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diane_yeung25

Dying Calathea—please help!!

7 years ago

Hi all! I'm a long-time reader on this forum and have learned so much from all of you. I'm at a desperate point and really need some help w my Calathea.


I bought the Calathea from a florist for a whopping $36 and really don't want to let it die. It came in a small white nursing plastic planter w holes, and was a bit too shallow for the plant. The roots were visibly growing out of the bottom, and needed a new pot.

I then made a *huge* mistake out of inexperience, and left it in my living room w lots of indirect bright light and watered often. I noticed that whenever the leaves dropped, I would water and the plant perked right back up. I then tried to repot but made another huge mistake and potted directly in a non-draining planter w rocks on the bottom and regular Home Depot soil.

I read abt another dying Calathea on this forum, and that motivated me to remove the Calathea from suffocation, and trimmed the black roots as indstructed by Tapla (Al), and potted in something that wasn't deep, in a plastic pot w holes. I then put it inside a planter that was lined w rocks on the bottom, misted the leaves and put it in a large clear plastic bag and sealed it to keep humidity inside. It's been 3 days since that, and it hasn't come back at all.

Is my Calathea dead? Is there still hope or should I just call it in? Please help!

Also a little background—I live in Montreal, in the old quarters.. so it's quite frigid in the winter and our giant windows don't help all that much. It's dry and cold here, and lots of indirect bright light. But my other plants seem to be making it through winter, even my fiddle leaf fig. Thanks for your help everyone!


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