Hello CJ,

Are unfurled leaves a soft or crispy brown? Toni

They are soft and supple still. It almost looks like they are rotting along the edges. Can it be too moist???

Most likely too much moisture. They need well drained soil. If there's too much moisture in the pot and it can't get away you'll get root rot and those types of symptoms.

The strange thing is I've always kept it just as wet as it is now. the only thing that has really changed is the dryness in the house as we have started using the heat?

I've felt the new leaves and the brown edges do feel a little dry?

See the brown...

Here is the other new leave.

Toni,

I've been doting over this plant for the past three years and it has grown to be my favorite, I must admit. It really is a beautiful specimen. Which is why I'm worried. I've never seen the unfurled leaves have any damage on them whatsoever. Those are the leaves that are the most perfect when they finally open up.......this is what worries me.

The edges on those new leaves are brown, and a bit crisp. When they finally open up they are going to be scarred.....already!!

The soil is moist, moist moist, as it alwasy is. I keep the saucer full at all times so the soil is always almost wet. That's what kept her llooking so good for all this time.

Somethings changed....the only thing it could be is the forced hot air heat, which we have just put on bc of the weather change......

CJ,
I realize I'm chiming in at a late moment, but I think you may have identified your issue... Forced hot air heat. Calatheas enjoy a lot of humidity (which you provide with your tray full of water), but heated air sucks moisture out of the air (some plants don't do well with central heating and air conditioning). Is your ceiling vent close to your plant, meaning, is there a possibility it's blowing not air on your plant? If not, there's still the possibility there's enough hot air to be sucking moisture away from your plant.

As to how to fix that issue, I wish I had the answer for that... I'm not sure if misting would help or possibly create another issue. Do you have a humidifier? Have you has this happen in the past? I know you said you've been doting over it for three years (just wondering, if you've had it so long, if you've had this issue in past winters). Hope this helps.

Planto

This is the first year this plant is in this particular spot, as I moved and this corner of the house had become it's home in the spring....April to be exact. So it's never been in this spot, during this time of the year yet.

How would misting create more problems?

The vents are not pointing in its' direction but the air is dry regardless. I do have a humidifier......maybe ill give that a shot??

CJ,
My only concern about misting the new leaves is that there may be residual water left in the leaves (since they sort of cup)... maybe that'll cause them to stay too wet and cause further damage? Maybe? Maybe I just have an overactive imagination and misting wouldn't cause any harm. >.> I hope Toni will chime in on this idea.

I've read a number of posts about people having mixed feelings about misting plants (some say it really doesn't raise the humidity long term, some say it does). I think the number one consensus I saw about raising humidity levels permanently, was to have a humidifier. I believe you could try out the humidifier, I don't see it causing any harm to your plant. I believe between the two, I'd rather use the humidifier.

Planto

Has it been repotted in 3 years?

It has not been repotted. I'm scared to damage it.....

I know, I don't repot plants that are doing fine either, usually. This one's having a problem though, and 3 years is a long time to spend in the 'same soil.' The pot looks very small in relation to the plant. I would probably start considering repotting it. After 3 years, I doubt your plant suddenly decided it needed to be misted to improve/stay as healthy as it was.

"How would misting create more problems?"

With totally wrong jargon, I'm sure... If a spore from a foliage fungus/disease happens to be on a leaf and misting enables it to 'sprout,' it will infect your plant. Starting on page 13, the info in this .pdf page at NDSU is informative, well written.

IMVHO, misting is more dangerous than the possible benefits. Countless Calatheas (and all other common house plants) live in various indoor environments without it.

Hi,

I know your comments are not fresh, but just hopping in here, in case I might get an answer for my similar question. I have a calathea warscewiczii since 4

months. An adult plant with 4 stems and many leaves. Up to now, it has been very happy, I repotted it couple of months ago, and it even rewarded me with an incredibly beautiful flower. The problem though is that since few days I see new leaves coming out but with already brown tips before it even unfurls. I ready the story here and found a lot of similarities with my issue. Can anyone tell me if the coz was found and any treatment tried? Thx in advance.

1) Does the pot which holds the plant have a drain hole?

2) Does the pot which holds the plant nest inside of another (cache) pot? If 'yes', do you allow the plant to sit in the effluent (waste water) that exits the drain hole?

3) Have you fertilized recently? with what?

4) How do you determine when it's time to water?

Al

Hi tapla, thank you for your reply.

1. the pot does have lots of holes to drain.

2. nope, the pot has a saucer.

3. no fertilizer recently.

