*NOT MY PICTURE* I have a Calathea Vittata that is still alive but has browning on the tips. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong so I can help it grow more? Im making sure its staying in a semi-lit area and making sure I give it a mist and plant food in the water. What am I doing wrong??
99% sure it's a humidity issue. There's mixed opinions about whether or not misting is an adequate substitute for humidity. Found a really good analogy from Darryl Cheng in one of his books: "Misting is about as useful to raise humidity as it is to light up a match to warm up a room." It gets the leaves wet, yes, but when the water evaporates, the leaves are left again dry. You can measure the humidity around a plant with a hygrometer and test this mist theory out yourself. Imo, using a humidifier/maintaining humidity at or above 60% is the only way to keep some tropical plants alive. Darryl also says on his website, HousePlantJournal.com, that he "[doesn't] use a humidifier anywhere" and that his plants survive winters at 30% humidity. Idk how he does it. Maybe his summers are humid? My house is a constant 30% year round and in my experience all the humid-loving plants hate it and brown just like yours.
0 Likes It's annoying because I've found to be attracted most to humid-loving plants, so I sucked it up and got a humidifier and they're all loving it!
0 Likes So, I live in a dry climate state (especially in the area I am in). Would putting something clear with holes on the top over the plant keep it humid? I also don’t own nor have the money to invest in a humidifier.
0 LikesI’ve never had that browning issue due to humidity and I don’t use a humidifier either. The issue I have is where sometimes philodendron leaves will get curled and stuck, so for those and aerial roots I do mist the leaf or root directly daily/whenever I remember and that seems to help
0 Likes So this is a Calathea plant (reclassified in 2012 as Goeppertia) which responds differently to humidity than Philo plants. Calathea are notorious for being super picky about their conditions, both regarding humidity and lime sensitivity, as Arlo mentioned below. As for that plastic bag, go for it! I've never done that before for my plants, but it essentially recycles the water your plants release in the air during photosynthesis via condensation on the plastic bag. Terrariums work the same way. Don't know about whether or not to poke holes though, but my intuition is no holes because they'll let the water escape. In order to know whether it's humidity or lime, you'll have to do some experiments 😉 but that's what I find most fun about plant care :)
2 LikesPlants that are sensitive to lime will do this if you water them with tap water (which I do anyway because life is too short). You can try watering with distilled water instead if you decide to care 🤷🏻♂️
4 Likes Okay, I will try changing the water. Hopefully it helps!
0 LikesAs a heads up the leaves that are brown will stay brown, you can trim the brown part off if you want to and then see if changing the water keeps newer leaves green
3 Likes I do this to all my plants. Just make sure not to cut the green part of the leaf, because then you're creating an open wound which could lead to more damage. I like to leave a little brown "border" just to be safe :)
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Calatheas hate tap water and usually my tips will be brown if I use anything other than distilled tap water . I have one near a humidifier and the other isn’t and since changing to distilled water the tips aren’t crispy or brown
2 Likes What do you use to distil your water?
0 Likes I just buy water that says distilled! Usually it’s not refrigerated but on the shelves
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