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Finally getting the hand of this Calathea haha. It has been through A… | Show your plants | Planta community

juju

Finally getting the hand of this Calathea haha. It has been through A LOT. I have it for around a year or even a bit more, in the beginning when I didn’t know better, I used tao water, I let it dry, it had spider mites at one point, it lost all the leaves one time and regrew from zero… This plant is a survivor 😂 Now I keep the moisture up by misting it every other day, I water with filtered water, and fertilize it regularly with the regular miracle gro for indoor plants, and I also put it closer to the light source. The older leaves still have some crispy tips, but overall it’s finally looking happy and shooting new leaves again. 🩷

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6 comments

  1. Plant Father

    filtering chlorinated tap water without treating it usually leaves some amount of chlorine in the water and this is likely part of why there are lots of crispy leaves. rain water is ideal but you can filter and treat your tap water with aquarium water conditioner to remove most of the irritants. spraying the leaves regularly isn’t going to do much for the local humidity, neither will a pebble tray. misting regularly can actually cause fungal infections, i’d recommend running a humidifier or placing this plant under a cloche instead

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    • juju

      Thanks again! I just started collecting rain water! Excited to start using it. I will be using store bought distilled water whenever I don’t have enough rain water. Question, the rain water Im collecting sometimes have some debris at the bottom, is it ok to use it like that or do I have to filter it? Thanks!

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    • Plant Father

      if it’s just dirt/plant matter there shouldn’t be a problem, however if your rain water is roof runoff it’s likely full of toxic minerals and any debris in there (pieces of roofing tile) could cause issues for sensitive plants. i have a 5 gallon bucket in the back yard that frequently collects a little dirt and pieces of leaf litter, and have never bothered to remove them, just allow the solids to sink and use the water on top for plants

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    • juju

      thank you that’s so helpful

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  2. Carly Rose

    They are really finicky! Thanks for the tips. Yours is looking great. Mine needs new growth. It’s old leaves are crispy.

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    • juju

      Are you fertilizing? :) she looks good tho, colours are sharp

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