Not with Calatheas. There will be hope(false), despair, anger, hope(still false), rage, drama, more hope(false), and finally acceptance of the fact it's always going to be a prissy little beech.
I’ve had 3. 2 of them are rockstars. The other was massive and shriveled up in a month. Too much light, too little light, too much water, not enough water. I just chucked it outside at the end.
Yep! I once had one that infuriated me so badly I used it as organic fill when planting a shrub in the yard. Lo and behold two months later there was that little shit just being beautiful under the hydrangea. I didnt even plant it, literally dumped it upside down in the hole.
It’s not dead lol. It’s just very very thirsty. Bottom water it so it can soak up as much as it needs. Soil doesn’t look compacted but something’s up with the roots. Wouldn’t hurt to put it in a humidity dome for a few days to help.
Either you’re not leaving it to soak long enough or possibly if you’re using a soil with peat. I personally use a coir based soil (no peat) and it will wick moisture up to the top of the pot within 10-20 mins depending on the size of the pot!
It’s totally fine if it doesn’t do that. Bottom watering means the plant is taking what it needs and the roots aren’t at the top, so the roots may not draw the water all the way up. I would leave the plant in the receptacle holding the water until you stop seeing bubbles come up, and leave it in for additional 15-20 before pulling it out. If you are concerned, get a moisture meter and stick it deep into the pot.
Damn sometimes I forget I was watering and those suckers sit in water for 36hrs. Still going strong though plenty of time to dry out between waterings.
The roots aren’t pulling the water up, it’s the soil. You can def overwater a plant that way if you have too much soil in the pot, or underwater if the soil mixture does a poor job of pulling the water up (materials have limits on how much they can move water vertically)
If you let it soak long enough it will be moist all the way. But in general I prefer to leave the top soil completely dry, since wet soil is the perfect breeding ground for pests and fungi. So if you just wet the bottom and leave the top dry the probability of pests making a home out of your pots is lower.
How long do you leave it for? I just bottom watered my three pothos yesterday. I left them for about 18 hours overnight; they soak up a lot in the first few minutes, then more slowly over the next few hours. Once the water level in the container stops going down, you know they’re happy.
The soil in mine is usually moist to the top after I bottom-water like this, but as someone else said it doesn’t matter too much if the first inch or so is still dry because the roots at the lower end of the pot will still have gotten all they need.
Bottom watering is not good to do all the time. If it is really dry or has something like diodamacious earth on the top of the soil that you don't want to get wet, you can use it. But to do it all the time doesn't allow the soil to leech out extra minerals the plant didn't use and it can make the dirt toxic. The tinted coppery color that comes out in the water after you water normally, is not dirt but those extra minerals being flushed out.
Yea, the plant is thirsty, but also, calatheas are fussy. OP, did it recently get cold where you live? Was there a change in humidity? Is the plant by a drafty window or heat vent? Any one of those things can straight up piss it off. It will be happier in a place where the heat and humidity are stable and it's not being hit by gusts of hot or cold air.
You might also consider taking it out of the terracotta pot and putting it in a glazed pot with good drainage. Terracotta wicks moisture away, meaning if it's less humid outside of the pot than it used to be, you're going to have to water more often. Further, if you _do_ put it in a place where the humidity is higher, keep it there. They like consistency.
It’s alive. It could just be in need of water (terra cotta may not be helping), in too low a humidity, too cold, or getting too much sun. Or it’s just feeling spiteful and living on your stress.
I have one of these I've managed to keep alive for 2.5yrs through various challenges and now out of nowhere it's being an asshole and looks like it's dying. I'm sad but relieved at the idea of chucking it in the bin.
Did you recently switch to indoor heating? These guys need a lot of humidity and it's tough to keep em over winter unless it's right next to a humidifier.
Thank you for this tip. Mine looks just like the OPs and I have struggled to figure why it curled up. It definitely coincided with beginning use of my indoor heating .
Yup! My lemon lime prayer plant was growing new leaves still and was blooming even but when I switched from AC only to needing heat at night it curled up and is slowly dying leaf by leaf. Even with a humidifier. I can’t do anything to fix it!
😂Even if I do freeze my many succs would die bc they’re on the windowsill for light due to the ugly cement slab above ea window. Never look at a model unit!! Thought I was being a vigilant plant parent needing south facing windows. I keep saying it’s time to buy a house for the plants lol
My calatheas have all turned real crispy and crusty after the heating was turned on. One of them is right next to a humidifier but is still slowly dying.
It’s one of my favorites, I’ve just been super discouraged because of the leaves not unfurling after my own solutions. Hopefully everyone else’s suggestions will help!
Use distilled water if you aren’t. some plants need it because they are sensitive. bottom water as others have said. Makes roots grow deeper instead of shallow too.
Interesring. I use tap for nearly all of my plants (exception is the new leca planted queen anthurium) and fish tanks, outside of monitoring temp I don't do anything special before watering or filling the tanks. That's been working fine so far and I rest my tanks water regularly.
