Calathea - basic care requirements

Among the home plants can often be found Calathea. It belongs to the family maranty and has about 130 species. In nature, the plant is found in South and Central America, and its name means "basket" - from the leaves of Calathea once wove a basket.

Today, calathea is grown for ornamental purposes. Her colorful leaves look unusual and serve as an interior decoration. The leaves of the plant are large, can reach 30 cm in length, are oval, elliptical, elongated, grow from the rosette. They always turn to the sun. Some species are capable of flowering, and their flowers are collected in dense inflorescences of various colors.

In room conditions, the most adapted for growing Calathea is decorated, Calathea is beautiful, Calathea Makoya, striped, Calathea Veitch. Not all flower growers can afford to acquire a calathea, this is due to the great capriciousness of the plant. On the nuances of care for Calathey, we will continue.

Optimum conditions for keeping Calathean in the house

Indoor Kalathea flower requires a lot of attention. This is a tropical plant, so he likes the heat and light. You should also pay attention to watering and take care of suitable soil.

Location and lighting

To satisfy the need for light and warmth of a calathe, you need to find a suitable place for her in the house. It tolerates the shadow normally, but it will not develop in absolute shadow, let alone blossom. If a calathea is in the dark for a long time, the decorative color of its leaves becomes just green, the patterns go away. With a lack of light, Calathea grows more slowly. Therefore, it should be placed in lighted areas. In this case, direct sunlight should be avoided, as they can leave burns on the leaves.It is best to grow the plant on or near the western and eastern windows.

Temperature conditions

Caring for a calathea at home also means ensuring a comfortable temperature regime for it. The plant does not tolerate cold, the temperature below 16 degrees is destructive for him. The optimum temperature range is -16-23 ° C.

Sudden temperature drops are fraught with the death of Calathea. Cold drafts also have a detrimental effect - the leaves become sluggish and rot.

Comprehensive care for calathea at home

Homes for Calathea should create conditions similar to the tropical jungle microclimate. The penumbra suits her, as in nature she grows under the shade of tall trees, while receiving a sufficient amount of light. The temperature in tropical forests does not fall below 18 degrees, and there are no sudden changes in temperature. Calathea can absorb moisture on the leaf surface, so high humidity conditions are good for it.

Recreating the jungle microclimate at home is not so easy, but you can get as close as possible to it.It is necessary to take care of sufficient watering, ensuring the humidity of the air and feeding the plant.

What should be watering Calathe

Watering Calathea should be sufficient, especially in summer. The water should be soft, suitable rainwater and melting snow. You can artificially soften the water with the help of peat, for which a few handfuls of it are placed in a fabric bag and dipped in a container with water overnight. In the morning the water will be suitable for watering Calathe.

Care must be taken that the roots do not start to deteriorate from excess moisture. In summer, watering is more abundant, by winter it should be gradually reduced.

Air humidity

To create a favorable microclimate for Calathea, a humidifier is useful. In the absence of such, you can do with simple means at hand. For example, put claydite in a plant tray and fill it with water. A pot with a plant placed on expanded clay should not come into contact with water. You can use pebbles, wet sand, sphagnum moss instead of expanded clay.

As the plant needs high air humidity, a natural question arises: can calathea be sprayed. Spraying the leaves themselves is strongly discouraged, especially for species with velvety soft leaves. For species with smooth leaves, it is better if they are sometimes just wiped with a damp cloth. You can periodically spray the air around the plant with a small spray gun, avoiding contact with it.

Alternatively, the calathea along with the pot can be placed in an empty terrarium, at the bottom of which put moss, sand or clay. The material at the bottom of the terrarium should be wet, in which case a specific microclimate will be created without moisture drops and drafts.

Fertilizer and fertilizer Calathea

Calatheum needs to be fed with fertilizers. But remember that the plant reacts badly both to the deficiency and to the excess of fertilizers - the ends of the leaves become yellow-brown in color. Feeding can be done every two weeks during the period of active growth, which falls in March-September. In the fall and winter, fertilizers are applied to Calathea once every six weeks.

Species that bloom, it is worth feeding fertilizer for flowering plants.

Proper transplantation and composition of soil mixture

It is customary to perform a calathea transplant about once every two years, and young plants under the age of four years each year. If necessary, replant the grown plant. A transplant of a calathea, only brought into a new home, can be carried out after a week-long adaptation of the plant in new conditions.

The optimal time for transplanting calathea is the beginning of spring. The pot for the plant should be chosen shallow and wide, as the roots grow horizontally under the soil. In a fairly wide pot, underground shoots form short vertical shoots with rosettes. Thus, the plant grows, gives offspring. For transplanting take the dishes 2 cm more than the previous one.

At the bottom of the tank put drainage, which is used as expanded clay. The land for calathea is prepared from leaf and humus soil, peat and sand. All components are taken in one piece, and the sand - half.You can also use ready-made soil for rhododendrons, maranth or azaleas, to which you can add a little charcoal and sand.

Before planting in the new soil, the roots of the plant should be cleaned from the old substrate. For a pest-afflicted or diseased plant, this is especially important. The rotten roots found at the same time need to be cut off, and the cuts sprinkle with charcoal. Having placed a plant in a new soil, its roots need to be decomposed into a layer of soil on the drainage and sprinkled on them without tamping the soil.

Breeding calathea

When a plant looks thick, grows, has many hereditary shoots, the question becomes how to spread calathea at home. This process is best combined with transplant.

Split plant is planted each in its own capacity and put in a warm place under the film. The film helps to recreate the greenhouse, in which the flower quickly takes root in the ground. At the same time it is necessary to maintain the usual temperature for the plant.

Pots for seating Calathea take a diameter of 10 cm. After rooting can be transplanted into pots of larger diameter - 15 cm.

In the first independent year of life, the plant should be fed in the summer once a week, in the winter once every three weeks. Seeds of calathea are very difficult to propagate, as they rarely sprout.

Pests and diseases Calathei, how to deal with them

Calathea at home needs close attention. Any violations in the care may cause a change in the color of the plant, spots appear on it, leaves fade and dry out. In such situations, it is important to determine the cause and eliminate it.

Pests on calathea appear in case of insufficient air humidity. Pests such as scale insects, thrips, spider mites affect it - the plants turn yellow and fall leaves.

To get rid of pests, the plant must be treated with soapy water. If the desired effect is not achieved, use an insecticide.

Another trouble that occurs when there is insufficient moisture is the tips of the leaves of the calathea dry. In this case, you need to put the plant pot on wet pebbles or use other methods of humidifying the air around the plant. The plant can also dry out due to insufficient watering, drafts, and thrips damage.

Spots on the leaves indicate sunburn. Yellow leaves can be both a natural sign and unfavorable. If the lower leaves turn yellow, this is normal, old ones die off and new ones appear. If the problem with the upper layers - an overdose of fertilizers, low temperature or improper watering.

The leaves of the calathea curl from dry or cool air, drafts.

A plant can look good only if the florist provides him with ideal conditions. Therefore, if you are not ready to spend a lot of time for growing household plants, it is better to give up calathea and engage in less capricious plants.