4. with finger

Surprisingly the soil does not get dry very quick, i used peat based mixture with perlite and vermiculite. i repotted it with the original soil, was scared to damage the roots, since this plant is known for its root sensibilité. Usually i move it to my bathroom for couple of hours after i take my shower to increase the humidity and then put it back to its place. other than that there was no major change in location. it's in my living room away from direct sunlight, humidity is always between 35-50%, i have a humidifier not far from it as well. today i see a third new leaf also with brown tip and it's not uncurled yet.

They're not the easiest plant to grow. Temps too warm, light too bright, low humidity, fertility/TDS levels too high, and sensitivity to fluoride are all potential causes of necrotic leaf tips for the species and any on the list can work alone or collectively to make the perfect leaf unattainable.

Try:

* Watering with distilled or r/o water, rain water or snow melt, condensate from air conditioner or dehumidifier

* Flushing the soil (see below)

* Using a "tell" to test medium moisture levels instead of your digital device (finger) (see below)

Over-watering can cause necrotic leaf tips in two ways. It limits the plant's ability to take up water and nutrients, and it specifically makes uptake of Ca more to very difficult. Lack of the ability to move water to the plant's most distal parts (leaf tips/margins) and an inadequate supply of Ca which must be present in the nutrient stream at all times if tissues are to form normally, work as 2 strikes against perfectly formed leaf tips. Also, the plant prefers a higher humidity range from about 50-80%

Flushing Soils

When you water, you should be able to flush planting's soil to eliminate the potentiality of salts from fertilizers and tapwater accumulating in the soil, thereby limiting the plant's ability to take up water and the nutrients dissolved in the water. If you think you shouldn't flush the soil during your regular water applications for fear the soil will remain saturated for a lengthy period, limiting root function or worse, you should consider a different soil or take steps to reduce the amount of excess water your soil can hold. By whatever means necessary, getting to the point you can water correctly is going to make a very big difference in the opportunity to realize as much of it's genetic potential as possible. Once you can water correctly, you no longer have to do battle with a water-retentive medium over control of your plant's vitality. There are several methods of limiting how much water your planting can hold, all but 1 or 2 are completely passive, requiring no effort on your part other than set-up, which is monkey easy. I can help if you have interest in that, I'm continually improving my proficiency at monkey easy tasks.

To flush the soil of a planting: Water with room temperature water until the soil is completely saturated. Allow the planting to rest for 15 minutes to an hour to allow as much of the salt accumulation as possible to go into solution, then pour a volume of room temp water equal to at least 10X the volume of the pot the plant is in slowly through the soil. This will remove most of any accumulation of offending salts and resolve any skewing of nutrient ratios.

It's a good idea, no matter what time of year, to fertilize most plants immediately after flushing the soil. Try to be sure you're using a fertilizer that has a ratio as close as possible to the ratio at which the plant uses nutrients. The NPK % listed on fertilizer packaging is not its ratio. 7-7-7 and 14-14-14 are 1:1:1 ratios. 9-3-6, 12-4-8, and 24-8-16, are all 3:1:3 ratios. Container growers should try very hard to avoid use of fertilizers advertised as 'bloom-boosters', or any number with a middle number (Phosphorous) higher than either the first or third numbers (Nitrogen or Potassium). These fertilizers can badly skew nutrient ratios with even the first application). On average, plants use about 6x as much N as P, so there is NO potential for a positive outcome when supplying many times as much P as the plant requires. I, and a large number of other members, use Dyna-Gro's Foliage Pro 9-3-6. It's designed to closely mimic the uptake ratio of the average plant, and has many other attributes not commonly found in other fertilizers. It also has ALL of the nutrients essential to normal growth. Summarized, it makes fertilizing as easy as it can be, and from 1 container.

Using a 'tell'

Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant.

Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

You might also find this helpful. Pay particular attention to the emphasis on the grow medium. Even w/o knowing it, an extremely high % of hobby growers are engaged in an ongoing battle with their choice of grow medium for control of the plants vitality level. Knowing how to recognize or make a grow medium superior to what normally comes in bags or bales moves the grower beyond the most significant obstacle (s)he's likely to face on the journey toward green thumb status.

Al

Hi,

Thank you so much for all the tips. Forgot to mention that I already use only rain water for this plant. I'll try to flush it even though the rain water does not have any harmful substances. thanks again

Hi everyone. Just to put an update regarding my jungle velvet.. since my last post, I have done nothing special to my plant beside flushing it once and I reduced the time I put it in my bathroom after each show we take. So I guess it was because of "overhumidity". I didn't manage to check the rooting system coz the soil is too soft and unstable. But I reduced watering just a little bit as well. Now the new leaves are perfect and I'm even expecting 2 new flowerbearing stems arriving 🥰😊. I still have couple of previously defected leaves, but I'll just snip them off once the new ones are out.. so verdict: overwater I would say. Hope it was helpful for whoever might be interested in it..

The first flower is already dead and fell off.

Strong work!

Al