I lost all my leaves on my beautiful medallion calathea. I was devastated!! But, I remembered what you said about the tubors and I kept watering and tending to the plant even though there was nothing there. Now, I have 2 spikes, one is nearly opened and another is barely out of the dirt. I was so excited!! Thank you because had you not told us about the tubors, I would have thrown it away like I did my Dottie!! I didn't know back then about the tubors. So, you have been a great help!! Thank you!
Was fed up of having a constantly brown leaved calathea. Had never used tap water and was next to a humidifier. I watched this video and then picked up my calathea to check how she was, and suddenly noticed spider mites! If not for this video I wouldn't have checked, so thank you! Wish me luck with spider mite eradication!
I have my calatheas right in front of my east facing window, and they love it!! My daughter in law regularly buys me plants, and upon seeing how well the calathea does in front of my 20’ east facing apt window, she’s bought me a few, and I love them!!
I’m distinctly amateur but have recently expanded my home office pals to include Calathea. We’re all getting on just fine as I read on his cv that he’s a needy little character. He’s got his odd behaviours but is a good fit for the team (me and my plants). He’s got great bantz
I have one calathea. The first I have ever had. It makes a lot new leaves on a regular basis but I have had big issues with browning tips. I moved it from my living room to my bathroom which has a lot of light and of course high levels of humidity. The washing machine is there and I also hang and dry my clothes in this room. I put a cup under the pot and I put water in it. I no longer mist it as it never made things better. Well things have improved a lot! But what a temperamental plant!
The game changer for me was bottom watering. I did it twice and it really saved my plant. Now that it is saved I am back to top watering it and I'll keep an eye on it.
For the last, two months I have only watered my Ctenanthe Grey Star with filtered water and she has never looked better. All the brown tips have gone and the plant is thriving. The filtered water is the only thing I have changed . Thanks for the tip!
I’ve killed a few Calatheas… now I have two Calathea Makayona plants which I’ve found to be incredibly low maintenance. I use tap water, let them dry out completely between watering, and have no additional humidity in my home, and they do great. I’d recommend the Makayona to anyone who wants a Calathea that isn’t a pain in the butt! I might try my hand at a different kind at some point again with your tips, thanks!
New to this channel, but subscribed after two videos because you give me new insights, while many channels tend to repeat what has been said multiple times already
Your timing is impeccable. My little calathea reseopicta has giving me so many problems. It’s a cutting I rescued from a larger plant that was fully non-revivable. The only little stem and leaf that was somewhat okay I snipped and rooted in water. Now it’s in some soil with perlite and it got a gnat infestation. So I cleaned all the old soil and sprayed it with anti-bug stuff specifically for houseplants. And now after two days in quarantine it has gotten all crispy and the top soil has white mold. This little cutting has been the black sheep of my plant family for weeks now 😂
1 part hydrogen peroxide, 4 parts water. Use that when you water the first time after repotting. Get yellow sticky cards to see if there are more fungal gnats. If so, then get mosquito bits or nematodes to kill the gnats in the soil. I put my calathea in the bathroom and turned on the shower for a few minutes every day. This kept them away from the other plants and the constant high humidity helped them recover. Not all plants recover from fungal gnats. Those that don't should be replaced with new ones.
never had a green thumb but wanted to start my plant journey this year. so i went plant shopping in july and bought myself around 10 plants, 2 of them are calatheas. so after a few weeks i learned more and more about the plants that i bought. and when i found out that calatheas are not that easy to care for, i was a lil bit nervous. but luckily all my calatheas are still happy living and growing and now i own 4 of them. a lil bit proud of myself. 😂
Thank you so much I really really enjoyed watching you tell us all how to properly look after our Calathea plants. Very very useful and helpful advice and information. Please stay safe and well too xxxx Mags ❤❤❤❤
My rufibarba(/eldergrass I think) did SO much better after I started using water filtered in a Brita pitcher. It's not optimal, but definitely better than just tap water. I also cut her down quite brutally this spring and she's almost back to the size I purchased her as. No humidifier and a couple meters back from the window. Now she's thriving-as long as I can remember to water often enough 🫣 Still growing halfway through November! Great video as usual! ☺️
Just bought my Calathea as liked the look of the plant. I normally use filtered water to water flowers. I used tap water as it said tepid water on the label. I noticed one leave going brown. So I an going to use filtered water. Thanks for the useful information.
Caletheas are one of my favourite plants. I solely use rain water alone for all my house plants and I never have brown leaves. I live in Auckland New Zealand and it rains alot in spring.
I was over watering my prayer plant so I made a wicking system after watching one of your vids on how to water plants while you're away. I took a pretty vase and a thick string and gave it a reservoir to drink at it's own pace. It's only been a week but the two sprigs I had left are perking up and reaching for the grow light. It already looks much much happier than it did. When I re-potted it I found the bottom of the pot was basically waterlogged. It took about a cup of water on it's own, but now I also have a handy little water supply nearby to pop my cuttings into to propagate. So instead of watering the plant, I'm just making sure it's buddy vase is nice and full. Thanks!
I didn’t know about chloramine - thank you so very much. I have lost two Calathea and thought I was on the winning side for my remaining ones. I am now! Thanks once again.
Hello! Thank you for your video. I watched it with pleasure admiring your plants. I thought i'd share my experience with Calathea Warszewiczii, because, first of all, it's total success. A little background story - i've been after Calatheas for over 20 years, i kept buying and "killing" the warszewiczii type in particular about 5 times. Non of them grew healthy at mine, eventhough i thought i had tried everything, and all of those Calatheas would eventually die within a year if i remember correctly. ...It was until about 4 years ago i bought this current plant, of course it was in a glorious state, thriving and blooming, absolutely gorgeous. And then that sacred dance with all common issues began again.. i'll skip the details, because you all, Calathea lovers, are aware of them:) So one day i decided to repot it and use a new potting mix. It was an orchid mix (i'm also an orchid lover) but not that one that consists mostly of bark but the one for, say, Cymbidium orchid, that consists of peat (turf) mostly, and bark. After that i noticed, that if i adjust my watering schedule, my calathea would demonstrate pretty normal growth.. But if i was late to water or watered it too soon i'd still have spots on the leaves, and sometimes there were signs of both too much and too little water on the leaves.. untill i put it on wick watering.. I didn't buy any ready to use watering systems, i just dragged a wet 1cm wide piece of a stocking through the soil from the hole in the bottom of the pot through the soil up to the side of the pot on top and mount the pot over a suitable plastic container with water (i use fish tank water) Since then, my Calathea has been "drinking" as much as it wants, when it wants.. She's been producing healthy leaves, new sprouts, all healthy growing.. (of course there are things to keep an eye on, like if there's water in the container beneath, or if the wick needs cleaning as sometimes during the summer it gets covered with green algae etc. (actually it's better to use a dark container for water.. well, you can figure it out) And also right now it is blooming for the first time! A couple of weeks ago i noticed the first flower coming out and now there is a second one half way through.. i expect a third one too. Isn't it wonderful:) That's all i wanted to share with you.. thanks for reading this and hope it helps. Cheers.
