Calathea

 

Marant family. Homeland - humid tropical areas of South America. The genus counts several dozen species.

It is an ornamental deciduous perennial rhizome plant about 70-80 cm tall. They are appreciated for the originality of the color of the leaves, which can be purely green and with a different pattern of stripes and spots of various shades - from yellow to red-brown. In some species of kalati, the color of the leaves resembles the plumage of a peacock or some fairy birds. The leaves of the calathea are large, up to 30 cm long, oval in shape, on long petioles. It blooms in spring and summer with spike-shaped inflorescences of different shades (white, yellow, orange, purple, etc.). Calathea is an undeniably beautiful but very capricious plant.

Why does Calathea raise leaflets in the evening? This phenomenon is characteristic of all marants: they have a "rotary mechanism" device at the base of each leaf, similar to a small thickening. During the day, the leaf blades of the plant are rotated so that the maximum leaf area is illuminated by sunlight. And at night, the leaves of the calathea rise vertically. Moreover, if a large plant is heard, it rustles with leaves.

Калатея шафраннаяКалатея раскрашенная

Calathea crocata - with dark green, brownish leaves, and orange-red flowers on long petioles. The underside of the leaves is dark purple (with a purple tint). The only flowering species in culture. To promote flowering, saffron calatea from October to the end of December are kept without artificial lighting.

Calathea painted Calathea picta - with oblong leaves up to 20 cm long. On the upper side of the leaf is a dark middle with symmetrical stripes, a light strip along the edge and a light central vein.

Калатея ланцетолистнаяCalathea lanceolata calathea lancifolia
Калатея ПсевдовечианаCalathea Pseudovechiana Calathea Pseuvdoveitchiana
Калатея МакояCalathea makoyana
Калатея полосатаяCalathea zebrina
Калатея украшеннаяCalathea ornamented by Calathea ornata
Калатея украшеннаяCalathea rufibarba calathea rufibarba

See also Views of kalatey, photo

Calathea - Care and Cultivation

Temperature

Calathea are heat-loving plants, in winter they are kept at a temperature of at least 16 ° C, but optimally 18-22 ° C, does not tolerate draft and sharp temperature changes. In summer, the temperature is normal, it is better in the fresh air - on the balcony, veranda. Moreover, calateas are tempered and adapt to temperature changes, and if there is no draft (glazed balcony), they calmly tolerate night temperatures up to 13 ° C, but do not tolerate heat well - above 28 ° C. On dry hot days, it is better to rearrange the pots on the floor - it is cooler there, or place them on wide trays of water.

калатея

Lighting

Good lighting, light partial shade, with protection from direct sunlight. With a lack of illumination, the color of the leaves is lost, becoming uniformly green, the spots merge against the general background of the leaf. In intense sunlight, on the contrary, the leaves turn brown-red, burns appear. Often calatea is considered a shade-loving plant, but with a lack of lighting, the plant will not be thick and large. Most often suffer from a lack of lighting in winter, so it is necessary to illuminate with fluorescent or LED lamps.

Watering

Abundant in spring - summer, moderate in winter. You need to water kalateya only with soft, persistent water. How often to water is defined as follows: touch the top layer of soil, it should dry out in the upper third of the pot for the next watering, or about 5-7 cm of height, if it has not dried out yet - wait a day or two. When the temperature is below 20 ° C, the soil should dry out at least in the upper half of the pot, after the surface has dried out, wait another 2-3 days with irrigation. And remember that the lack of humidity cannot be compensated for by increasing irrigation.

Fertilizer

From April to August, they are fed with liquid complex fertilizer for ornamental and deciduous plants every two weeks. Saffron calathea is fed with fertilizer for flowering domestic plants. Calatheas are sensitive to excess or overfeeding with fertilizers.

Air humidity

Kalatei love moist air, optimally 65-70%. Considering that in winter in our apartments with central heating humidity is 20%, and in winter, in dry weather only 40-45%, then it is necessary to take measures. Regular leaf sprays can be carried out, but this only eases the situation for an hour or two, so those who have more than one plant in the marant family are best off with a humidifier. If it is not, then the pot is placed on a tray with wet moss-sphagnum or wet pebbles. The leaves are periodically wiped with a sponge - especially those types of calateas that have hard glossy leaves, varieties with thin, velvety leaves cannot be wet at all, but they need moist air no less. Keep in mind that increased watering in no way compensates for the lack of humidity in the air.

