I was given this calathea ornata 8 months ago. When I first received it he had a bunch of leaves. Over time some of the leaves started drying out but still had many healthy leaves. I have another calathea ornata that’s happy and thriving so I’ve been following the same things I did for her. They’re in the same spot for indirect sunlight and both only get rain water. Only major difference was this one was given to me in a much larger pot which I’m not sure if that has any effect.
You can somewhat see it in this picture but today my last single leaf curled in and dried/died out so I decided to take it out of the pot and check on the roots. In my opinion, the roots look okay? just that comparatively to my other calathea that I also repotted around the year mark that one had significantly bigger and more roots. So my question is – do these roots look healthy? do you think they are salvageable and can still give me a healthy, happy, growing plant? Do you have any suggestions/recommendations to help?
Thank you!
by dani_411
2 Comments
Hi! I’m not an expert by any means just want to share with you my experience.
Have had a calathea dottie since September last year. It was beautiful and seamed happy but since December or so it rapidly declined. I even made an attempt on saving it by checking roots. They looked almost the same as yours. Anyway, it lost ALL its leaves.
I read sometimes they manage to survive and pull out new leaves so I kept this pot of soil for + half a year and watered once in a while. Tbh I lost all hope and was already thinking of clearing the remains etc. Yesterday when watering the pinstripe next to it.. guess what I saw… not one but TWO new leaves growing from the soil!
I would say.. don’t give up just yet. I’ve had a sad pot with just some soil for forever but it eventually grew new leaves.
It is possible, but tbh I wouldn’t get your hopes up. There is not much of a root system there. They certainly do come back, I’ve had many do so, but I’ve had quite a few that didn’t. I would say either keep it in the soil and hope for the best, just keep it in full sun and give it minimal water. Or, put the whole thing in a glass of water and hope that it grows more roots and possibly a leaf.
Either way, be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. 💚