I collect rainwater that comes off of my roof into two, 10gal pickle buckets. I use a coffee filter to it to get rid of any debris that gets in the water 🥰👍
I just bought one. I'm scared already. They are gorgeous. I recently purchased an indoor greenhouse but noticed that the plastic tent has an odor and I am afraid to put it in because I know from watching your videos that these plants hate any type of chemicals. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you for all of your very helpful videos because I'm sure that many of my plants would not have survived my over-parenting.
Thank you SO much for this video! You answered all my questions that NO other video has touched on 🥰 I got my first calathea (ornata) two months ago and while it was gorgeous the first few weeks, it is now barely hanging on! At first just the tips were brown, and then way too quickly all the leaves started turning yellow, all the pink lines faded, the edges turned nearly black and curled inwards…I wish I could share pics! Only 5 leaves left that I trimmed all the edges on, and only it’s newest leaf is still shiny. I knew I had a BIG problem when even its only unfurled leaf turned yellow and mushy and flopped over within two days! Mistake #1, not only was I using tap water (although I do fill jugs and let the water sit overnight - but this is something I learned is not so effective for chlorine evaporation!), I was misting it with tap water as well, major fail - my poor plant 😭 on top of that, I was overwatering it (in my defense, the top two inches of soil were dry, but the pot was too big!) So the past two waterings have been with distilled. Mistake #2, it was living in my bathroom with a pebble tray, two wet rags hanging next to it, and next to my newer calathea (rattlesnake) I got last month and while all that is fine…the humidity is generally between 50-99%, which I now know is way too big of a range and inconsistent. Well let’s just say I just got done cutting off 5 yellow bottom leaves on the new one! Which brings me to mistake #3, the bathroom has an east facing window and the calatheas were about 8 feet away from it…I thought I was doing good on the lighting until I woke up earlier than usual today to see them getting PUMMELED with direct rays 😩 I feel like SUCH a failure! Pretty much everything you can do wrong, I did wrong. I’ve moved them to the bedroom, which has a north facing window and blinds, but now I’m afraid it’s not gonna be ENOUGH light 🤦♀️ I feel like these plants are ticking time bombs and every day brings them closer to irreversible death 😔
Thanks for watching. They are very tricky plants for sure and hard to keep happy in doors. The north facing position should be ok though. Just keep an eye on that watering
Brown tips is usually the result of insufficient humidity. I solved it by using a humidity tray, which is a saucer larger than the saucer under the pot. You put gravel in the larger saucer, put the plant and its saucer on top of the rocks, and add water. Use distilled water or water purified by osmosis. Fill large saucer until it's near the top end of the saucer. The water will evaporate and provide the plant a lot of humidity. For Calatheas, the more the merrier. If you sprinke Ceylon cinnamon on the soil in the pot and also on the saucer underneath the pot, it repels fungal gnats. This is the reason some plant enthusiasts in tropical places, such as Indonesia, add cinnamon to the water when they water their plants. Ceylon cinnamon is better for gnat repellent than other types of cinnamon. As for a moisture meter, those are junk. Take a wooden chopstick, stick it in the pot to bottom, and pull it out. If the soil is wet, you will see some dirt stuck to the chopstick. It also tells you if the pot is damp near the bottom or all the way to the top by the height of the wet soil stuck to the chopstick. Rinsing off spider mites with water works. Cover the pot with plastic, so you don't get water in the pot. Use your shower head and lukewarn water to literally spray the spider mites off the leaves. Be sure to check the underside of the leaves. Do this every day or every other day for a week and that will get rid of spider mites. It works on mealy bugs also. Calatheas really don't need a grow light. You can use a 4000K 800 lumen LED light and put it at least 1 meter from your calathea. That's enough light and you won't burn your plants.
The first plant I bought was a Calathea. And it's freaking thriving! Pushing leaves out every week or so. To be honest, it's just pure luck because I have a nice flat plants tend to like, and I let an app remind me when to water it. But the leaves did tend to slightly brown on the tip. I'l try filtering the water! Thanks for the tip!
Touch wood, I have three, and they have all been in my house for about two months, so far so good 😂 I bought a Stella prior to doing any research and assumed it would shrivel up within a week, so I think I must be doing something right. Right??? I have only used distilled water with super thrive. Two are sitting in their nursery pots on a damp bed of moss for increased humidity. I don’t use a humidifier because of you. It would be inconsistent. I’m a newbie to plants but no brown tips so far. I have watched this video about three times! Thank you for the help. Fingers crossed that I will make it another two months. ❤
I had the same problem until I started using my aquarium water to water these plants. Brown leaves disappead and the new growth rate is fantastic. I even have one growing in my aquarium. Of course only the roots are in the water. I use this aquarium water to water all my house plants. There is no smell.
I have 2 makoyanas which are the loves of my life, and 1 zebrina. All 3 are situated with my other plants in front of a west window with blinds. I was determined to grow a green thumb in honor of my recently deceased Mother💔 who was an avid gardener and plant grower. The 2 makoyanas are really for her and thank goodness they are doing magnificently well. I am still learning, but no brown tips whatsoever and countless new leaves. The zebrina is not QUITE as happy, but still doing fairly well. It does have a few brown tips and some mild browning along a few edges, but it also has sprouted 5 or 6 new leaves in the short time that I’ve had it. In my paranoia to not overwater I tend to under water, and I imagine that I may not be keeping her moist enough. Could also be too much light. (I try to adjust the blinds when the sun hits it but a few times I forgot) I use distilled water on them, and now that winter is here, the humidity stays around 50 - which I know is too dry. Before, it would hover around 60. I thought I was going to have to introduce some additional humidity over the winter, but I was encouraged to hear you say consistency was more important, so maybe they’ll be okay, I’m in love with them! ❤️
I typically use tds meter to check the amount of inorganic and organic substances present in taps water or any water that you wished to check its quality. This can be helpful to plants sensitive to the chemicals present in water like calatheas or carnivorous plants. Anything lower than 20 ppm is good enough for me.
my tap is only about 25 ppm but they put fluoride in it, which plants hate as much as they do a lot of calcium carbonate, so I have to use a special filter to remove fluoride.
Hello there, I bought a calathea with shriveled up leaves, but I am enjoying seeing the leaves open and close,so I know there is hope for her, by the way, I love all your plant advice😊
The tip from the other video you have of a tray with water works too... That works better for me to keep constant humidity i just added gravel. But always keep water on that tray like you recomeneded and guess what that plant has its own humidity
I have calathea and maranta about ten or more,you give advice 💯 perfect..,about watering,humidity and much more..thanks a lot bro !! Always excited n happy to watch your videos,thanks again 😘
I don't have a calathea but I watched anyway. Knowledge is always a useful thing. An hour later, on our local Green Thumb WhatsApp group, someone posted a photo of. . . a calathea! . . . and asked what's wrong with it. "It has plenty of light," they explained. I sent them straight here. :-)
Hi Jennifer from Trinidad is this plant also know as the Prayer Plant ? I love this plant alot and it seems that we live in one place being that you guys live so far away and i am in the Caribbean and we have similar plants or the same lol. I love them all whether the foliage or the flowering kind God blessed us with beauty to look at and enjoy. Stay well be safe take care keep yr plants healthy and happy they will love you
The difference in growing my Calatheas was absolutely remarkable once I started using a humidifier. I have it running just about all day - no more brown edges🎉🎉
@@SheffieldMadePlants no, not at all. I just use the setting that puffs, stops, puffs & the humidity stays at a good level. I have the 750ml (I think) model that is portable & rechargeable although I keep mine plugged in. The brand is H2O - I love it & it sits inconspicuously amongst my plants. I have four & they are the best thing I have ever bought for my plants along with my portable, clip on grow light. I have a lot of plants like you 😂😂 I live in New Zealand (north island) & even though we have high humidity the humidifiers have made a tremendous difference ❤️
@@SheffieldMadePlants Mostly to purify the water from chlorine and limestone ; it may take longer to purify water than filters, but should last way longer.
