After going to great lengths to keep my fussy calathea houseplant alive over the past four years, it finally died. I left the pot of earth outside. Five weeks later, two huge new leaves have sprouted from the pot I have completely ignored and it’s a living rebuke of my love and care, I tell you.
lol I’ve been there but alas, mine died just to spite me. And stayed dead. Dammit.
Calatheas are known manipulators. It’s a ruse to add spider mites to the rest of your plant collection.
They have rhizomes! This is why they sometimes make miraculous random recoveries when abandoned lol. Calatheas are my faves
I have some advice if you'd like it but didn't want to add it unsolicited
I want it to live but I don’t know if I can handle its rejection again… but do share!
Lol ok so, calatheas are very sensitive to impurities in tap water, especially chlorine. You can use a water filter or water purification drops for aquariums to remove the chlorine. They're sensitive to cold drafts and direct sunlight (sunburn). Strong filtered light, like through a tree canopy
They also don't like standing water on their leaves, and they prefer to err on the moist side versus dry. A nice well draining soil will help prevent over watering - I used to mix my own!
And they looooove humidity. This is why someone else noticed theirs did better in the bathroom.
This all makes sense. Thank you! Now, can you tell me why my cheese plant is dying too? (I am only half joking)
Lol is it a monstera adansonii? If you post a pic I can probably identify it if you're not sure
How much light does it get? Direct, indirect, outside, inside? It looks like it's leaning more towards crunchy/burned rather than rotting from moisture. This is a monstera deliciosa and they actually like to be more moist but with very good airflow/drainage. What kind of mix did you pot it in?
The number 1 cause of houseplant deaths is overwatering. If it needs to moved indoors for winter, water it about every 5 weeks and you should be good.
Laughing. Also called “prayer plant”, once my mother exiting my house, picked my seriously ailing one to save from my tending. It became known as Lazarus. 😇
It was just waiting for you to do that so it could shame you. 😁
So it’s thriving just to spite you? That tracks. My jungle velvet calathea was the most persnickety plant I ever owned!
Mine was wilting in the dining room, so I moved it to the bathroom and it’s thriving—Pervert 👀🤣
Maybe it just needed a little space and time away.
Life wants to be.💚
Man! Had you posted this a week ago, I would've tried that. I'd been struggling for 2 years with my stupid calathea. It finally bit the dust. I kept it for a bit before tossing it last week. I will never buy another calathea for as long as I live!
Sunlight is a powerful thing.
I have a finicky fiddle leaf fig like that. I let it get completely dry...it thrives. Move it for more sunlight....the leaves completely turn white! Move it back where it was happy (I guess) & it grows 3 new leaves....I give it a little drink....the leaves all turn white...and now they're dropping.
Maybe just needed more Sun.
My secret is distilled or rain water. They hate tap water here in Ohio.
I think this is the thing. It liked being rained on.
Rocky, FYI, i often like what Ohioans say on Bluesky, and it's good for us to stick together.
Further evidence *no one* actually knows anything about these plants. These colorful botanical a**holes are terrorists in plant form. They just make it up as they go and throw our love back in our face with gleeful disdain.
Don’t feel too bad. The only thing I’ve managed to grow and keep alive turned out to b a dandelion… was SUPPOSED to b roses… 🤣🤣🙄🙄
Oh I don't want to hear all this - I just bought a calathea. Let's see how long I can keep it alive.
😂
Ours is weird. Instructions I looked up said to water once a week or when soil dries out. That almost killed it. So I took a chance and began watering twice a week. It loves it! SMH
💥👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
