How to care for calathea, a flower of family happiness

Bright representative of a large family of arrowroots. Among variegated (variegated) potted crops, arrowroots are represented by the widest variety of ornamental deciduous crops. Their natural habitat is the humid climate of the rainforest. They all love heat and moisture.

Plant description

Calathea (calathea) - rhizome perennial. Quite high - in good conditions it grows to a meter. The leaves are usually large, oval, slightly elongated. Sit on elongated petioles. Some varieties differ in lanceolate leaves.

Short, upward shoots rise from the rhizome. Leaf sockets are formed on them. The number of leaves is different. In individual varieties, only one formed leaf unfolds on each shoot.

Calathea blooms in the warm season - in spring or summer. Inflorescences of all kinds of flowers, spike-type. Flowering is beautiful, but this is not the main advantage of calathea. It is more appreciated for the original color of the leaves. A number of varieties have a uniform color of leaves. In room culture, variegate varieties with spots and stripes of various colors are more common. Some gardeners compare the pattern on the leaves of calathea with the plumage of a peacock.

Beautiful varieties

There are many varieties of calathea. The following species are most common in pot culture.

• Saffron. The leaves are mediocre, with a usual green color. One of the few varieties that is valued for beautiful flowering, namely bright, orange-red hue bracts. Very capricious, demanding on the conditions of detention.
• Mix. A distinctive feature is the variety of leaf colors. Represents a group of hybrid varieties of calathea. Some of them are distinguished by a clear geometric pattern and thin, almost transparent leaves.
• Wonderful. Lanceolate leaves with wavy edges. A combination of different shades of green in the form of a fancy pattern is characteristic. The back of the leaves is purple.
• Orbifolia. A bush of medium height - rarely grows more than half a meter. The leaves are rounded, wider than other varieties. The pattern is symmetrical, consists of equal in width strips of different shades of green.
• Makoya. The leaves are thin, oval, petioles are quite long. The original color. A sheet of silver tint is framed by a dark green border and a network of distinct veins. The back side of the leaves is a deep purple hue.
• Roseopikta. Perennial with large oval leaves. The pattern is formed in white and different shades of green. The underside of the leaves and petioles are purple.
• Varshevich. A variety with beautiful velvety leaves with stripes of different tones of green.Spike-type inflorescences consist of white or creamy-pinkish flowers. Peduncles slightly curved, low. Feature - the formation in place of flowers of daughter sockets.

Calathea Care: Things to Consider

How to care for calathea? This is a moody plant. Any violation of the conditions of detention or the rules of care leads to a decrease in decorativeness, and sometimes death of the flower. Professional flower growers recommend the following rules.

• Lighting. Calathea is considered a relatively shade-tolerant plant. It can grow in conditions of poor diffused light, but prefers bright lighting. In winter, the need for lighting is higher - they will necessarily organize additional artificial lighting. The sun does not tolerate well. Decorative coloring depends on properly selected lighting. Excess light leads to a smoothing of the characteristic pattern and shredding of the leaves. Cultivation under artificial lighting is possible. But calathea at least 15 hours a day should be highlighted with fluorescent lamps.
• Temperature. In summer and until autumn, the average room temperature of 22-25 ° C is suitable. It grows well at elevated temperatures up to 30 ° C. At night, the temperature should drop slightly. In winter, they are kept in a warm room. Temperature below 18 ° C is unacceptable. Do not put on a cold windowsill. Sudden temperature changes, drafts are avoided.
• Watering. Watering kalatea is recommended abundantly as the soil surface dries. In cold weather, the intensity of irrigation is reduced. Use pre-settled, warm water. Overdrying and waterlogging are equally undesirable.
• Humidity. Calathea is a tropical culture that prefers high humidity. Minimum indicators - 70%, better - up to 90%. Spraying is a mandatory procedure at any time of the year. Choose a fine atomizer. They try to avoid falling on the leaves of large drops - after them often ugly dark spots remain. It is advisable to spray twice a day. To increase humidity, it is practiced to use special devices, to install the pot on a shallow pallet with decorative pebbles or sphagnum. Periodically they are moistened with water. In the reviews, some gardeners advise to put a bag of polyethylene on the calathe at night. Calathea grows well in decorative greenhouses and florariums.
• Top dressing. Fertilizer should not contain a lot of calcium and nitrogen. The rest is allowed to use any mineral complexes for flowers. In winter, it is allowed to feed the calathea no more than once in a month and a half. The rest of the time they are fertilized stably every two weeks.
• The soil. The soil is used slightly acidic, humic, breathable, loose. Suitable store mix for indoor plants of the Moraine family. At home, the substrate is prepared from peat, hardwood and sand with the addition of charcoal. Do not forget about the drainage layer.
• Transfer. As the roots grow, you need to transplant the calathea into another pot. It is better to transplant at the end of spring, it is possible throughout the summer. The frequency of transplantation for plants younger than three to four years - annually, fully formed - every two to three years. Old, decorative leaves are cut. The pot is chosen to a shallow depth so that the roots do not rot.