Have to give you credit here fantastic information for tap water. We only use rainwater here which does take longer but we wouldn't have it any other way. If you want to kill a ficus very quickly use tap water. Great video as always mate.
I generally avoid Calathea's and Prayer plants as I just can't keep them alive. I live in Melbourne and we have some of the best water in the world which is sourced from protected forests and requires very little treatment due to natural filtration. However, small amounts of chlorine and fluoride are added to our water which makes me think this is at least part of the reason why I've struggled with these plants so much. I might try using some sort of inline filter or catch rainwater on the roof of our building. Thanks for the tips!
I totally agree! I've been giving my Calatheas filtered tap water from the beginning and they hardly developed any brown tips despite the humidity not being very high (not low either). I grouped them together further away from the window. The last two months the adult plants were not doing well anymore. A lack of light I suspect since the older leaves turned yellow. Also fungus gnats were a problem. The soil was moist, but not soggy though. Fungus gnats prefer moist soil for their egs and I can't let the soil dry out like I do with my succulents and cacti. I recently gave the adult plants a humidifier that I leave on all day so I could move them closer to the window (and heating) where they receive more light during those dark months. I love Caltheas, but I will never buy a White Fusion again though. The leaves are paper thin and it's impossible to keep it happy. My White Star is doing fine. For people who like Calatheas, but find them too high mantaince try Ctenanthes instead. Similar look, but much easier to take care of.
Thanks for the tips. I have two calatheas and they love the northern light and being together. My peacock variety is very tall and has flowered. I water with distilled water and cut off dead leaves. I just had to do trial and error and videos.
I always used tank water from my fish tanks to keep all my plants in good leaf and btw filtering water does NOT remove these toxins unless you have a very expensive filter.
Active charcoal: granules filled up to 1/3 of a big drinks dispenser (a 5L glass jar with a tap from ikea ). Makes a very cheap effective water purification system for plants and human consumption. It removes chlorine and many other impurities. Doesn’t help with fluoride. It’s a good idea to use aquarium water, I will do the same now as I am just about to get back in the hobby. The new water that goes into my tanks gets help from above mentioned setup with the active charcoal & filter sand, I use this setup in my kitchen for better drinking water and it’s been working well for some years now, I replace the charcoal and clean the filter sand / or crushed filter glass by boiling or by adding some hydrogen peroxide 3-4/ year.. just keep away from sun if using it for drinking- to keep the algae out - and leave one on the sunny windowsill to grow micro algae and some snails in if you don’t have access to aquarium and want biologically active water for your plants.
Mine is growing in my bathroom. I've noticed lots of new growth since I've brung it home. Then I watered it for the first time and closed the vent in my bathroom and noticed that leaves hidden in the middle are yellow and new leaves growing in have browning on it. I purchased a second one and placed it in an area on my job that recieves very few light. Slow new growth, NO browning and I haven't watered it yet
i have two, both live on top of my fish tank, both doing well. Consistency is the key for mine i use a cheap water filter, i have the Stromanthe Triostar which i thought to be a really difficult plant but mine is fine so long as I am consistent and that in this case even extends to temp on cold nights, i move it next to my boiler but return it in the morning. Richard nailed it in this vid Calatheas are not the best starter plants as they are moody if not cared for correctly but if you do they are amazing! great vid mate thank you!
I have a small Freddie cal and a rose cal. These are my first attempts at calathea…. Freddie got too dry one time and I think I lost half the plant still looks sad honestly. Rose doing good - the new leaf has opened no fuss so far hope it stays that way lovely addition to my collection.
In this game even failure can be positive if you can find the problem. i always buy cheap problem plants just for the education. if i loose the plant it wont of cost me much and i usually learn something and if i win i will of learned more and got a nice plant to boot!
I had a problem with calatheas too.untill I saw from another video that the guy made soil mix only using sand and cowdung compost.i did the same and within no time my plant showed new shoots and kept plant km indirect light.its doing so much better now
hi thanks for the tip for using tap safe for my spider plant you are great for plant imfomation like used vedge water iam learning a lot like making soil acidic with tea
Little tip for people collecting rain water; put the bucket/barrel or whatever beneath a storm drain, or get a rain chain and collect the water from that! I’ve been collecting water to water my plants lately and I’ve seen a massive improvement in all my plants!
All my 6 different calatheas have gotten so much better since I got my humidifer and started using filtered water I left out for 24 hrs (Don't understand how it doesn't help to dissipate the chlorine as when I leave a glass of water out overnight I definitely notice a change in the smell and taste?!) Have started using stress coat in all my water too. Only my 2 original plants have crispy edges now.
2:12 I live in apartment, I can’t collect rain water 😩 ! Even there is big Mansoon rain in summer and the streets are flooded to the knees, the rain barely gets into the pots on the balcony. I’m in Saïgon, tropical climate 33°c between 50-95% humidity depending the season, yet getting brown leaves because of improper care. The Calatheas were either indoor , either in partial shade a bit behind the Boston fern on my balcony , with morning sun - which can be very hot - from 6:30 - 11:30. Rest of the day in low light shade because of others plants and cuz my balcony is quite small between walls. The Calatheas all died. They’re beautiful but sound too fussy plants for me, I need to make a cross on that. I need easy going plants, that can both stand low light shade + burning hot morning sun , that can stand wet soil (draining potting soil mix still retains too much water) and some dryness ( when I water only once a week or every 2 weeks when the garden hose is broken … 😩) and also can stand the heat ( sounds like azaleas and fuchsia is compromised because they may not stand the heat) .
Very helpful, thank you! One question, I use stuff in my tap water to clear out chlorine for my fish tank, will that help to clear up the tap water for my plants?
Calethea plants are very sensitive of location. Due to heat waves I brought 4 calethea plants in my living room from my covered entrances because 3 of them got evening sunlight and got brown leafs but the fourth one was in complete semi-shade area with no direct sunlight and no issue. This 4th plant got leafs drop issue so i kept it to its original place and can see the difference. I would suggest to observe your calethea very carefully to check best location.
I live in Canada and my calathea always throws a tantrum when winter comes around and the heat turns on; so now she lives in a greenhouse box and is much happier. (:
I shower my calathea in my bathtub. Like I do with my gold palm. Only problem is ... I just got tap water there... if any problems you mentioned occur I will ad aquarium water drops to the water for the soil and just shower her velvety leaves.
I use filtered rain water as we use our own water tanks and its been tested as good water. I found running the calathia under a warm shower once a week for about a minute seems to help.
I rescued a calathea from the bargain bin and repotted it straight away into a free draining mix. It still only has 2 leaves so rain water will be the next treatment. What about feeding ?
