. I recently recieved an indoor Calathea Mokoyana(online order) for my birthday in mid-November and it was in rather poor condition upon opening. The leaves were turning yellow with large crispy brown edges and it certainly seemed to have been living this way for quite dome time. The browning only spread further over the past month so now the entire plant has curled brown crispy leaves. I have owned this Calathea before so I put it on the same watering and mist routine(adapted to the dry winter air), but nothing seems to work? The only thing I am doing different is using tap water instead of filtered. The stems are rather strong too so I do not believe this is over watering.
I am running through many forums and websites saying crispy brown leaves are a dry soil issue, but I have never let the soil dry out completely and rewater when the top layer feels dry per care instructions. I am at a loss as to what the issue is unless it is extremely sensitive to tap water. I am not in a mid-high impurity area so I am not sure about this. I have not noticed any pest after unboxing either.
Hi Ashe. I would give it a little more time since you've only had your plant for a month and it seems like it was in fairly poor condition when you received it. Then it probably suffered more stress during shipment. Did it grow any new leaves yet? If so, did those turn brown too? This will be the true test. Wait for those, and you may have to just let the plant run its course and flush out in new leaves until you have an attractive plant. I would give it a little more time. Do you have your plant right in front of a window?
I just inherited an extremely wilted Calathea Orbifolia from a friend of mine. Most of the leaves were brown or yellow to brown or simply completely dead (blackish to brown). I decided to cut all of the black and brown / dark yellow stems away, and was left with only two green stems without leaves. The leaves on these two stems were also completely crisp, but as the stems were still green, I thought it might be the best for the plant to not waste any energy on what cannot be saved and cut these last two leaves off as well, leaving the stems. As a result, the plant is now completely "naked" with no single leaf left, and only these two cut stems (of around 15-20 cm of hight).
I am pretty sure the plant suffered from both lack of watering and sunlight at my friend's home. It was placed far into a room with only one north facing window. I live in the middle of Norway meaning we only have about 7 hours of weak sunlight a day around this time, not the ideal climate for nurturing plants in other words. I spoke to a woman in a flowershop, and she told me they normally totally submerge the Orbifolia in a bucket of water for half an hour every time they water it, and my friend was completely shocked. She is used to taking care of plants such as the Monstera Deliciosa, so I assume she has watered the Calathea in the same way, leading me to think that even with so little sunlight the plant must have been receiving too little water from her.
Is it possible to save this plant? It is in a 15 cm wide pot, and has a quiet big root system that still seem to be alive. I decided to give it a good soak after receiving it, and have also given it half of a fertilizer "stick" (the kind that I have understood releases nutrients slowly and normally can last for months) and has placed it about 30-40 cm from a LED grow light.
Was this the right treatment? Is it possible to regrow this plant, or should I just give it up? In the end my question is really if it would be possible that it grew new stems and leaves eventually if I am able to save the root, or if it would be impossible now that it has lost all of its leaves.
Hello Ingrid! It's hard to say without seeing a photo, but you took the right steps to see if you can save it. From your description, it does sound that it was much too dark for the plant and that it had suffered severe dehydration. Keep a close eye on it and see if it forms any new growth from the root system. I like that you gave it a good soaking since it was bone dry and that you placed it under a grow light. Your winters there in Norway are more challenging than even mine! Be careful not to keep it too wet though since it doesn't have any leaves. Keep me posted if you get new growth!
Hi! I have a Calathea orbifolia like you and I can't seem to get it right. I use a water meter to test if I need to water, but all 3 of my leave have brown edges. I originally watering my calathea with water I would leave out for 24 hours. I thought that may be the case so I switched to purified water. I recently purchased a herb garden and that are near my plants, I thought this light maybe burning the leaves so I moved my calathea, but I still feel the brown edges are getting worse. Any idea what I'm doing?
Hi Jamie. I'm personally not a fan of water meters and I really don't like that trend. I think the quality of the meters differ drastically and it makes it too black and white. It takes the thinking out of the process, which is not a good thing. I would use your finger to judge the soil moisture. These plants don't like to dry out a lot. I would water thoroughly until everything goes through the drainage hole, and then only wait until the surface of the soil dries out before watering again. This is my best recommendation and a good rule of thumb for most plants. I use tap water too and don't let anything sit out. We have hard water in my area and my plant has been perfectly fine. You have to keep in mind that leaves that have turned brown will remain that way. You'll have to have consistent care so that you can avoid the issue for the new leaves that grow in the future. Proper watering practices is key to avoiding brown leaves. I have a blog post on brown, crispy leaves. If you have not read it, I would recommend reading it. Hope this helps!
