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Hi y’all! New(ish) plant mom here and looking for advice. These two… | Prayer Plant Allies | Communauté Planta

Plant mom newb

Hi y’all! New(ish) plant mom here and looking for advice. These two are t looking too hot lately and looking for recs on sprucing them up a bit. They were both repotted a few weeks ago and I’ve been watering/spraying them based on this app with distilled water. Thoughts? Of note, Rattlesnake was last watered 10 days ago, next due in 22 days. Last misted 3 days ago, next due in 2 days Striped Calathea last watered 11 days ago, next due in 21 days. Last misted 3 days ago, next due in 2 days.

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  1. YinDeezy

    Welcome to the Calathea crew! These two are my personal favorites in my collection right now. Couple questions/comments: 1. The pots look a bit too large for the size of the plant. How big were the root balls when you repotted? Generally, the pot should be no larger than 1-2 inches of the root ball. When pots are oversized compared to the roots, the potting medium can take excessively long to dry out since the roots can’t access all the moisture. This can suffocate the roots over time, lead to root rot and attract fungus gnats. It’s very important for the potting medium to have proper wet-dry cycles. 2. A full month between watering is likely too long. I would suggest around 7-10 days, but that would depend on your growing environment - how much light your plants are getting (natural and/or grow lights), average temperature, average humidity, proximity to air vents, ect. You can use Planta as a reminder to check the plants, but the decision to water or not water should be made based on the needs of the plant instead of a fixed schedule. The next time you water, give the pots a lift. That will be the “wet” weight. When it’s about time to water again give the pot a lift. If it’s light and the first inch or two of the medium is dry, time to water. If it still has some weight, check back in a day or two. Not an exact science, but that would be my recommendation while you are learning the needs of your plants

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  2. YinDeezy

    3. What kind of potting medium are you using? Soil porosity and water drainage are very important. Looks like you have a decently chunky mix from the pictures. 4. These calatheas like humidity. Would recommend investing in a humidifier long term. Pebble trays and misting do not affect local humidity at any meaningful level (I see some of those classic calathea crispy edges 😅). Misting can also cause fungal infections and other issues if there isn’t proper air circulation for the plants to dry. I am a fan of the Govee line of products. They have smart humidifiers and smart wifi plugs that can all be controlled via app and Fairly priced on Amazon. Once I switched to distilled water and was able to keep the humidity at 45-50%, I stopped getting crispy leaves.

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    • Plant mom newb

      Thank you so much!! If I were to repot them into smaller pots, is not to soon to do so? Considering I just repotted them a few weeks (maybe months) ago?

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    • YinDeezy

      If that much time has passed, you should be able to downsize with minimal stress to the plants. Just be careful with handling the roots. Before committing to the repot, I would suggest just taking a look at the roots and the condition of the potting medium at the bottom of the pot. If the medium is still wet since the last watering 10+ days ago, I would recommend downsizing and/or adding extra perlite to the medium to help with drainage. Looking at the size of plant and the pots, I’m guessing you went from a 4-5in nursery pot to 6-7in pot? Unless the plant is root bound, there shouldn’t be too much urgency to upsize in pots. For example, here’s how the roots of my rattlesnake looked before I upgrades from 6in to 8in. I probably could have left it in the 6in pot for another month or two and been fine.

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    • Plant mom newb

      Will be assessing bottom soil tomorrow! Thanks again for the advice!

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  3. Plant Father

    if you have access to rain water i’d highly recommend that over distilled water. it’s mostly pure, slightly acidic, and contains trace amounts of organic matter (fertilizer) so will benefit your plants quite a lot. distilled water is also expensive and produces a lot of waste, especially in the form of plastic jugs. if rain water is inaccessible you can filter (to remove excess minerals) and treat your tap water with aquarium water conditioner (to neutralize chemical irritants)

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    • YinDeezy

      I use 5 gallon reusable jugs when I fill up. Water stations are pretty common where I live. Costs 50 cents per gallon. I do hear you on the waste portion, though. My understanding is that water distillation is a resource intensive process. I did recently buy some aquarium water conditioner. My tap water is very hard. Going to start with 50/50 distilled water to treated tap water to see how my plants react if act all. Ideally I will be able to transition 100% treated tap water for the plants eventually and I would only need distilled water for my humidifiers.

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    • Plant Father

      that’s cool that reusable containers are an option for you. there’s nothing like that around here, probably because it’s too rural. the resources consumed while purifying water (through various methods) are another big part of the waste i was referring to. if you have access to fish tank water (the kind usually discarded during water changes) that’s also fantastic for your plants because of the naturally occurring fertilizer (fish poo)

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