Taking notes for my Makoyana that's currently being a sassy girl. Crispy leaves galore even tho the Orbifilia and Ornata not far from her are overall doing ok (new growth and limited browning). These plants are headscratchers for sure, but I love them so much 🥺 Thank you for this list of tips, there were one or two I wasn't doing yet, so there's still hope 😊
I have a Calithea for the first time. Thank you for your tips. Im confused as to whether to get a humidifier or not? It has some brown crispy leaves already. Ill try the filteted water. How far away from a radiator should it be?
What should I do with a calathea that isn’t big, just came from the shop but a few of the root’s are poking through the holes in the bottom of the pot?
Hi there, I moved my Calathea Warscewiczii into the bathroom at the beginning of the summer and since then, she has thrived! She's planted in a self watering plant pot, which i top up with filtered water. She has lots of new growth however, her leaves are starting to curl and brown. Any ideas why this might be and what can i do to prevent it? I don't have a garden unfortunately so I'm unable to collect fresh rain water and I'm not using the dehumidifier at the moment because it's been so hot lately! Thanks
Hey !! Thanks! An update on my calathea rattlesnake, I changed to water with bottle drinking water and it the brown tips is gone slowly and changed to green. :)
Obviously the amount of light your plants get is important, but what I wandered about is does it matter the direction it comes from? This is very important to me because I want to give them plenty of light without being subjected to to much direct light myself. PS I've just invested plant growing Lights as preparation to growing house plants for the first time as I live in a flat in the north east side of my building. Pps new subscriber thanks
Cheers John. Yes direction or light is important. If it’s sat in a south facing window then it’s going to be much stronger light that a north facing window. Grow lights will be good
@@SheffieldMadePlants thanks for replying but I think you may have misunderstood my point, essentially I'm wondering how low to the ground my plant lights can be placed (I presume if I do I would need to tern then frequently ). As I said I'm hoping to place them out of line of sight for myself
Congratulations for your channel. Calatheas are very difficult plants . It is true that the quality of the water is the most important tip for a happy calathea. Although if the PH of the soil is not neutral the water can do nothing. The calatheas preferences on soil PH is neutral ( between 6.50 and 7.00. ) No more, no less . Calatheas are very sensitive : higher PH level will burn the leaves , lower will cause bacteria diseases and root rot . There are plants with high PH needs ( alkaline environment) , there are plants with low PH needs ( accided environment) and there are plants that just don’t care. I prefer the last ones to be honest) . But if to grow a happy healthy calatheas is a real challenge - because this plants needs NEUTRAL environment. No more no less. That’s the challenge, that’s the beauty that’s the madness for all the calatheas parents - we need to get PH - measure and start measure our soil - and water. Wish you good luck!
@@SheffieldMadePlants I don’t manage it needs too much work and time - there are PH measures and I plan to order one ( quite expensive 35€ ) but has 100 measures. At the moment I try to keep the balance to a common soil with distilled water . When I see white dust in the surface of the soil I understand that the soil is too alkaline full of calcium and I change the soil. Also I noticed ( by accident) that Maranthas can perfectly grow in water - I have four branches of a broken Maratha in water for one year now.
@@SheffieldMadePlants I agree . But anyway we need to know what these georgeus plants really need . Also there is written to the ingredients of the soil the level of the PH . At the moment I found too high PH level and too accided I didn’t find neutral yet but there must exist. Also there are some tips and tricks we can find in google to change the PH level of the soil. Too much effort to me as well- I agree
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I cant even keep a succulent alive and I bought this 😂 I had no idea it was for seasoned people. Wish me luck.
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When the algorithm delivers without needing to search.. just what I needed, thank you!
Great to hear!
I lost all my leaves on my beautiful medallion calathea. I was devastated!! But, I remembered what you said about the tubors and I kept watering and tending to the plant even though there was nothing there. Now, I have 2 spikes, one is nearly opened and another is barely out of the dirt. I was so excited!! Thank you because had you not told us about the tubors, I would have thrown it away like I did my Dottie!! I didn't know back then about the tubors. So, you have been a great help!! Thank you!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Was fed up of having a constantly brown leaved calathea. Had never used tap water and was next to a humidifier. I watched this video and then picked up my calathea to check how she was, and suddenly noticed spider mites! If not for this video I wouldn't have checked, so thank you! Wish me luck with spider mite eradication!
I have my calatheas right in front of my east facing window, and they love it!! My daughter in law regularly buys me plants, and upon seeing how well the calathea does in front of my 20’ east facing apt window, she’s bought me a few, and I love them!!
Sounds great!
I appreciate your straightforward approach in addressing the problems & solutions in caring for the Calathea 👍👍
Glad it was helpful!
I’m distinctly amateur but have recently expanded my home office pals to include Calathea. We’re all getting on just fine as I read on his cv that he’s a needy little character. He’s got his odd behaviours but is a good fit for the team (me and my plants). He’s got great bantz
I solved my Calathea problems permanently by dumping it in the trash bin. Life's too short for temperamental plants!😄
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Same here! I just can’t keep them happy!
I have one calathea. The first I have ever had. It makes a lot new leaves on a regular basis but I have had big issues with browning tips. I moved it from my living room to my bathroom which has a lot of light and of course high levels of humidity. The washing machine is there and I also hang and dry my clothes in this room. I put a cup under the pot and I put water in it. I no longer mist it as it never made things better. Well things have improved a lot! But what a temperamental plant!
It really is 🤦♂️
The game changer for me was bottom watering. I did it twice and it really saved my plant. Now that it is saved I am back to top watering it and I'll keep an eye on it.
Why change back to top watering? Stick with what works 😁
I’m gonna try this! Thank you
For the last, two months I have only watered my Ctenanthe Grey Star with filtered water and she has never looked better. All the brown tips have gone and the plant is thriving. The filtered water is the only thing I have changed . Thanks for the tip!
That's awesome. Thanks for sharing 😁
I’ve killed a few Calatheas… now I have two Calathea Makayona plants which I’ve found to be incredibly low maintenance. I use tap water, let them dry out completely between watering, and have no additional humidity in my home, and they do great. I’d recommend the Makayona to anyone who wants a Calathea that isn’t a pain in the butt! I might try my hand at a different kind at some point again with your tips, thanks!
Thanks 👍. The Makoyana is a good variety
I needed this video as I was having issues with my Calatheas and couldn't believe how close you are to my hometown!! Thank you for uploading this!
Thanks for watching 😁
New to this channel, but subscribed after two videos because you give me new insights, while many channels tend to repeat what has been said multiple times already
That’s great, thanks 😁
Your timing is impeccable. My little calathea reseopicta has giving me so many problems. It’s a cutting I rescued from a larger plant that was fully non-revivable. The only little stem and leaf that was somewhat okay I snipped and rooted in water. Now it’s in some soil with perlite and it got a gnat infestation. So I cleaned all the old soil and sprayed it with anti-bug stuff specifically for houseplants. And now after two days in quarantine it has gotten all crispy and the top soil has white mold. This little cutting has been the black sheep of my plant family for weeks now 😂
That sounds like a rough ride!
