My Zebra Plant is having major problems. I water it twice a week. Two or three leaves turned brown and shriveled but I wasn't too concerned. Then I sprayed it for spider mites (another plant had them), all the leaves mottled and then the leaves started browning/shriveling at an alarming rate: 2-3 leaves per week! I have since washed the leaves with plain water but it's down to 7 leaves and the edges of 3 of them are browning. This Zebra Plant was from my husband's funeral in August so I really want to save it.
No, I'm not positive, I'm simply going by what the card from the flower shop had on it. Do you have another suggestion?
Fizz, Not sure what it is either but I do hope you are not keeping it where you took the picture of it. It needs to be near a window with good light. Also check if your local water has fluoride added to it or if it ocurs naturally in a high amount. I would repot it in a loose soil also as most florist use a heavy mix to hold water just to make the plant last a couple of weeks. Gene
It is actually a Calathea, try google images until you find the actual species, then look it up. I have forgotten what sought of Calathea it is Good Luck Ed
No, it is not by the door. It sits approximately 5 feet from a large east window. I've already repotted. No added floride, and I allow tap water to sit overnight (at least) before watering with it. The only thing I haven't done is fertilize it and doubt that would be good for it at this point. Perhaps it needs more humidity???
Thanks, Ed. It is a "Calathea ornata", which is not in the book I have, but Calathea picturata is, so I'll move it further away from the window. Any other ideas besides more humidty?
The calathea you have is a somewhat slow growing clumper which can eventually reach a height of over 10 feet if happy. I grow the one you have, and some others, in my greenhouse. Humidity is pretty key for these. Lighting is not so important...I mean, no full burning sun, but they tolerate high light very well. All of my personal ones grow in what would be considered full, filtered, sun (about 85% sun). I have never put them in shade, and they seem to like higher light and definitely grow more quickly. They like a lot of water, but ONLY if they are in extremely well draining media. They don't like to be waterlogged, and as a houseplant, watering once a week in the average house would probably be okay. You can try to up the humidity in one of 2 ways. You can keep a spray bottle of water nearby and mist the plant frequently, like, everything you walk by, or you can invest in a vaporizer and run it nearby. Whether you choose cool mist or steam doesn't really matter, its a matter of personal preference. As to the leaves reacting poorly to being treated for mites, it has been my own personal experience that these plants tend, for whatever reason, to tolerate the "hard stuff" (ie more toxic organophosphate pesticides like Orthene, Cygon 2E, and Kelthane) much better than they tolerate soap spray and horticultural oil spray. I have had the same mottling occur when I used soap or plain oil. NEEM OIL, however, aloso seems well tolerated.
Re: My poor Calathea Now that I think about it, it started having trouble about the time it started cooling off here (and the natural humidity level fell). I have a humidity tray for my orchids but will have a vaporizer by tonight. Do you think there is still hope for it?
Of course there's still hope! I have a friend who says, "As long as there's even a speck of green, there's hope". You just have to take steps to reverse the decline now, and get it going back the other way. It's sometimes hard for some of the thinner leaved tropical plants to easily make the transition from outdoor "Porch plant" or "potted plant" to indoor "houseplant" for the winter. Some do it much better than others, and calathea are a group that need a bit more attention. Even the small growers that get the more round leaves and stay small in stature tend to get the crispy leaf edges in the house. But one of the best things you can do is to use good quality water, as you referenced before, Fluoride and to a lesser extent Chlorine can have a really adverse effect on this group.
I was hoping you'd say that! The last Calathea I had was from my father's funeral and I lost it fairly quickly, so I've been leary of them ever since. In fact, a Cathedral Windows was sent to my husband's funeral which I gave it away because of my past experience.
Re: My poor Calathea Plant Just an update: the calathea has not lost any more leaves nor have the leaves with brown edges deteriorated further in the 5 days since I started using a humidifier. Thanks for the advice!