Hi! I bought my furry Calathea over a week ago. I watered it 10 days ago through bottom watering. The soil still feels damp, and I haven’t watered it since. The leaves have been droopy and some brown spots have occurred. I moved the plant next to a window for fear of not enough light, but I’m also worried it’s by the AC vent above drying it out so i bought a cool humidifier mister near it. Any suggestions?
These plants are extremely finicky… they love moist soil, bright indirect like and humidity. I couldn’t meet the humidity requirements for my calathea so I gave her away. 😅 Your issue is prob humidity because this is what I was experiencing with mine. I tried grouping mine with other plants, and while it cured the brown spots and seemed to help a lil, she was still sad bc the area with all the plants weren’t bright enough… I just gave her away man lol too much of a diva for me
3 gillningar Oh no! Well hopefully I can save her. The added humidity hopefully will help. hopefully I can nurture mine with all advice i’ve been getting. thank you!
1 gilla
I went through the same with both of my rufibarbas. They tend to shock really bad from environment changes. It looks like you’ve got it in good light now and the humidifier should help. The AC vent might be temperature shocking it but it might acclimate to it. Sorry about the long post! Also not sure if you are using tap water or not, calatheas and most of the prayer plant family don’t like the fluoride in most tap water. It can cause browning as well.
2 gillningar Yeah I think it’s definitely in shock from the dramatic temp change. I bought it from my home depot where the inside temps were warm and humid. I didn’t know the water thing! Should I buy distilled water?
1 gilla That’s what I use. Some people can get away with tap water based on how their city has it. I’m not that lucky and mine has a lot of fluoride and some lime as well.
1 gilla
Calathea are a tough plant. They surprisingly need a lot of light and I have had a lot of success with a dedicated grow light. I also learned the hard way to only use distilled water or their leaves turn brown on the edges and look unwell. If it were me I would quickly repot this one in order to replace the soil with dryer well draining soil before root rot starts. However as long as the roots are okay the plant will grow back from the tubers even if all the leaves fall off.
2 gillningar