The greatest challenges bring the highest rewards! good luck im rooting for you, pun intended lol
1 part hydrogen peroxide, 4 parts water. Use that when you water the first time after repotting. Get yellow sticky cards to see if there are more fungal gnats. If so, then get mosquito bits or nematodes to kill the gnats in the soil. I put my calathea in the bathroom and turned on the shower for a few minutes every day. This kept them away from the other plants and the constant high humidity helped them recover. Not all plants recover from fungal gnats. Those that don't should be replaced with new ones.
never had a green thumb but wanted to start my plant journey this year. so i went plant shopping in july and bought myself around 10 plants, 2 of them are calatheas.
so after a few weeks i learned more and more about the plants that i bought. and when i found out that calatheas are not that easy to care for, i was a lil bit nervous.
but luckily all my calatheas are still happy living and growing and now i own 4 of them.
a lil bit proud of myself. 😂
Great job. They sure can be fussy 😩
My were great too in the first year or so but as time went by they mature and started with the Browning but it is acceptable.
Thank you so much I really really enjoyed watching you tell us all how to properly look after our Calathea plants. Very very useful and helpful advice and information. Please stay safe and well too xxxx Mags ❤❤❤❤
My rufibarba(/eldergrass I think) did SO much better after I started using water filtered in a Brita pitcher. It's not optimal, but definitely better than just tap water. I also cut her down quite brutally this spring and she's almost back to the size I purchased her as. No humidifier and a couple meters back from the window. Now she's thriving-as long as I can remember to water often enough 🫣 Still growing halfway through November! Great video as usual! ☺️
Thanks Mette. You're right, they do like a goof prune
Just bought my Calathea as liked the look of the plant. I normally use filtered water to water flowers. I used tap water as it said tepid water on the label. I noticed one leave going brown. So I an going to use filtered water. Thanks for the useful information.
Thank you Mr Sheffield, I'll see how the girls react to these changes ❤
My water is fresh spring from the under ground, no chemicals at all. so I use my tap water. Plants love it.
Caletheas are one of my favourite plants. I solely use rain water alone for all my house plants and I never have brown leaves. I live in Auckland New Zealand and it rains alot in spring.
That's the key for sure!
I was over watering my prayer plant so I made a wicking system after watching one of your vids on how to water plants while you're away. I took a pretty vase and a thick string and gave it a reservoir to drink at it's own pace. It's only been a week but the two sprigs I had left are perking up and reaching for the grow light. It already looks much much happier than it did. When I re-potted it I found the bottom of the pot was basically waterlogged. It took about a cup of water on it's own, but now I also have a handy little water supply nearby to pop my cuttings into to propagate. So instead of watering the plant, I'm just making sure it's buddy vase is nice and full. Thanks!
Great stuff 👍 glad you found it useful
I have one growing in a large bottle of leca and it's doing very well in that, it also has a lot of water in there.
I didn’t know about chloramine - thank you so very much. I have lost two Calathea and thought I was on the winning side for my remaining ones. I am now! Thanks once again.
Glad I could help!
Hello! Thank you for your video. I watched it with pleasure admiring your plants.
I thought i'd share my experience with Calathea Warszewiczii, because, first of all, it's total success. A little background story - i've been after Calatheas for over 20 years, i kept buying and "killing" the warszewiczii type in particular about 5 times. Non of them grew healthy at mine, eventhough i thought i had tried everything, and all of those Calatheas would eventually die within a year if i remember correctly. ...It was until about 4 years ago i bought this current plant, of course it was in a glorious state, thriving and blooming, absolutely gorgeous. And then that sacred dance with all common issues began again.. i'll skip the details, because you all, Calathea lovers, are aware of them:)
So one day i decided to repot it and use a new potting mix. It was an orchid mix (i'm also an orchid lover) but not that one that consists mostly of bark but the one for, say, Cymbidium orchid, that consists of peat (turf) mostly, and bark. After that i noticed, that if i adjust my watering schedule, my calathea would demonstrate pretty normal growth.. But if i was late to water or watered it too soon i'd still have spots on the leaves, and sometimes there were signs of both too much and too little water on the leaves.. untill i put it on wick watering.. I didn't buy any ready to use watering systems, i just dragged a wet 1cm wide piece of a stocking through the soil from the hole in the bottom of the pot through the soil up to the side of the pot on top and mount the pot over a suitable plastic container with water (i use fish tank water)
Since then, my Calathea has been "drinking" as much as it wants, when it wants.. She's been producing healthy leaves, new sprouts, all healthy growing.. (of course there are things to keep an eye on, like if there's water in the container beneath, or if the wick needs cleaning as sometimes during the summer it gets covered with green algae etc. (actually it's better to use a dark container for water.. well, you can figure it out) And also right now it is blooming for the first time! A couple of weeks ago i noticed the first flower coming out and now there is a second one half way through.. i expect a third one too. Isn't it wonderful:)
That's all i wanted to share with you.. thanks for reading this and hope it helps. Cheers.
That’s great. Water wicking systems are very good 👍 thanks for sharing
I collect rainwater that comes off of my roof into two, 10gal pickle buckets. I use a coffee filter to it to get rid of any debris that gets in the water 🥰👍
Sounds great!
Richard. You have taught me to be a better plant parent ❤. I now use my rain barrel water 💦.
Great stuff 👍
I just bought one. I'm scared already. They are gorgeous. I recently purchased an indoor greenhouse but noticed that the plastic tent has an odor and I am afraid to put it in because I know from watching your videos that these plants hate any type of chemicals. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you for all of your very helpful videos because I'm sure that many of my plants would not have survived my over-parenting.
Thanks Teresa! I just replied to your other comment. I think you're fine. It's more the chemicals in water they get fussy about that the air
...I have 20plus kinds of Calathea. . .they are not my favorite but i have them - they become lush, die and regrow. . .THANK YOU FOR THE C-TIPS
Thanks Claire 😁
Thank you SO much for this video! You answered all my questions that NO other video has touched on 🥰
I got my first calathea (ornata) two months ago and while it was gorgeous the first few weeks, it is now barely hanging on! At first just the tips were brown, and then way too quickly all the leaves started turning yellow, all the pink lines faded, the edges turned nearly black and curled inwards…I wish I could share pics! Only 5 leaves left that I trimmed all the edges on, and only it’s newest leaf is still shiny. I knew I had a BIG problem when even its only unfurled leaf turned yellow and mushy and flopped over within two days! Mistake #1, not only was I using tap water (although I do fill jugs and let the water sit overnight - but this is something I learned is not so effective for chlorine evaporation!), I was misting it with tap water as well, major fail - my poor plant 😭 on top of that, I was overwatering it (in my defense, the top two inches of soil were dry, but the pot was too big!) So the past two waterings have been with distilled. Mistake #2, it was living in my bathroom with a pebble tray, two wet rags hanging next to it, and next to my newer calathea (rattlesnake) I got last month and while all that is fine…the humidity is generally between 50-99%, which I now know is way too big of a range and inconsistent. Well let’s just say I just got done cutting off 5 yellow bottom leaves on the new one! Which brings me to mistake #3, the bathroom has an east facing window and the calatheas were about 8 feet away from it…I thought I was doing good on the lighting until I woke up earlier than usual today to see them getting PUMMELED with direct rays 😩 I feel like SUCH a failure! Pretty much everything you can do wrong, I did wrong. I’ve moved them to the bedroom, which has a north facing window and blinds, but now I’m afraid it’s not gonna be ENOUGH light 🤦♀️ I feel like these plants are ticking time bombs and every day brings them closer to irreversible death 😔
Thanks for watching. They are very tricky plants for sure and hard to keep happy in doors. The north facing position should be ok though. Just keep an eye on that watering
Brown tips is usually the result of insufficient humidity. I solved it by using a humidity tray, which is a saucer larger than the saucer under the pot. You put gravel in the larger saucer, put the plant and its saucer on top of the rocks, and add water. Use distilled water or water purified by osmosis. Fill large saucer until it's near the top end of the saucer. The water will evaporate and provide the plant a lot of humidity. For Calatheas, the more the merrier. If you sprinke Ceylon cinnamon on the soil in the pot and also on the saucer underneath the pot, it repels fungal gnats. This is the reason some plant enthusiasts in tropical places, such as Indonesia, add cinnamon to the water when they water their plants. Ceylon cinnamon is better for gnat repellent than other types of cinnamon. As for a moisture meter, those are junk. Take a wooden chopstick, stick it in the pot to bottom, and pull it out. If the soil is wet, you will see some dirt stuck to the chopstick. It also tells you if the pot is damp near the bottom or all the way to the top by the height of the wet soil stuck to the chopstick. Rinsing off spider mites with water works. Cover the pot with plastic, so you don't get water in the pot. Use your shower head and lukewarn water to literally spray the spider mites off the leaves. Be sure to check the underside of the leaves. Do this every day or every other day for a week and that will get rid of spider mites. It works on mealy bugs also. Calatheas really don't need a grow light. You can use a 4000K 800 lumen LED light and put it at least 1 meter from your calathea. That's enough light and you won't burn your plants.