Hi! I've got a Calathea Majestica Whitestar, at least I think that's the name. I've bought it a couple of weeks ago and left it in it's nursery pot but I've noticed that the soil stays moist. Not soaking wet but it doesn't dry like the soil of my other houseplants do. Normally I would repot the plant in a bigger pot to prevent root rot but I've read that Calathea's like moist soil. Should I repot my plant and water it more or should I keep it in the pot... I'm quite scared of root rot and I don't want my plant to die.
Hi Kimberly. I would not do anything yet to the plant. Let it adjust to your home environment first. If the soil is still moist to the touch on the surface, there is no need to water. Wait until the surface dries out. Don't water until the top 1/2 inch or so dries out. Can I ask where you have the plant located though? Is it right in front of a window? It's unusual that it's still moist after 2 weeks.
Hi! No it's not directly in front of a window, it's like two or three meters away from one.. Could that be it?
@Kimberly, I am having the EXACT issue with my Calathea Geoppertia!! The soil does not seem to dry out- it’s been at least two weeks since I watered, and it has not dried out at all... also have mine about 6-7 feet from the windows...
There are many factors contributing to potting mix not drying out. I go over many of these in my upcoming book that will be published this winter. The most common factors I see are keeping plants in too dim of a location, pots that are too large for the root system, and potting mixes that are not amended with any additional material like perlite. Just some things to consider 🙂
Hi, I have a Calathea Rattlesnake for over 6 mths now and never had a problem. However recently i started noticing brown spots (look like leopard spots) on 2 leaves, possibly 3, that I couldn’t understand what caused them or how to remedy it. I thought they were sun burnts, but i’m worried it’s more than that. Would you have an idea what it could be? Thank you.
Hello I have a Calathea lancifolia, a Roseopicta and a Macoyana but I tried to put them on my living room and my cats nearly killed them. I don't know what to do to make them stop chewing them, I know they are not dangerous for them but I also believe there should be a way for all to live in peace. Do you know any method? I'll appreciate your help.
Hi Jacqueline. I don't have any cats but I've heard that they are very frustrating and challenging with houseplants. Other than closing off that part of the house so the cats can't get to them, I'm not sure that there is much that you can do. Have you thought about maybe hanging the plants from the ceiling? That's a potential option that I can think of. And then make sure that they can't jump to the plants from any tables or chairs that may be nearby. Maybe try experimenting with that and see if that works. Good luck!
I recently acquired a calathea rufibara (fuzzy feather) a few weeks ago, and for a while it was doing quite well. I accidentally let it dry out a bit too much in the beginning, but watered it throughly and it didn't cause much fuss from there. I had it in our Eastern bedroom window where it only caught bits of morning sun, but can get somewhat chilly in the winter evenings ~15 degrees Celsius at the very lowest at night likely. It seemed quite happy- I also have it with a small pebble humidity tray underneath it to help give it a little extra humidity. It even has started throwing out a little flower bud at the base of the plant! However, last week I accidentally let it dry out a bit, and noticed a few leaves curled at the base of the plant. I immediately watered it quite thoroughly and filled up the humidity tray again. However the leaves continued to curl and its getting worse every day! I'm usually quite adept with plants, and keeping them happy and alive, but I've tried everything with this plant... At one point I thought it might've gotten mealybugs and gave it a quick spray of my usual houseplant insecticide. Yet it is not getting any better, despite misting it, making sure the soil is moist since I last watered, I've even tried it in different windows, and it continues to get more and more unhappy. Every single leaf is now curled (no brown crispy edges), and the stems are starting to fall and lean over from where they used to stand tall. I've scoured the internet and can't seem to find any real diagnosis for all the leaves curled yet still fully coloured, only finding mostly articles about brown edges, which is not the problem. It's going on a week of being like this now.. Please help!!
Hi Jennie, can you please email me some photos of your plant? It will help if I can see it. Also, let me know in the email the size pot that it is in, if you have drainage holes, and how exactly do you water when you water.
Sorry I did not get your reply until now. So, the plant continued to worsen until all the stems had wilted and fallen over the sides of the pot, I've never had this happen to me before, and didn't know what to do, it was in terrible shape! The plant in full colour, yet leaves firmly curled in and closed, so all you could see was the burgundy on the outside of the leaves, and stems no longer standing tall like a Rufibarba should. I decided to cut almost all of the stems down to soil, leaving 3 stems that still seemed hopeful. It has since thrown out a couple new shoots, and the 3 leaves left seem to possibly be slowly slowly opening again. I am worried, hoping this cycle doesn't repeat itself.
