What is wrong with my Jungle Velvet Calathea?? Any tips/s...
I’ve had this jungle velvet for almost a year now and it’s been quite the struggle to keep her alive and healthy. She has had a ton of new growth but her leaves have been steadily turning yellow over the last few months. In the last pic you can see there’s two different spots of new growth. So I’m just not sure what is going on with her or what I’m doing wrong.
I have a humidifier that keeps the area at about 70% humidity (never lower than 60%). I have a moisture meter that I use to keep track of when to water and I don’t water until the meter shows that the soil is dry. Sometimes I wait a day after the meter says dry. I made the potting soil mixture myself - the base is FoxFarm happy frog potting soil with added orchid bark and perlite. I haven’t repotted since I made the soil mixture 10 or so months ago because she’s been struggling and I didn’t want to kill her.
She sits in a north facing window so I think she’s getting enough sunlight. I used to use a little grow light but I stopped about a month ago because I thought she was getting too much light with that plus the sunlight. I haven’t noticed much of a difference since taking away the grow light.
The issues she has been having include yellowing leaves and leaves curling upwards from the edges. The yellowing came first a few months ago. Recently I noticed some of the bigger leaves are curling upwards. I thought it could be watering related so I bought a gallon of distilled water to use instead of tap water. I usually use tap water that I have left out overnight because I read that gets rid of some of the harsher elements? I’m not sure if that’s even accurate but I have now switched to distilled water.
Anyways sorry for the very long post but I’m so desperate at this point and I wanted to give as much detail as possible. I feel like since I’ve gotten this plant it’s been constant phases of trial and error and her condition is just not improving so I need help :(
#JungleVelvet #Calathea #CalatheaCrew #helpneeded #help
I have a humidifier that keeps the area at about 70% humidity (never lower than 60%). I have a moisture meter that I use to keep track of when to water and I don’t water until the meter shows that the soil is dry. Sometimes I wait a day after the meter says dry. I made the potting soil mixture myself - the base is FoxFarm happy frog potting soil with added orchid bark and perlite. I haven’t repotted since I made the soil mixture 10 or so months ago because she’s been struggling and I didn’t want to kill her.
She sits in a north facing window so I think she’s getting enough sunlight. I used to use a little grow light but I stopped about a month ago because I thought she was getting too much light with that plus the sunlight. I haven’t noticed much of a difference since taking away the grow light.
The issues she has been having include yellowing leaves and leaves curling upwards from the edges. The yellowing came first a few months ago. Recently I noticed some of the bigger leaves are curling upwards. I thought it could be watering related so I bought a gallon of distilled water to use instead of tap water. I usually use tap water that I have left out overnight because I read that gets rid of some of the harsher elements? I’m not sure if that’s even accurate but I have now switched to distilled water.
Anyways sorry for the very long post but I’m so desperate at this point and I wanted to give as much detail as possible. I feel like since I’ve gotten this plant it’s been constant phases of trial and error and her condition is just not improving so I need help :(
#JungleVelvet #Calathea #CalatheaCrew #helpneeded #help
3” pot with drainage
Last watered 10 months ago
1
@crispynug hi there! Details are GREAT đź‘Ť Thank you for them, because that really helped me see the full picture!!
I’m afraid you aren’t watering soon enough. When the leaves of plants in the prayer family curl upward and inwards that is a sign that they are already very very thirsty. She’s trying to slow down the water being lost from her leaves due to transpiration. (Or they’re getting too much sun. Are you in the northern or southern hemisphere? In the northern hemisphere north facing windows have the weakest light, but in the southern hemisphere it’s the opposite and south facing windows are weakest.)
Prayer plants *never* want to dry out 100%! Since your humidity is pretty high, it would probably be safe to water when she’s about 90% dry. These are rainforest floor dwellers, so you can imagine how they would never dry out, they wouldn’t ever get full sunshine, and they have high humidity (like you do with the humidifier 🤗) in their native habitat.
I’m afraid you aren’t watering soon enough. When the leaves of plants in the prayer family curl upward and inwards that is a sign that they are already very very thirsty. She’s trying to slow down the water being lost from her leaves due to transpiration. (Or they’re getting too much sun. Are you in the northern or southern hemisphere? In the northern hemisphere north facing windows have the weakest light, but in the southern hemisphere it’s the opposite and south facing windows are weakest.)
Prayer plants *never* want to dry out 100%! Since your humidity is pretty high, it would probably be safe to water when she’s about 90% dry. These are rainforest floor dwellers, so you can imagine how they would never dry out, they wouldn’t ever get full sunshine, and they have high humidity (like you do with the humidifier 🤗) in their native habitat.