The first plant I bought was a Calathea. And it's freaking thriving! Pushing leaves out every week or so. To be honest, it's just pure luck because I have a nice flat plants tend to like, and I let an app remind me when to water it. But the leaves did tend to slightly brown on the tip. I'l try filtering the water! Thanks for the tip!
That is awesome!
what’s the app?
Touch wood, I have three, and they have all been in my house for about two months, so far so good 😂
I bought a Stella prior to doing any research and assumed it would shrivel up within a week, so I think I must be doing something right. Right???
I have only used distilled water with super thrive. Two are sitting in their nursery pots on a damp bed of moss for increased humidity. I don’t use a humidifier because of you. It would be inconsistent.
I’m a newbie to plants but no brown tips so far. I have watched this video about three times! Thank you for the help. Fingers crossed that I will make it another two months. ❤
Great stuff 👍
Thank you! I was almost giving up my calathea🥲
I had the same problem until I started using my aquarium water to water these plants. Brown leaves disappead and the new growth rate is fantastic. I even have one growing in my aquarium. Of course only the roots are in the water. I use this aquarium water to water all my house plants. There is no smell.
Sounds awesome. I don’t have the option unfortunately
You have a calathea in your aquarium???? Tell me more
I have 2 makoyanas which are the loves of my life, and 1 zebrina. All 3 are situated with my other plants in front of a west window with blinds. I was determined to grow a green thumb in honor of my recently deceased Mother💔 who was an avid gardener and plant grower. The 2 makoyanas are really for her and thank goodness they are doing magnificently well. I am still learning, but no brown tips whatsoever and countless new leaves. The zebrina is not QUITE as happy, but still doing fairly well. It does have a few brown tips and some mild browning along a few edges, but it also has sprouted 5 or 6 new leaves in the short time that I’ve had it. In my paranoia to not overwater I tend to under water, and I imagine that I may not be keeping her moist enough. Could also be too much light. (I try to adjust the blinds when the sun hits it but a few times I forgot) I use distilled water on them, and now that winter is here, the humidity stays around 50 - which I know is too dry. Before, it would hover around 60. I thought I was going to have to introduce some additional humidity over the winter, but I was encouraged to hear you say consistency was more important, so maybe they’ll be okay, I’m in love with them! ❤️
The Zebrina is probably the toughest to make happy so if you can do that you’re doing great 👍
Thank you for the tips. I just got one yesterday because the store had a buy one get one free sale. I didn’t realize they were difficult 😂
Hope they behave for you 😁
Seeing this video makes me want to try calathea's again. Might try again later this year!
You got this!
The dehumidifier tip is brilliant thank you! 🎉
Glad it was helpful!
I typically use tds meter to check the amount of inorganic and organic substances present in taps water or any water that you wished to check its quality. This can be helpful to plants sensitive to the chemicals present in water like calatheas or carnivorous plants.
Anything lower than 20 ppm is good enough for me.
I’ll have to get me one of those!
my tap is only about 25 ppm but they put fluoride in it, which plants hate as much as they do a lot of calcium carbonate, so I have to use a special filter to remove fluoride.
Hello there, I bought a calathea with shriveled up leaves, but I am enjoying seeing the leaves open and close,so I know there is hope for her, by the way, I love all your plant advice😊
Thank you 😊
You learned and told us after this video, that we can use the conditioner that's used for fish tanks. I still had to watch 😊
Sure did 😁
Thanks so much for your much detailed video.
The tip from the other video you have of a tray with water works too... That works better for me to keep constant humidity i just added gravel. But always keep water on that tray like you recomeneded and guess what that plant has its own humidity
U can leave town n not worry about power outages
I have calathea and maranta about ten or more,you give advice 💯 perfect..,about watering,humidity and much more..thanks a lot bro !!
Always excited n happy to watch your videos,thanks again 😘
Thanks Firoza
I have my calathea in the bathroom and although it has some brown spots, it’s grown so much and is a beautiful plant.
Great stuff 😁
I don't have a calathea but I watched anyway. Knowledge is always a useful thing. An hour later, on our local Green Thumb WhatsApp group, someone posted a photo of. . . a calathea! . . . and asked what's wrong with it. "It has plenty of light," they explained. I sent them straight here. :-)
Nice! Glad you're spreading the word! 😁
Hi Jennifer from Trinidad is this plant also know as the Prayer Plant ? I love this plant alot and it seems that we live in one place being that you guys live so far away and i am in the Caribbean and we have similar plants or the same lol. I love them all whether the foliage or the flowering kind God blessed us with beauty to look at and enjoy. Stay well be safe take care keep yr plants healthy and happy they will love you
Yes a Prayer Plant is in the Calathea family. There are so many varieties and they are gorgeous. Just very temperamental
Ooh ..now i know why my plants leaves look like that...thank you so much for the tips👍
You bet!
The difference in growing my Calatheas was absolutely remarkable once I started using a humidifier. I have it running just about all day - no more brown edges🎉🎉
Would you say it's expensive to run?
@@SheffieldMadePlants no, not at all. I just use the setting that puffs, stops, puffs & the humidity stays at a good level. I have the 750ml (I think) model that is portable & rechargeable although I keep mine plugged in. The brand is H2O - I love it & it sits inconspicuously amongst my plants. I have four & they are the best thing I have ever bought for my plants along with my portable, clip on grow light. I have a lot of plants like you 😂😂 I live in New Zealand (north island) & even though we have high humidity the humidifiers have made a tremendous difference ❤️
@@heatherstephens9295 sounds great 👍
@@heatherstephens9295 I just got the 500 ml from the brand H2O, two of them actually, for my plants.
