When I started my plant obsession, I heard a lot of warnings about Calatheas as they are considered to be high maintenance plants. I was really nervous when I got my first Calathea, but I soon bought a second, third and now I have eight Calatheas. Don’t get me wrong, they are very fussy and definitely not on my easy to care for list, but in my opinion they are worth it and you will learn a ton.
With my “Meet The Family” series of posts I will be introducing you to my plants and tell you a little bit more about the story behind each plant. I will also attempt to share more about my plant care, and how the plant responds to the conditions in our apartment.
I am in no ways a Calathea expert and none of my Calatheas are perfect. They all have some crispy edges and damaged leaves. A lot of you have however asked about how to care for them. To be honest most of mine are just surviving at the moment and not yet thriving, but I think I’m getting there.
My Calathea care is fairly similar so I thought I would do all of them in one post. All my Calatheas are in a mixed houseplant soil with extra perlite for drainage and aeration. If you have a bright space and loads of light this won’t be necessary, but as we have fairly low light in Ireland I need as much help as I can get. I mist my Calatheas daily, but we have fairly high humidity so I don’t use a humidifier. I water once a week or once every two weeks depending on the weather. I recommend testing the soil before watering as the watering schedule will differ from plant to plant and from week to week. There is no schedule. I also only use filtered water when watering my plants.
So far my Musaica has been fairly content with her living situation. She has however only produced one new leaf since I got her in January. There was a tiny root rot scare a while back but I trimmed away some parts and all seems to be okay. She is in my plant corner that has Southern exposure. Once every three or so weeks I give her a good shower to clean off all the dust on her leaves.
Freddie is one of my smallest family members and he is just adorable. He is one of the fussier Calatheas I have. He used to be in our bedroom windowsill but he didn’t like the open window during the day and kept drying out and curling up his leaves. I moved him to my plant corner but over watered once by accident and he turned a bit yellow. He has been growing new leaves though, but still not really sure what he wants or needs.
This Calathea was my second or third Calathea and will get her own blog post because wow have we been through a lot! In March she got Spider Mites and I had to completely trim her down. She has since grown back healthier and happier! I wasn’t sure what she was called for a long time but apparently she is an Albertii, and doesn’t seem to be very common.
I ordered this baby Mokoyana from plants.com and she really is the cutest. She dries out a lot quicker than my other Calatheas so I definitely water her more. She has only unfurled the two leaves she had when I got her and hasn’t produced any new leaves yet. She is in the kitchen however and the humidity is a bit lower there.
This beautiful Calathea Medallion was a birthday gift from a colleague and fellow plant parent. He knew she was on my wish list and I just love her so much! She has a bit of damage to the leaves but that is normal for store bought Calatheas. Her first two new leaves unfortunately didn’t come out perfect as I was still figuring out what she likes in terms of watering and light but I think we will get to know each other a lot better real soon!
This beautiful (and very large) Calathea Magic Star was a birthday present from my husband. When I got her she had a few new leaves and has started unfurling some which is very exciting! She has some crispy edges and damaged leaves but I still love her and look forward to watching her grow! She really adds a nice touch of colour to my otherwise very green plant corner.
I really wanted an Orbifolia but I couldn’t find one in any of our stores so I bought a baby one from Plnts.com. In July however I found a big one at Deep Route Gardening and I was over the moon! She is absolutely stunning and really draws a lot of attention. I haven’t had her very long so won’t write anything about her care. For now all I can say is she is as amazing in real life as you would see in photos.
Although none of my Calatheas look perfect I am happy that my collection is expanding. What are your feelings about caring for Calatheas? Do you find them challenging or difficult to care for or do you share my sentiments? I would love to hear from you. Leave a reply by commenting below!
If you have any questions, advice or requests for particular topics that you would like me to discuss please feel free to contact me here or pop me a DM on Instagram.
New Day New Growth 