The variety of flower shades and shapes of the colorful leaf of kalatea is amazing, the rainbow palette is eye-catching, and you just want to bring such a miracle home to illuminate it with the colors of the tropics. Moody calathea care at home for which requires a certain amount of time and labor, quickly won the hearts of admirers of the flora world.
About the history of appearance
The homeland of Calathea is South America. Its usual name is galatea, in print media - calatea.
Amazing purity of shades of calathea striped
The first name of the flower is the “Inca crown”; the calathea received it because of the appearance of the flower and the distribution area: Peru, Brazil, Bolivia.
The second - the "prayer flower", is due to the fact that its leaves rise up in the evening, revealing the lower side, and in the morning fall to their former position, resembling hands raised in prayer.
Conquistadors, the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors of America, brought the plant to Europe.
What does Calathea look like?
This is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Marantaceae family with a root system in the form of rhizomes - native to the tropical forests of Latin America. In the wild, there are over 130 species.
Some species grow to a height of 80 cm in height. Shoots are often underground, with superficial rhizomes, from which grow vertical shoots with rosettes located on them.
The main decoration of plants - their leaves appear directly from the basal rosette. They are quite large, up to 30 cm long, in the form of an oval, ellipse or elongated. They turn during the day, watching the sun, in the evening rise up.
Potato calathea
Calathea flowers create spike-like or rounded inflorescences. The palette of colors is very diverse. The original structure of the flower allows pollination only by small bees.
Common varieties
The following are considered the most popular.
Calathea striped
Calathea is striped, or as it is also called zebra-shaped (Calathea zebrina), with bright dark green elongated leaves in the shape of an ellipse, on which a bright tone pattern along the central vein and numerous lines departing from it at an angle to the edge are clearly marked.
Calathea Mix
Calathea Mix is very similar to striped, with the only difference being that it has the same pattern as striped, but dark tones on a light background.
Calathea Bachem
Calathea bachemiana, or maranta bachemiana, which came from the tropics of Brazil much later than others, began to be grown as a houseplant not so long ago.
Leaves of calathea Bachem with a pattern resembling a branch
Monocotyledonous stemless plant with rhizome. The bush is low and compact. The lancet-elongated light green leaves of Bachem calathea are decorated with a dark green pattern resembling a branch located in the center of the plate. This is one of the most unpretentious representatives of the species.
Calathea Warszewicz (Calathea warscewiczii)
It has dark green oval velvet leaves with a pattern of light green tones. The underside of the sheet is purple.
Spike inflorescences are pink or cream.
Calathea Varshevich
Calathea Care at Home
How to care for demanding calathea at home? A child of the rainforest, calathea, needs warmth all year round. She does not like drafts, permutations, a sharp change in temperature and a change in lighting. Its growth continues constantly, which means that fertilizing is needed all the time, only doses change.
You need to water the flower along the edge of the pot and make sure that water does not get into the center of the outlet. After watering, remove the remaining water from the sump. Spraying and showering, in addition to hydration, help to remove dust and serve as prevention in pest control.
Additional Information. A healthy plant will not be attacked by insects; weakened flowers living in adverse conditions suffer from them.
Pots it is advisable to choose wide and low, because growth goes more in breadth.
Temperature
The best temperature in the summer during the daytime will be 22-25 ° C, at night - not lower than 18 ° C. In winter, the daytime temperature should be maintained at the level of 18-20 ° С, at night - 16 ° С. The plant does not tolerate sudden changes in temperature.
Lighting
An important factor for flower maintenance is the right choice of lighting. With its excess, the leaves begin to acquire a brown color. The lack of sunlight causes a loss of color of the leaves, with it and the decorativeness of the whole flower. It is advisable to place the pot on the windowsills facing east or west.
Watering
Watering should be treated very carefully, especially in the summer. In addition to direct watering, you can rearrange the plant on a pallet with wet peat.
When overdrying and waterlogging earthen coma leaves are folded, and their edges dry.
Important! Water the plant only with warm soft water. Cold water will cause softness and decay of the leaves. If you do not take measures to streamline the irrigation regime, calatea can completely reset them.
Spraying
A flower loves spraying, but some species with velvety leaves do not tolerate this procedure - it leads to the appearance of brown spots.
Humidity
The plant needs very humid air, it is often useful to moisten it from the spray gun or install an electric humidifier nearby. You can put a water bowl next to the flower.
Priming
The soil for calathea should be slightly acidic. Purchased soils for azaleas and orchids, which are mixed in equal parts, adding sand and perlite, are ideal.
Blooms Calathea Varshevich
The mixture can be prepared independently by mixing:
- Sheet earth - 2 parts;
- Humus - 1 part;
- Peat - 1 part;
- Sand - 1/2 part.
Top dressing
For feeding, complex liquid fertilizers designed for flowering indoor plants may be suitable. The concentration of the solution is reduced by half, compared with that indicated in the instructions.
Make top dressing after watering twice a month during the period of active vegetation of the flower (spring-summer). In the rest of the year, 1 time in a month and a half is enough.
