Calathea Care: 5 Tips for Beginners
Calatheas are one of my favorite houseplants. I have approximately nine or so varieties of calathea in my home right now and their care is pretty similar across the board. Read below for 5 calathea care tips to keep your calathea healthy and happy!
- Water: Calatheas like distilled water
Calatheas are tropical plants native to South America, with their home being on the floor of the rain forest. It’s important to remember that, as they are used to rain water specifically. Water from the tap often contains elements that will cause your calathea to develop brown tips. For example, drinking water from the tap is often treated with chlorine, or a synthetic form of chlorine more likely, and this is known to burn the leaf tips of calatheas. While some people recommend letting water sit out overnight to let the chlorine evaporate, synthetic chlorine doesn’t evaporate and neither does fluoride or any other naturally occurring element. Because of this, it’s easiest to mimic rain water with distilled water as rain water collected in a city will likely contain elements and particles that distilled water does not. Even purified water can contain other elements that your calathea might be sensitive to, so keep this in mind when it comes to calathea care. - Light: Calatheas do best in bright, indirect light
Going back to the rain forest, calatheas live on the forest floor and are thus protected from direct sun by tree canopy. Direct sun can burn the leaves on your calathea so it’s best to place them closer an eastern or northern window if possible. I’ve also had luck keeping them a few extra feet from southern and western windows, too. HINT: Calatheas exposed to too much light will often curl their leaves to protect themselves. If you see your calathea doing this, think about how much light it’s getting and if you can adjust its placement to better mimic bright, indirect light for optimal calathea care. - Soil: Fast draining potting soil is key
Calatheas like a fast draining soil, don’t like to be overly wet, and prefer to dry out a little (first few inches of soil) before watering. A fast draining soil won’t clump around the roots or hold too much moisture. You can amend potting soil with perlite to increase drainage and prevent clumping. When soil clumps around the roots, it can keep the roots too wet which will inhibit the root’s ability to take in oxygen. HINT: A calathea whose roots aren’t able to receive oxygen will often began to droop dramatically, its stems flattening out to the rim of its pot. If this happens, you will likely want to repot it ASAP in fast-draining potting soil for best calathea care. - Humidity: Calatheas and brown tips
Again, back to the rain forest! Calatheas like humidity. I’ve seen a variety of suggestions about exactly how much but most people seem to agree that anything below 50 percent humidity is asking for brown tips. If your house is quite dry and you can run a humidifier, that would likely be best. Right now, I am testing out small oil diffusers, sans the oil, to increase humidity in small areas around my calatheas. Less recommended options would be misting, though quite a few people believe that this can do more harm than good, and pebble trays. If you want to try misting, remember that calatheas like distilled water. Pebble trays can be made with a shallow tray layered with pebbles and a small amount of water at the bottom, under but not touching the plant, so that as the water evaporates, the humidity around the plant increases. - Fertilizer: Calatheas are SENSITIVE
When it comes to synthetic fertilizers, calatheas are quite sensitive. When I use a synthetic fertilizer, I dilute its strength between 1/8-1/4 of the recommended amount, once per month in the growing season. Any more than that and you risk fertilizer burn, which takes place at root level but eventually shows up on the leaves as a burn (crunchy, brown spots around the edges of the leaves). However, even diluting a fertilizer isn’t a guarantee you’ll prevent burning. To avoid this risk (I’ve learned the hard way!), I’ve taken to using organic fertilizers instead, such as worm castings, because I can apply them as often as I’d like, at any amount, without risking harm to my calatheas.
Watch my YouTube video on beyond the basics care below.