Any suggestions on what could've been the cause and how to avoid it with the new growth?
In answer to your questions the pot is the nursery pot it came in, about 5", with drainage and good soil. I water from the tap (our city water is good here), thoroughly until water is running out the holes in the bottom and then return to pebble tray. Sorry I deleted my pictures of it all wilted after I cut it down as it was depressing to look at.
Thank you in advance for your help!
The soil did not go dry, I usually water them before repotting so that they can easily come out of the pot. The compost is about 50/50 potting mix to compost: coffee grinds, tea leaves, veggie waste cut small such as lettuce, cabbage, carrot peels, and some banana skins cut to approx 2cm pieces. When I add in more scraps I also add some potting mix and I turn the compost with the trowel. It is less than a litre a day and it is half way up in a 40 litre bin so there is about 20 litres of compost in the bin. The day before I repot I turn the whole compost bin, so I only use the soil that was lower in the bin. I think it was broken down and there were worms in the compost. They move quickly away from the top of the compost pile. Then when I repotted I used 50/50 the compost mix to more potting mix. I gave the pot a good watering as per your blog on Saturday and noticed small worms in the drained water which I then tipped into the compost bin. Could the worms have been causing the trouble? Have I been going about this all wrong for Calathea ..My ferns are thriving.
Hi Frances, it depends on what kind of worms you have...are they just Earth worms? I would maybe sift the compost before using it indoors so you don't bring in any unwanted critters. Another concern I have is if your compost has matured enough. If it still needs to break down further, it might cause issues. Just a couple things to consider.
I water twice a week, during the hot summer we have been having here in Brisbane Australia. The soil drains well and tends to dry on top in that time frame. It has been very humid of late. I have it inside in an room that has windows east south and west And I control the light from the west with vertical blinds. I repotted it about 8 weeks ago perhaps I went too large. I allowed about 2cm all round. I mixed potting mix with my compost, which has coffee grinds, tea leaves and raw veggie waste mixed with potting mix. It was growing really well until about 2 weeks ago. Should I re-do the soil? I’ll email you a photo.
Hi Frances. I just saw your photo. Before you repotted it, did the soil go completely dry for a while? These plants are very sensitive to going completely dry and often respond in protest to brown spots, and the new leaves are especially vulnerable. I assume that the compost that use used was completely broken down? I just want to make sure you didn't use any veggie waste that wasn't completely broken down. Please give me more details of your soil mix and maybe the amounts/ratios that you used of all your components.
I have a Calathea Zebrina which was growing really well but lately the edges of the leaves have been going brown. Worse the new growth has brown spots before they even open.
Hi Frances. Are you following the information that I have laid out in the blog post in terms of light, watering, etc? Does anything stick out that you're not doing?
I have a calathea makoyana that has brown spots in the middle also my lancifolia that also has brown spots and its leaves are very sparse. They are both watered with distilled water, are near a humidifier, kept in. Indirect light and I also have a fan running to keep the air moving around them. I water then when my moisture meter says low moist. Any advice greatly appreciated
Hi Julie! How far are the plants from the window? I would be very weary of the moisture meter. They can be very dangerous and most of them on the market are pretty junky. I even wrote an entire blog post on moisture meters and why you shouldn't use one. I would use your finger to feel the soil instead. Calatheas are very sensitive to very dry soil so you never want all of the soil to dry out completely. I would follow exactly what I have written about in the blog post under the watering section.
I neglected my calathea rattlesnake and I have some small brown leaves. Should I cut them back at the base or where the leave starts?
Hi Kaitlin, if your leaves are completely brown, yes you can just cut the whole leaf off.
Hello. I have a Calathea Vittata, I keep it in my bathroom for high humidity which has an East facing frosted window. The plant is about 2.5ft from the window. This rooms tends to get colder this time of year, more than my other rooms. I live in Canada which means cold winters and lower light. I do have grow lights throughout the house for other plant as well as humidifiers but don’t know if I should move my Calathea. Since I bought him about 6 months ago he has had browning/crisping leaf edges. I’ve cut some away and left some alone in hopes that he would recover. He has new leaf growth but about half of his leaves have at least some brown on them. It is also a very small plant in a pot with about a 3inch diameter. I never repotted him. Am I taking the right steps? Is there anything more I can be doing to prevent/care for the browning leaves? Thanks 🙂
Hi Katie. How cool does the bathroom get? Everything you have described sounds good to me, except maybe the pot. Is it drying out very quickly in that small pot? If you're finding it hard to keep up with watering in the small pot and the soil is drying out a lot all the time, it could be aggravating the browning leaves. I'd have to see a photo to be sure, but you may want to repot into a larger pot soon. Hope this helps!