Note! Insufficient and excessive fertilizing adversely affects the state of calathea, as indicated by a change in leaf color: they take a brownish tint. The presence of calcium salts in the composition of fertilizers is fatal for her.
During rest
The dormant period of a flower is relative, because Amaranth trees continue to grow in the autumn-winter time. Fertilizing is carried out less often, reducing doses. Water overflow should be avoided, because at low temperature this is fraught with rotting of the roots, which happens very quickly; sometimes it is simply impossible to save the plant.
Pruning
There is no need for regular pruning. Only dry and damaged leaves should be removed on time.
How does calathea breed
Propagate calatea in several ways:
- Sowing seeds;
- Cuttings;
- Air layering.
Seed germination
Besides the fact that this is the most complex and long-term method, the result is always unforeseen - the resulting specimen will be of a completely different kind than the parent plant. Seed germination is very low, so you need to sow more seeds to obtain a positive result.
The step-by-step process is as follows. Sow seeds in shallow containers filled with a mixture of hardwood and sand in a ratio of 2: 1. Contain at a temperature of 21-25 ° C. After germination, seedlings dive when they grow up, planted in pots.
Additional Information. This method is usually used by breeders.
Rooting cuttings
The probability of a positive result in this case is slightly higher. The stem is easily separated without injury if growth points remain on the parent plant and cuttings. It is planted in moist soil, covered with glass or film until the roots appear.
Air lay
For this method, the stem is bent to the ground, secured, lightly sprinkled and watered. After the formation of their own roots, the layers are carefully cut from the parent plant and planted.
Other options
Least of all are kalatea leaf propagation, which most often ends in failure. A healthy leaf is selected, separated from the plant and planted in prepared moist soil. Cover with glass until the roots appear.
To obtain a new instance, they often use the division of the bush, this method is simpler, and it retains the characteristics of the species.
Varieties of Calathea
When transplanting calathea from the age of 3 years, the rhizome is carefully divided into several parts, leaving a good part of it on each "divide", while receiving adult plants at once. The interwoven roots are cut with a sharp knife. Places of cuts are treated with wood ash.
Each "dividend" is planted in its container, falling asleep with a mixture of peat and sand in a ratio of 2: 1, watered abundantly and left until the peat dries. Cover with a film, making holes for air access, watered as the soil dries.
Transfer
A feature of calathea is the functioning of the root system, which releases substances into the soil that impair its quality. In addition, the roots are shallow from the surface. That is why the normal development of the flower is possible with regular replacement of the earth, which happens during transplantation.
Young plants must be transplanted every spring. When reaching the age of four, the transplant is carried out in a year. It is better to do this in late winter or early spring.
Important! When choosing a container, preference should be given to a wide, low pot.
Possible problems in growing
It is not easy for a flower to adapt to room conditions. Better than in a pot, he feels in a terrarium, where it is easier to create high humidity.
Excessively bright lighting, especially in direct sunlight, can lead to loss of color and drying of the leaves. To avoid this, they transfer the kalatea to another bright place where there is no direct sunlight.
Why do calatheas dry the tips of the leaves
If the room is too dry air, the ends of the leaves turn brown and dry, which will twist the sheet into a tube. Growth and development are slowing.
Tip. To create high humidity, you need to spray the plant, otherwise a spider mite may appear.
It is necessary to remove dead leaves.
Why do calatheas twist and fall leaves
The lack of moisture leads to the fact that the leaves begin to curl and curl, and then fall off. During the period of active vegetation, the soil must be kept moist so that it does not dry out between waterings.
Leaf falling is caused by too dry air. To eliminate this phenomenon, you can put a flower in a terrarium, a bottle garden, use regular spraying or place wet peat around the plant.
Pests
Violation of the rules for the content of calathea leads to the appearance of pests and diseases. Calathea pests are the same as most houseplants.
Scabies are located on the underside of the leaf, they do not move, sucking juice from the leaves. The leaves turn yellow and fall, the shoots die off.
The presence of a pest is indicated by the appearance of a sticky coating on the leaves, subsequently a sooty fungus settles on it. In order not to lose the plant, the fight begins immediately, processing karbofosom or "Actellik".
Spider mites also settle on the lower side of the leaf plates, thin cobwebs report this, this is due to the low humidity in the room. Leaves begin to turn yellow and crumble. To avoid damage by a spider mite, the leaves are sprayed on both sides, a warm shower is arranged every 2-3 days.
Spider mite leaves of calathea
With a massive invasion of insects, treatment with Actellik and Fitoverm drugs will be needed.
By the appearance of the leaves, it is easy to determine the disease of the flower. In a healthy plant, they are beautiful, with a pronounced color; in patients, they turn yellow and curl.
To find out the cause and treat the flower, you need to determine what mistakes in care and maintenance were made, their elimination will return the calathea to life.
Despite the increased demand for care, the indoor flower of calathea is gaining wide popularity, increasing the number of lovers involved in the cultivation and breeding of an interesting plant, which is considered a symbol of family happiness.
