Calathea - home care
Content:
The variety of flower shades and forms of the colorful calathea leaf is amazing, the rainbow palette attracts the eye, and you immediately want to bring home such a miracle to illuminate it with the colors of the tropics. The capricious Calathea home care, which requires a certain investment of time and labor, quickly won the hearts of admirers of the flora world.
About the history of appearance
The birthplace of Calathea is South America. Its usual name is galatea, in printed editions - calathea.
Amazing purity of shades of striped calathea
The first name of the flower is "crown of the Incas", calathea got it because of the appearance of the flower and its distribution area: Peru, Brazil, Bolivia.
The second - "prayer flower", is connected with the fact that its leaves rise up in the evening, revealing the lower side, and in the morning they drop to their previous position, resembling hands raised in prayer.
The plant was brought to Europe by the conquistadors - the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors of America.
What Calathea looks like
This is a perennial herb of the Marantaceae family with a root system in the form of a rhizome - a native of the tropical forests of Latin America. There are over 130 species in the wild.
In height, some species grow up to 80 cm. Shoots are often underground, with superficial rhizomes, from which vertical shoots grow with rosettes located on them.
The main decoration of plants is that their leaves appear directly from the root rosette. They are quite large, up to 30 cm long, in the form of an oval, ellipse or elongated. They turn during the day, following the sun, rise up in the evening.
Calathea in pots
Calathea flowers create spike-shaped or rounded inflorescences. The palette of colors is very diverse. The original structure of the flower allows pollination only by small bees.
Common varieties
The most popular are the following.
Calathea striped
Calathea striped, or as it is also called zebra-like (Calathea zebrina), - with bright dark green elongated leaves in the shape of an ellipse, on which a light-colored pattern along the central vein and numerous lines extending from it at an angle to the edge are clearly marked.
Calathea Mix
Calathea Mix is very similar to the striped one, with the only difference that it has the same pattern as the striped one, but in dark tones on a light background.
Calathea Bahema
Calathea bachemiana, or maranta Bachemiana, which came from the tropics of Brazil much later than others, began to be grown as a houseplant not so long ago.
Bachem calathea leaves with a pattern resembling a branch
Monocotyledonous stemless plant with rhizome. The bush is low and compact. The light green leaves of Bachem calathea, elongated in the form of a lancet, are decorated with a dark green pattern resembling a branch located in the center of the plate. This is one of the most unpretentious representatives of the species.
Calathea warscewiczii
She has dark green velvet leaves of an oval shape, with a pattern of light green tones.The underside of the leaf is purple.
Spike inflorescences are pink or cream.
Calathea Varshevich
Caring for calathea at home
How to care for demanding calathea at home? A child of the rainforest, Calathea needs warmth all year round. She does not like drafts, rearrangements, sudden changes in temperatures and changes in lighting. Its growth continues constantly, which means that fertilizing is needed all the time, only the doses change.
Water the flower along the edge of the pot and make sure that water does not get into the center of the outlet. After watering, remove the remaining water from the sump. Spraying and showering, in addition to humidification, helps to remove dust and serve as a prophylaxis in the fight against pests.
It is advisable to choose pots wide and low, because the growth is more in breadth.
Temperature
The best temperature in summer in the daytime will be 22-25 ° С, at night - not lower than 18 ° С. In winter, the daytime temperature should be maintained at 18-20 ° С, at night - 16 ° С. The plant does not tolerate sudden changes in temperature.
Lighting
The right choice of lighting is an important factor in keeping a flower. With its excess, the leaves begin to acquire a brown color. Lack of sunlight causes loss of leaf color, with it and the decorativeness of the entire flower. It is advisable to place the pot on windowsills facing east or west.
Watering
Watering should be treated very carefully, especially in the summer. In addition to watering directly, you can rearrange the plant on a pallet with wet peat.
When the earthen coma is overdried and waterlogged, the leaves curl up and their edges dry out.
Spraying
The flower is very fond of spraying, but some species with velvety leaves do not tolerate this procedure - it leads to the appearance of brown spots.
Humidity
The plant needs very humid air, it is useful to humidify it often from a spray bottle or install an electric air humidifier nearby. You can put a bowl of water next to the flower.
Priming
Calathea soil should be slightly acidic. Purchased soils for azaleas and orchids, which are mixed in equal parts, adding sand and perlite, are ideal.
Blossoming calathea Varshevich
You can prepare the mixture yourself by mixing:
- Leafy ground - 2 parts;
- Humus - 1 part;
- Peat - 1 part;
- Sand - 1/2 part.
Top dressing
Complex liquid fertilizers designed for flowering indoor plants may be suitable for feeding. The concentration of the solution is reduced by half compared to that indicated in the instructions.
