I found one of my wishlist plants on FB marketplace this morning for a great price - $10! There were some red flags though. 1) a Calathea this size would usually be $20-$30 (Canadian) on marketplace, 2) It’s a mature size plant (about 2 feet tall) in a 6 inch pot but only has 3 leaves 🤔. So I immediately knew something must be wrong with it and the seller had probably decided to cut her losses and sell it instead of continuing to deal with the problem. I picked it up anyway, and I could see she had previously cut away maybe 10 leaves. It was in a heavy soil with no drainage pot, so I started to repot it once I got it home, and found what was definitely a small cluster of eggs from some insect in there. I threw out all the soil, washed off the roots and sprayed the roots, stems and leaves with my neem oil mixture. I’m going to repot in my homemade tropical mix. I’ve never had good luck saving plants before. Any thing else I should keep in mind? Really hoping I can save this beauty.
