Dear Plant community members, I recently bought 4 beautiful tropical plants from a store in NY during my 1 day visit there and because I was in a hotel I had to leave the plants in the car in sub zero temperatures :(. I try to cover it with a blanket tho to give it somewhat protection but apparently that didn’t help. Please advise what can I do to bring them to life? Please help!
Did you buy four different Calatheas at one time? You brave, brave soul… Any leaves that are wilted are goners. The orbifolia and the medallion(?) still have healthy looking foliage, so there’s hope for those two. Prune the wilted/dead leaves down to the base of the plant. Place in a warm area with lots of bright light. Extra humidity will help with new growth and should help stop the edges of the leaves from getting crispy. Recommend watering with distilled water or treating tap water with aquarium water conditioner. Calatheas can be sensitive to minerals in tap water. Water when the top inch or two of the soil is dry. I would hold off on repotting for a couple weeks until you see new growth to avoid further stressing the plants. I don’t know about the other two. They look pretty far gone. I’d say give them a couple weeks of good growing conditions to see they bounce back. Good luck!
2개 좋아요Thank you for your advice. I really appreciate you taking time to respond. I am going to take all the measures you mentioned here. Thank you!
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YinDeezy I LOL’ed at your comment! My first houseplant ever was a fuzzy (rufibarba) calathea…. #RIP 🪦 Jyotsna, don’t take it hard if these guys don’t recover, calatheas are notoriously picky. I have over 100 houseplants now and I still can’t keep a pinstripe calathea happy. Hell, my medallion is on its last leg too! My recommendation for these guys is… get a philodendron. 😅 They’re super hardy, easy to find, generally inexpensive, and come in just about every “flavor” you’d want in a plant!
좋아요 1개Hahaha like you said, Lucy, I was also amused by YinDeezy’s “so brave” “comment well I didn’t know any better, it was just that they looked so beautiful in person I could not resist buying them :). Thank you for your advice as well, I will keep my fingers crossed and do the best I can to revive them but like you said not get disheartened.
좋아요 1개 That’s the spirit!! I totally get it. That’s why I keep buying those damn calatheas— they’re just soooo pretty!! If you ever run into one, I would strongly recommend a rattlesnake calathea (lancifolia, otherwise known as goeppertia insignis). They’re tougher than their cousins by far. I’ve had mine over a year and she’s my only prayer plant who regularly behaves herself.
0개 좋아요Lovely recommendation, I will keep an eye out. Thank you :)
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