@@pinstripesuitandheels you won’t regret it ❤️
Instead of filters, I've been using ceramic balls for quite while now. Will try on my calatheas, thank you for the tips.
I'm not familiar with ceramic balls. What are they used for please?
@@SheffieldMadePlants Mostly to purify the water from chlorine and limestone ; it may take longer to purify water than filters, but should last way longer.
@@thefallenarm589 got ya thanks 🙏
Have to give you credit here fantastic information for tap water. We only use rainwater here which does take longer but we wouldn't have it any other way. If you want to kill a ficus very quickly use tap water. Great video as always mate.
Nice one, cheers Jack 👍
I generally avoid Calathea's and Prayer plants as I just can't keep them alive. I live in Melbourne and we have some of the best water in the world which is sourced from protected forests and requires very little treatment due to natural filtration. However, small amounts of chlorine and fluoride are added to our water which makes me think this is at least part of the reason why I've struggled with these plants so much. I might try using some sort of inline filter or catch rainwater on the roof of our building. Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for watching 😁
I totally agree! I've been giving my Calatheas filtered tap water from the beginning and they hardly developed any brown tips despite the humidity not being very high (not low either). I grouped them together further away from the window. The last two months the adult plants were not doing well anymore. A lack of light I suspect since the older leaves turned yellow. Also fungus gnats were a problem. The soil was moist, but not soggy though. Fungus gnats prefer moist soil for their egs and I can't let the soil dry out like I do with my succulents and cacti. I recently gave the adult plants a humidifier that I leave on all day so I could move them closer to the window (and heating) where they receive more light during those dark months. I love Caltheas, but I will never buy a White Fusion again though. The leaves are paper thin and it's impossible to keep it happy. My White Star is doing fine. For people who like Calatheas, but find them too high mantaince try Ctenanthes instead. Similar look, but much easier to take care of.
Cool thanks for sharing 😁
Thanks for the tips. I have two calatheas and they love the northern light and being together. My peacock variety is very tall and has flowered. I water with distilled water and cut off dead leaves. I just had to do trial and error and videos.
Thank you. I bet it looks pretty when flowering 👍
I always used tank water from my fish tanks to keep all my plants in good leaf and btw filtering water does NOT remove these toxins unless you have a very expensive filter.
Active charcoal: granules filled up to 1/3 of a big drinks dispenser (a 5L glass jar with a tap from ikea ). Makes a very cheap effective water purification system for plants and human consumption. It removes chlorine and many other impurities. Doesn’t help with fluoride.
It’s a good idea to use aquarium water, I will do the same now as I am just about to get back in the hobby.
The new water that goes into my tanks gets help from above mentioned setup with the active charcoal & filter sand, I use this setup in my kitchen for better drinking water and it’s been working well for some years now, I replace the charcoal and clean the filter sand / or crushed filter glass by boiling or by adding some hydrogen peroxide 3-4/ year.. just keep away from sun if using it for drinking- to keep the algae out - and leave one on the sunny windowsill to grow micro algae and some snails in if you don’t have access to aquarium and want biologically active water for your plants.
We collect rain water for our pot plants.
👌
Someday I may come back to trying calatheas, but until then alocasias are my substitutes. MUCH less water 💦 finickiness, surprisingly.
Agree!
Fair enough 😁
For my other plants I always use reptisafe for my plants also! I will specifically use rainwater for my calathea
And rainwater is freeeeeeee 🤗
Mine is growing in my bathroom. I've noticed lots of new growth since I've brung it home. Then I watered it for the first time and closed the vent in my bathroom and noticed that leaves hidden in the middle are yellow and new leaves growing in have browning on it.
I purchased a second one and placed it in an area on my job that recieves very few light. Slow new growth, NO browning and I haven't watered it yet
Could be the water then. You could try using pure water or conditioning it.
I have used distilled water from the start but still get the Browning. But overall the plant still looks good and now's needs a bigger pot.
👍
i have two, both live on top of my fish tank, both doing well. Consistency is the key for mine i use a cheap water filter, i have the Stromanthe Triostar which i thought to be a really difficult plant but mine is fine so long as I am consistent and that in this case even extends to temp on cold nights, i move it next to my boiler but return it in the morning.
Richard nailed it in this vid Calatheas are not the best starter plants as they are moody if not cared for correctly but if you do they are amazing!
great vid mate thank you!
Cheers pal 👍
I have a small Freddie cal and a rose cal. These are my first attempts at calathea…. Freddie got too dry one time and I think I lost half the plant still looks sad honestly. Rose doing good - the new leaf has opened no fuss so far hope it stays that way lovely addition to my collection.
Fingers crossed 😁
In this game even failure can be positive if you can find the problem. i always buy cheap problem plants just for the education. if i loose the plant it wont of cost me much and i usually learn something and if i win i will of learned more and got a nice plant to boot!
@@letshaveago2201 definitely agree. I think the Freddie was $5 I had to try it at that price.
I had a problem with calatheas too.untill I saw from another video that the guy made soil mix only using sand and cowdung compost.i did the same and within no time my plant showed new shoots and kept plant km indirect light.its doing so much better now
Lots of goodness in that 🐄 💩 I guess
@@SheffieldMadePlants ha ha..yess.worked for me sir.
Great info..I’ll move my plant to a darker area and start using distilled water….thanks a bunch!
Glad it was helpful!
I use only rain water for my indoor calatheas but still they brown. Put them outside under some shade and they thrive...
hi thanks for the tip for using tap safe for my spider plant you are great for plant imfomation like used vedge water iam learning a lot like making soil acidic with tea
My pleasure 😊
Great information, maybe I will look into getting a filter.
You should!
Little tip for people collecting rain water; put the bucket/barrel or whatever beneath a storm drain, or get a rain chain and collect the water from that! I’ve been collecting water to water my plants lately and I’ve seen a massive improvement in all my plants!
Great stuff 👍
@@jamyDodger its probably the water. try water conditioner
All my 6 different calatheas have gotten so much better since I got my humidifer and started using filtered water I left out for 24 hrs (Don't understand how it doesn't help to dissipate the chlorine as when I leave a glass of water out overnight I definitely notice a change in the smell and taste?!) Have started using stress coat in all my water too. Only my 2 original plants have crispy edges now.
That's great! Chlorine does dissipate but water companies mostly use chloramine now
2:12 I live in apartment, I can’t collect rain water 😩 ! Even there is big Mansoon rain in summer and the streets are flooded to the knees, the rain barely gets into the pots on the balcony. I’m in Saïgon, tropical climate 33°c between 50-95% humidity depending the season, yet getting brown leaves because of improper care. The Calatheas were either indoor , either in partial shade a bit behind the Boston fern on my balcony , with morning sun - which can be very hot - from 6:30 - 11:30. Rest of the day in low light shade because of others plants and cuz my balcony is quite small between walls. The Calatheas all died. They’re beautiful but sound too fussy plants for me, I need to make a cross on that. I need easy going plants, that can both stand low light shade + burning hot morning sun , that can stand wet soil (draining potting soil mix still retains too much water) and some dryness ( when I water only once a week or every 2 weeks when the garden hose is broken … 😩) and also can stand the heat ( sounds like azaleas and fuchsia is compromised because they may not stand the heat) .