Fertilizing is applied after watering twice a month during the active growing season of the flower (spring-summer). In the rest of the year, once a month and a half is enough.
During the rest period
The dormant period of the flower is relative, since Amaranths continue to grow in the autumn-winter time. Top dressing is carried out less often, reducing the dose. Overflow of water should be avoided, because at low temperatures it is fraught with root rot, which happens very quickly, sometimes it is simply impossible to save the plant.
Pruning
There is no need for regular pruning. You should only remove dried and damaged leaves in time.
How calathea reproduces
Calathea is propagated in several ways:
- Sowing seeds;
- By cuttings;
- Air layering.
Germinating seeds
In addition to the fact that this is the most difficult and long-term method, its result is always unforeseen - the resulting specimen will be of a completely different species than the parent plant. Seed germination is very low, so more seeds need to be sown to get a positive result.
The step-by-step process is as follows. Seeds are sown in shallow containers filled with a mixture of deciduous soil and sand in a 2: 1 ratio. They are kept at a temperature of 21-25ᵒС. After germination, the seedlings dive, when they grow up, they are planted in pots.
Rooting cuttings
The probability of a positive result in this case is slightly higher. The cuttings are easily detached without injury if growth points remain on the parent plant and cuttings. It is planted in moist soil, covered with glass or foil until roots appear.
Air layering
For this method, the stem is bent to the ground, securing it, lightly sprinkled and watered. After the formation of its own roots, the layers are carefully cut off from the parent plant and planted.
Other options
Least often they use the reproduction of the calathea leaf, which most often ends in failure. A healthy leaf is selected, separated from the plant and planted in prepared moist soil. Cover with glass until roots appear.
To obtain a new specimen, they often use the division of the bush, this method is simpler, and it retains the characteristics of the species.
Varieties of calathea
When transplanting calatheas from the age of 3 years, the rhizome is carefully divided into several parts, leaving a good part of it on each "division", while getting adult plants at once. The intertwining roots are cut with a sharp knife. Places of cuts are treated with wood ash.
Each "delenka" is planted in its own container, covered with a mixture of peat and sand in a ratio of 2: 1, watered abundantly and left until the peat dries. Cover with a foil, making holes for air access, watered as the soil dries.
Transfer
A feature of calathea is the functioning of the root system, which releases substances into the soil that worsen its quality. In addition, the roots are located shallow from the surface. That is why the normal development of the flower is possible with regular replacement of the soil, which happens during transplantation.
Young plants must be transplanted annually in the spring. Upon reaching the age of four, the transplant is carried out in a year. It is better to do this in late winter or early spring.
Possible growing problems
It is not easy for a flower to adapt to indoor conditions. Better than in a pot, he feels in a terrarium, where it is easier to create high humidity.
Too bright light, especially direct sunlight, can cause discoloration and dry leaves. To avoid this, calathea is transferred to another bright place where there is no direct sunlight.
Why do calathea leaf tips dry?
If the air in the room is too dry, the tips of the leaves turn brown and dry, which will curl the leaf into a tube. Growth and development are slowing down.
It is necessary to remove dead leaves.
Why do Calathea leaves curl and fall
Lack of moisture leads to the fact that the leaves begin to curl and curl, and then fall off. During the active growing season, the soil must be kept moist so that it does not dry out between waterings.
Leaf fall is caused by too dry air. To eliminate this phenomenon, you can place the flower in a terrarium, bottle garden, use regular spraying, or place wet peat around the plant.
Pests
Violation of the rules for keeping calathea leads to the appearance of pests and diseases.Calathea pests are the same as in most indoor plants.
Scabbards are located on the underside of the leaf; they do not move, sucking juice from the leaves. The leaves turn yellow and fall off, the shoots die off.
The presence of a pest is indicated by the appearance of a sticky coating on the leaves, subsequently a sooty fungus settles on it. In order not to lose the plant, the fight begins immediately, treating with karbofos or Aktellik.
Spider mites also settle on the underside of the leaf plates, thin cobwebs report this, this is due to the low humidity in the room. The leaves begin to turn yellow and crumble. To avoid being hit by a spider mite, the leaves are sprayed on both sides, they arrange a warm shower every 2-3 days.
Spider mite infested calathea leaves
In case of a massive invasion of insects, treatment with Actellik and Fitoverm preparations will be required.
By the appearance of the leaves, it is easy to determine the disease of the flower. In a healthy plant, they are beautiful, with a pronounced color, in sick plants, they turn yellow and curl.
To find out the cause and start treating the flower, you need to determine what mistakes in care and maintenance were made, their elimination will bring the calathea back to life.
Despite the increased demand for care, the indoor flower calathea is gaining wide popularity, increasing the number of amateurs engaged in the cultivation and breeding of an interesting plant, which is considered a symbol of family happiness.