Great tips, thank you Raffaele! I have a couple of new Calathea plants and trying to find ways of keeping them healthy. I have one question regarding the humidifier, do you use it on warm or cool mist?
Hi Michelle! I use different settings depending on the humidity in the room. If the humidity is really low and I want to increase it more quickly, I use the warm setting on high. If I just want to maintain my humidity level, I might do the cool setting. The warm setting will deplete the water in the tank more quickly, which of course makes sense. I'm actually going to expand my humidity post to explain the settings that I like to use and will include this information. Hope this helps!
Your advise saved my calatheas. I increased the sunlight exposure and adjusted watering, and this did the trick!
Most if not all other articles on the internet constantly mention humidity and i have a humidifier, but i found this to have little effect as you mention.
Great Advise!
Hello Rem, I'm so happy that things worked out for you! Best wishes to you and your plants!
Hi,
I recently bought calathea lancifolia. It’s in a plastic pot atm and I wanted to repot it into a ceramic pot. When do you think is the best time to repot it? Should I wait for a week or month before doing so? Appreciate any of your recommendations. Thank you!
Van
Hi Van! Late winter to early Spring is a great time to repot!
Hello!
I am in need of some emergency advice. I recently recieved an indoor Calathea Mokoyana(online order) for my birthday in mid-November and it was in rather poor condition upon opening. The leaves were turning yellow with large crispy brown edges and it certainly seemed to have been living this way for quite dome time. The browning only spread further over the past month so now the entire plant has curled brown crispy leaves. I have owned this Calathea before so I put it on the same watering and mist routine(adapted to the dry winter air), but nothing seems to work? The only thing I am doing different is using tap water instead of filtered. The stems are rather strong too so I do not believe this is over watering.
I am running through many forums and websites saying crispy brown leaves are a dry soil issue, but I have never let the soil dry out completely and rewater when the top layer feels dry per care instructions. I am at a loss as to what the issue is unless it is extremely sensitive to tap water. I am not in a mid-high impurity area so I am not sure about this. I have not noticed any pest after unboxing either.
Hi Ashe. I would give it a little more time since you've only had your plant for a month and it seems like it was in fairly poor condition when you received it. Then it probably suffered more stress during shipment. Did it grow any new leaves yet? If so, did those turn brown too? This will be the true test. Wait for those, and you may have to just let the plant run its course and flush out in new leaves until you have an attractive plant. I would give it a little more time. Do you have your plant right in front of a window?
Hello!
I just inherited an extremely wilted Calathea Orbifolia from a friend of mine. Most of the leaves were brown or yellow to brown or simply completely dead (blackish to brown). I decided to cut all of the black and brown / dark yellow stems away, and was left with only two green stems without leaves. The leaves on these two stems were also completely crisp, but as the stems were still green, I thought it might be the best for the plant to not waste any energy on what cannot be saved and cut these last two leaves off as well, leaving the stems. As a result, the plant is now completely "naked" with no single leaf left, and only these two cut stems (of around 15-20 cm of hight).
I am pretty sure the plant suffered from both lack of watering and sunlight at my friend's home. It was placed far into a room with only one north facing window. I live in the middle of Norway meaning we only have about 7 hours of weak sunlight a day around this time, not the ideal climate for nurturing plants in other words. I spoke to a woman in a flowershop, and she told me they normally totally submerge the Orbifolia in a bucket of water for half an hour every time they water it, and my friend was completely shocked. She is used to taking care of plants such as the Monstera Deliciosa, so I assume she has watered the Calathea in the same way, leading me to think that even with so little sunlight the plant must have been receiving too little water from her.
Is it possible to save this plant? It is in a 15 cm wide pot, and has a quiet big root system that still seem to be alive. I decided to give it a good soak after receiving it, and have also given it half of a fertilizer "stick" (the kind that I have understood releases nutrients slowly and normally can last for months) and has placed it about 30-40 cm from a LED grow light.