Yep best to stick to plants that fit with your environment
I didn’t know you could divide calatheas! My stromanthe triostar is beginning to over grow the 10 inch pot that it’s in.
Oh yeah well worth doing
Very helpful, thank you! One question, I use stuff in my tap water to clear out chlorine for my fish tank, will that help to clear up the tap water for my plants?
Yes I think that works well
use the water from your tank while doing water changes i dont use it in the winter to stop a build up of unused nutrients which is your fish poop.
Calethea plants are very sensitive of location. Due to heat waves I brought 4 calethea plants in my living room from my covered entrances because 3 of them got evening sunlight and got brown leafs but the fourth one was in complete semi-shade area with no direct sunlight and no issue. This 4th plant got leafs drop issue so i kept it to its original place and can see the difference.
I would suggest to observe your calethea very carefully to check best location.
Good shout 👍
I live in Canada and my calathea always throws a tantrum when winter comes around and the heat turns on; so now she lives in a greenhouse box and is much happier. (:
Yeah winter ain’t great 😬
I shower my calathea in my bathtub. Like I do with my gold palm. Only problem is ... I just got tap water there... if any problems you mentioned occur I will ad aquarium water drops to the water for the soil and just shower her velvety leaves.
Good plan 👍
I use filtered rain water as we use our own water tanks and its been tested as good water. I found running the calathia under a warm shower once a week for about a minute seems to help.
That's a great idea!
This is exactly the advice I needed I’d just about given up on my 2 👍💔
Glad you liked it, thanks Patsy!
Excellent, thsnks for how to calathea .thumbs up 👍👍👍
Thanks Jerry
New subscriber. Never saw your channel before. You are very articulate. I’m going to try another Calathea using your tips. 👍🏼
Thanks for subbing! 😁
I rescued a calathea from the bargain bin and repotted it straight away into a free draining mix. It still only has 2 leaves so rain water will be the next treatment. What about feeding ?
Feed as you would your other plants 👍
Hello! Do you have a video of your favorite gardening gadgets for Christmas gifts? LOVE your planting tips, thank you!
Got this Top 12 Accessories That Make Houseplant Care EASY
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@@SheffieldMadePlants Awesome, thank you!
@@SheffieldMadePlants Terrific, thank you!
Taking notes for my Makoyana that's currently being a sassy girl. Crispy leaves galore even tho the Orbifilia and Ornata not far from her are overall doing ok (new growth and limited browning). These plants are headscratchers for sure, but I love them so much 🥺 Thank you for this list of tips, there were one or two I wasn't doing yet, so there's still hope 😊
Nice, thanks Amelie!
Can you use watering globes for calatheas? Or does that keep the soil too moist at all times?
Should be ok
I have a Calithea for the first time. Thank you for your tips. Im confused as to whether to get a humidifier or not? It has some brown crispy leaves already. Ill try the filteted water. How far away from a radiator should it be?
I think the water you give it will be more important than humidity but don't keep it close to a radiator. The inconsistency will make it grumpy
I have not ventured to try a calathea just yet... when I do, I might put it in a self-watering pot.
That'll work
Ive tried everything. Second one and down to 3 leaves. About tp shove it in tbe bin
What should I do with a calathea that isn’t big, just came from the shop but a few of the root’s are poking through the holes in the bottom of the pot?
Check if it’s rootbound. If it’s not then leave it somewhere bright
Hi there, I moved my Calathea Warscewiczii into the bathroom at the beginning of the summer and since then, she has thrived! She's planted in a self watering plant pot, which i top up with filtered water. She has lots of new growth however, her leaves are starting to curl and brown. Any ideas why this might be and what can i do to prevent it? I don't have a garden unfortunately so I'm unable to collect fresh rain water and I'm not using the dehumidifier at the moment because it's been so hot lately! Thanks
Is it getting too much sun?
No! No direct sun. Its placed on top of a shelf unit and had really improved in this environment. I can't seem to figure out the issue 😔
@@Chantie_Kneen hard to say without seeing it really
Thank you, that's is very informative.
You bet!
Once the leave is dead or on it way, how do I clip it off??
Distilled water is the answer 💚
Hey !! Thanks! An update on my calathea rattlesnake, I changed to water with bottle drinking water and it the brown tips is gone slowly and changed to green. :)
Fantastic! 😄
Obviously the amount of light your plants get is important, but what I wandered about is does it matter the direction it comes from?
This is very important to me because I want to give them plenty of light without being subjected to to much direct light myself.
PS I've just invested plant growing Lights as preparation to growing house plants for the first time as I live in a flat in the north east side of my building. Pps new subscriber thanks
Cheers John. Yes direction or light is important. If it’s sat in a south facing window then it’s going to be much stronger light that a north facing window. Grow lights will be good
@@SheffieldMadePlants thanks for replying but I think you may have misunderstood my point, essentially I'm wondering how low to the ground my plant lights can be placed (I presume if I do I would need to tern then frequently ).
As I said I'm hoping to place them out of line of sight for myself
@@johnh539 ah right I see now 😅. I think about 30cm away from the plant. If the light is to the side then turning the plant will be good
Thanks for replying again. as I say I'm just getting started so intend following Your vids .
Congratulations for your channel. Calatheas are very difficult plants . It is true that the quality of the water is the most important tip for a happy calathea. Although if the PH of the soil is not neutral the water can do nothing. The calatheas preferences on soil PH is neutral ( between 6.50 and 7.00. ) No more, no less . Calatheas are very sensitive : higher PH level will burn the leaves , lower will cause bacteria diseases and root rot . There are plants with high PH needs ( alkaline environment) , there are plants with low PH needs ( accided environment) and there are plants that just don’t care. I prefer the last ones to be honest) . But if to grow a happy healthy calatheas is a real challenge - because this plants needs NEUTRAL environment. No more no less. That’s the challenge, that’s the beauty that’s the madness for all the calatheas parents - we need to get PH - measure and start measure our soil - and water. Wish you good luck!
Thanks Stella. How do you affect the ph levels to keep it neutral?
@@SheffieldMadePlants I don’t manage it needs too much work and time - there are PH measures and I plan to order one ( quite expensive 35€ ) but has 100 measures. At the moment I try to keep the balance to a common soil with distilled water . When I see white dust in the surface of the soil I understand that the soil is too alkaline full of calcium and I change the soil. Also I noticed ( by accident) that Maranthas can perfectly grow in water - I have four branches of a broken Maratha in water for one year now.
@@stellasifaki2912 Sounds like too much effort to me 😬
@@SheffieldMadePlants I agree . But anyway we need to know what these georgeus plants really need . Also there is written to the ingredients of the soil the level of the PH . At the moment I found too high PH level and too accided I didn’t find neutral yet but there must exist. Also there are some tips and tricks we can find in google to change the PH level of the soil. Too much effort to me as well- I agree
Ohh my goodness I'm going to try 😢
Wonderful Video. Do these tips apply to brown tips of Aglaonema (typically my Pictum Tri Colour) also?
They'll apply to most plants 👍
Hello! Thanks for the tips ☺️ please could you tell me where I could find that plant ladder / stand at 5:16?
I bought it from Amazon I think