Flight connections

Every year in spring into loose, light soil, consisting of 2-3 parts of leaf, 1 part of peat, 1 part of humus, 1 part of coniferous land with an admixture of sand. Pieces of charcoal are added to the soil mixture. Calathea does not tolerate the content of lime in the soil, does not like heavy clay soils. The pot for these plants is needed not too spacious. If the plastic pot needs to make very large holes on the bottom or pour drainage. In a clay pot, drainage is not needed. If it is not possible to compose the soil mixture for calathea yourself, then you can use purchased soil for marant, the soil for azaleas is also suitable.

When transplanting, it may be found that the roots have burned the entire earthen lump. In this case, you do not need to dig out and try to extract the old earth, just transplant the calathea into a larger pot and add fresh earth. If the leaves of the calathea turn yellow, pay attention, perhaps the soil is too salted - if a white or gray-red coating appears on the surface of the earth in the pot, dry, erasing into powder, it means that salts are deposited, you need to replace the top layer of the earth, and water it with filtered or boiled water.

Calatea reproduction

Calathea are propagated by dividing rhizomes (bushes) during transplantation in the spring. When dividing the bush, more precisely, cutting the rhizome with a knife, sprinkle the sections of juicy roots with crushed coal. After planting separated plants, you need to water carefully in the first week. The separated part of the calatea bush must be planted in a pot not too spacious, otherwise the plant will grow very slowly.

In addition to dividing the bush, root offspring can be separated - part of the rhizome with a small sprout. Care for separated young plants is the same as usual - uniform moistening after drying the top layer of the earth, feeding no earlier than a month and a half after planting, protection from draft and hot air of the battery, if necessary, additional lighting.

Seed reproduction is possible, but it is very rarely used at home.

By the way

The leaves of the calathea were used to weave baskets, poetomuon and got its name - kalathos - translated from ancient Greek - basket.

Just imagine, for us Kalateya is a decoration of a house, a winter garden, a greenhouse. And somewhere in Brazil, fish is wrapped in kalatea leaves for transportation to the market, in Thailand they weave rice bowls and make mattresses.

калатея

Some species of kalati are on the verge of extinction and are protected by the states in whose territory they grow.

Growing problems

The ends of the leaves are brown and dry, stunted growth is a common cause - too dry air and/or high air temperature. Perhaps the plant was very dry.

калатея уход

The ends of the leaves are yellow-brown - with excess or lack of nutrients in the soil and waterlogging of the soil.

The leaves curl up and are covered with spots - with insufficient watering, pest damage.

Sluggish, decaying stems - when temperatures are below recommended, especially if humidity is high.

Wilting of leaves - with insufficient or excessive watering. The soil should be moist, but not too damp. Touch the soil in the depths of the pot, if dry, the leaves drooped from a lack of moisture, if the inside of the pot is not dry, wet or even damp, you pour calatea, you urgently need to transplant it into fresh soil.

The leaves lose color and dry out - in too intense sunlight, usually on the south or west window. Or when affected by pests, especially characteristic of ticks.

Calatea pests

Scutes: similar to brown plaques on the surface of leaves and stems, suck out cell juice. The leaves lose their color, dry and fall.

Control measures. For mechanical cleaning of pests, the leaves are wiped with a soap sponge. Then spray the plant with 0.15% actellic solution (1-2 ml per liter of water). You can water and spray the actara at the same time, with the procedure repeated in a week. Actara helps with scale insects and mealybugs.

Spider mite: Damaged plants are distinguished by a pale yellow or light color of the leaves. Whitish spots form on the surface of damaged leaves, the leaves fall prematurely. Point punctures are visible in the sheet lumen.

Control measures. Wash the leaves with a sponge with baby or household soap, rinse with hot water (45 ° C), spray with acaricide - apollo, actellic, vermitek, etc.

Thrips - gray dry spots appear on the leaves of calathea.
If you look closely, black droplets are noticeable - pest excrement and gray skins from links.

Control measures. The plant should be sprayed with nisecticide - better actara, you can use phytoverm, decis, actellic, inta-vir.

Read more about indoor plant pests in the pest section