Calathea is a beautiful family of plants with lush foliage that originates from the tropical regions, but thanks to central heating and humidifiers we can now keep them in our homes. Caring for Calathea can be tricky but with care guides such as these, there’s no reason you can’t add one of these to your house plant collection.
Known as plants that are quite difficult to care for, they’re not often the first house plant you normally buy but if you’re ready to dive into the beautiful leaves of the Calathea family then let’s get started.
If you’re new to Calathea care of you just want to make sure you’re doing a good job then you’re in the right place.
Below we have outlined the basic needs for your Calathea plants based on lighting, watering, temperature, humidity, feeding, and propagation.
Calathea Light Requirements
Calathea plants require indirect bright light. You don’t want to sit this plant on a south-facing windowsill in full view of the sun but you also don’t want to place it on a shelf at the back of the room.
If you have a choice then opt for a north-facing windowsill or if that isn’t an option for you then consider purchasing a sheer curtain so your plant can be exposed to bright light without suffering damage from direct sunlight.
Calathea Watering
A Calathea plant is that likes to be moist. You want to water your plant often enough that the soil remains moist. If it isn’t getting enough watering the plant will tell you with drooping leaves or crispy tips.
This doesn’t mean overwatering though. Even though you don’t want to wait until the soil becomes bone dry until you water it, you also don’t want it to be sopping wet all the time. The soil needs to dry out a bit between waterings or the plant can become overwatered.
You can get a good feel for this by feeling the top few inches of soil with your fingers, when you feel it drying out give it a drink. And when you do water your Calathea make sure you do so thoroughly.
If you don’t trust your fingers to measure the moisture correctly then why not consider buying a moisture stick to detect the levels in the soil. This can be a big help for beginners who aren’t sure what moist actually means.
To prevent your soil from becoming too wet when watering try mixing in perlite with your potting soil. We would recommend the Espoma Organic Perlite that you can find on Amazon
Temperature
Traditionally coming from tropical regions, the plants in the Calathea family like to be warm. They will not do well placed next to drought and will suffer if left to become too cold.
However, it’s important to be aware that if you do put a heating system on to keep your plants warm that this can cause the air to dry out which could harm your plants. So if you are using the heater in the winter months make sure you give them an extra misting or turn the humidifier up.
Also, don’t put these plants on top of radiators of fireplaces as this can cause the soil to dry out and you’ll see some serious damage in your foliage.
Humidity
As we mentioned above the Calathea traditionally comes from the tropics, which means they like it quite humid. If you allow the air to become too dry around your plant which can happen in winter when we turn our central heating up then you will notice crisping on your foliage.
A great way around this is to place them in a bathroom where they will receive humidity from the shower, invest in a humidifier, or mist your plants daily to help keep them nice and moist.
Our number one humidifier recommendation is the Levoit humidifier you can find on Amazon as it has a 6L capacity, both cold and warm mist, and a built-in humidity sensor to enable it to automatically adjust it’s mist output to reach your desired humidity level.
Feeding
Feed Calathea plants during the spring and summer when they are actively going. You can add fertilizer to the soil once a month during the growing season to see results and stop as the winter months draw in.
Propagation
You can propagate Calathea by separating them at the root system and placing a new segment of plants into a fresh pot with soil. This is the best approach to propagating this type of plants rather than doing leaf cuttings.
Here are some of the most common types of Calathea plants that you may want to consider getting to add a touch of greenery to your home.