Breeding methods

There are several ways to breed calathea. All of them are quite complex, require compliance with a number of rules.

Bush division

Simultaneously with the transplant, you can plant a calathea.The rhizome is freed from the substrate, carefully divided into parts, leaving roots and several leaves on each dividend. Delenki planted in small pots with a diameter of not more than 9 cm

Withstand a strict regimen, since you need to take care of the calathea after transplantation very carefully. Settled delenki put in partial shade, provide high humidity. Rooting a calathea is not easy even when dividing the bush - parts of the plant take root for a long time.

Cuttings

Description. Cuttings take root long and reluctantly. They require special lighting conditions, temperature and humidity.

Procedure

1. A part of the plant with a growth point is carefully separated from the mother plant and immediately planted in a moist substrate.
2. Until completely rooted, the stem is covered with a plastic bottle or glass jar.
3. To root faster, you can use root formation stimulants - “Kornevin”, “Heteroauxin”.
4. Maintain high humidity, stable high temperature.
5. The soil is regularly sprayed, but not brought to waterlogging. Keep in dim, diffused light.

Seed sowing

Description. Growing calathea from seeds at home is considered the most difficult way. Even high-quality seeds purchased in a specialty store have very low germination.

Procedure

1. They are sown at the end of winter or in spring in low plates filled with a mixture of sand and deciduous land.
2. Moisten the substrate, cover the container with glass from above to create a greenhouse effect.
3. Ventilate regularly; excess condensate is removed.
4. The optimum temperature for germination is 21–25 ° C.
5. After the appearance of two real leaves, they are transplanted into a box, maintaining a distance between plants of at least 5 cm.
6. After a month, strong, stably growing seedlings can be planted in separate pots.

Growing difficulties

Even experienced flower growers face difficulties. Inappropriate care, adverse conditions of detention are immediately reflected in the appearance of calathea. The most common growing difficulties and causes of problems are summarized in a table.

Table - Difficulties in growing calathea

The combination of heavy irrigation with low air temperature often leads to root decay. It is difficult to reanimate a calatea, but it is possible. The plant is taken out of the pot, the roots are freed from the ground. Cut off and clean all rotted areas, dip the roots in a solution of any fungicide. Slices are densely sprinkled with coal powder, the diseased calathea is left to dry for two to three hours. Excess leaves are removed, the remaining ones are shortened by half. Calathea is planted in light soil, moderate soil moisture is maintained.

Common pests

You have to deal with pests quite often.Pests attack weakened plants, their active reproduction can provoke high temperature and dry air. The most common pests of calathea and ways to combat them are collected in a table.

Table - Calathea Pests

The plant is considered difficult to grow, so you need to know all the features of caring for calathea in a pot. Only strict adherence to the rules of detention can achieve its high decorative effect.