Was this the right treatment? Is it possible to regrow this plant, or should I just give it up? In the end my question is really if it would be possible that it grew new stems and leaves eventually if I am able to save the root, or if it would be impossible now that it has lost all of its leaves.
Hello Ingrid! It's hard to say without seeing a photo, but you took the right steps to see if you can save it. From your description, it does sound that it was much too dark for the plant and that it had suffered severe dehydration. Keep a close eye on it and see if it forms any new growth from the root system. I like that you gave it a good soaking since it was bone dry and that you placed it under a grow light. Your winters there in Norway are more challenging than even mine! Be careful not to keep it too wet though since it doesn't have any leaves. Keep me posted if you get new growth!
Hi! I have a Calathea orbifolia like you and I can't seem to get it right. I use a water meter to test if I need to water, but all 3 of my leave have brown edges. I originally watering my calathea with water I would leave out for 24 hours. I thought that may be the case so I switched to purified water. I recently purchased a herb garden and that are near my plants, I thought this light maybe burning the leaves so I moved my calathea, but I still feel the brown edges are getting worse. Any idea what I'm doing?
Hi Jamie. I'm personally not a fan of water meters and I really don't like that trend. I think the quality of the meters differ drastically and it makes it too black and white. It takes the thinking out of the process, which is not a good thing. I would use your finger to judge the soil moisture. These plants don't like to dry out a lot. I would water thoroughly until everything goes through the drainage hole, and then only wait until the surface of the soil dries out before watering again. This is my best recommendation and a good rule of thumb for most plants. I use tap water too and don't let anything sit out. We have hard water in my area and my plant has been perfectly fine. You have to keep in mind that leaves that have turned brown will remain that way. You'll have to have consistent care so that you can avoid the issue for the new leaves that grow in the future. Proper watering practices is key to avoiding brown leaves. I have a blog post on brown, crispy leaves. If you have not read it, I would recommend reading it. Hope this helps!
Hi! I've got a Calathea Majestica Whitestar, at least I think that's the name. I've bought it a couple of weeks ago and left it in it's nursery pot but I've noticed that the soil stays moist. Not soaking wet but it doesn't dry like the soil of my other houseplants do. Normally I would repot the plant in a bigger pot to prevent root rot but I've read that Calathea's like moist soil. Should I repot my plant and water it more or should I keep it in the pot... I'm quite scared of root rot and I don't want my plant to die.
Hi Kimberly. I would not do anything yet to the plant. Let it adjust to your home environment first. If the soil is still moist to the touch on the surface, there is no need to water. Wait until the surface dries out. Don't water until the top 1/2 inch or so dries out. Can I ask where you have the plant located though? Is it right in front of a window? It's unusual that it's still moist after 2 weeks.
Hi! No it's not directly in front of a window, it's like two or three meters away from one.. Could that be it?
@Kimberly, I am having the EXACT issue with my Calathea Geoppertia!! The soil does not seem to dry out- it’s been at least two weeks since I watered, and it has not dried out at all... also have mine about 6-7 feet from the windows...
There are many factors contributing to potting mix not drying out. I go over many of these in my upcoming book that will be published this winter. The most common factors I see are keeping plants in too dim of a location, pots that are too large for the root system, and potting mixes that are not amended with any additional material like perlite. Just some things to consider 🙂
Hi, I have a Calathea Rattlesnake for over 6 mths now and never had a problem. However recently i started noticing brown spots (look like leopard spots) on 2 leaves, possibly 3, that I couldn’t understand what caused them or how to remedy it. I thought they were sun burnts, but i’m worried it’s more than that. Would you have an idea what it could be? Thank you.
Hi Sherly. I'm wondering it is maybe a fungal or bacterial issue. Can you email me a photo of the leaves?
Hello I have a Calathea lancifolia, a Roseopicta and a Macoyana but I tried to put them on my living room and my cats nearly killed them. I don't know what to do to make them stop chewing them, I know they are not dangerous for them but I also believe there should be a way for all to live in peace. Do you know any method? I'll appreciate your help.
Hi Jacqueline. I don't have any cats but I've heard that they are very frustrating and challenging with houseplants. Other than closing off that part of the house so the cats can't get to them, I'm not sure that there is much that you can do. Have you thought about maybe hanging the plants from the ceiling? That's a potential option that I can think of. And then make sure that they can't jump to the plants from any tables or chairs that may be nearby. Maybe try experimenting with that and see if that works. Good luck!