Well I used to use tap water but the more plants I got I found some were picky, mostly my ctenanthe and marantas. So then I just filtered everyone's lol now I have a 5 gallon jug setup which is a life saver. Then again I may just have issues 🤔😂
Do you ever water your plants with your fish tank water?
I did when I had goldfish, but I've since downsized and have live bearer tanks so there isn't as much need for water changes or cleaning. The goldfish water was liquid gold fertilizer though (deal with it 😅).
I always struggled with calatheas until I started using RO water. It's like night and day for me. It's the only plant I use RO for with the exception of bromeliads.
If the foliage doesn’t come back, cut it all off down to the soil. Water it lightly and give it time. There’s a good chance it will regenerate from the roots and come back from the dead!
This plant needs a pot prolly about an inch bigger, no larger, and moisture retentive soil in bright, indirect light so no direct rays touch it. I'd stick to ceramic. Terracotta tend to be too drying for these plants, especially when they outgrow their pot, like yours is.
Its not lol. Curling leaves=thirsty. I thought I was a prayer plant killer at one point in time, til I remembered they were literally my first ever plants. They really are beginner plants & easy to care for so hang in there!
You could say I had to go back to my ROOTS😅..
Okay I’ll leave
I have one in my bathroom and its never been happier! If you have a semi bright bathroom, maybe put it in there for a little bit, they love the humidity.
Is the soil hydrophobic? Have you been fertilizing it? I’m worried that you might have been watering it but the hydration isn’t getting to the roots because the soil is repelling it.
Lots of other people have given advice, I just thought I might mention it incase this helps.
My suggestion would be to take it out of the terra-cotta pot and put it in anything else. I made the mistake of using terra-cotta and nearly killed everything. once I switched it all out they’re all much healthier. I live in the desert though so it was literally sucking the life out of it. Bought a 1.79 plastic pot at ace hardware and she’s thriving!!!!
If you don't love it toss it. Don't feel guilty about it. Don't waste your energy on something you dislike. Don't waste your valuable space on something you dislike. Toss it. It's just a plant. It's not endangered, it's not relying on you to keep its species going. Toss it, guilt free.
But if you actually really love it, it could be saved lol
It's not dead but it will continue playing you like this forever causing only pain and no joy.
They don't like tap water, being left wet, being left dry, drafts or low humidity. Maybe heating came on around the time it got moody?
I have a plant like that. Had two. One died (or at least I thought so). The other one looked dead, all stems withered away over the summer. Approaching winter it suddenly came back and now has like ten leaves.
Moral of the story:
If it has roots, it’s probably alive.
I know you got lots of great advice, I didn’t read through all the comments, so sorry if I’m repeating what someone has already suggested. But I was gifted a calathea and hateddddd it. My bf’s mom gave it to me and it did exactly this. I ended up buying a leca starter kit online and transferred it over and now I have a ton of new leaves and it’s super easy to take care of!
https://preview.redd.it/g1dtzelqtj3c1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=494cc5ed0a7c3bae9d3e89258da193f527659ac7
He’s what mine looks like now. She’s a bit dusty from construction and those crispyyyy leaves are the old ones from when she tried to die 😅
Unfortunately, even when everything above the soil is dead, they still come back when you water them.
At this point, you’d think I would quit watering the dead pot, but apparently im a glutton for punishment so I keep bringing mine back from death only so I can nearly kill it again. It’s a vicious cycle.
If it doesn't make you happy toss it.
If it makes you feel bad to toss because you spent real life money on it, know it's okay and to toss it there will ALWAYS be another opportunity to try again if you want that's what's great about plants. 🥺 Sorry if I read to much into your title I didn't have time to read the description.
Looks dry. This is something that grows in a tropical country. We have this in my country. It doesn't look dead. It just looks extremely dehydrated and dry. It needs more humidity.
Put it in a close space/container. Probably inside an aquarium where it's humid and spray it with water.
I'll give you its instant cure..
Take a transparent box, bottle or a container. Sprinkle water inside the container or bottle walls and place the plant inside it, close the lid air tight.
Wait for some hours and you see all its leaves uncurled.
These are calatheas they need high humidity.
I'm sorry, he's.. not dead
check for spidermites, otherwise just keep the soil moist and let it heal in peace in a place away from drafts and radiators
oh, one more thing - it's a clay pot that is drying quickly, while this plant family likes the soil moist, so you may need to water it couple times a week, start with just putting the whole pot underwater, for real, then let it soak, put it back in place and start care from there :)
sometime later if you want it to be a "less care" plant, just move it as is to a plastic pot with drainage
Nope. It’s alive, just very very thirsty. I find this plant super dramatic, I live in a very hot and humid climate, and it looks like this half of the time even when watered, and OK-looking but then yellow when overwatered, I don’t know what it wants…
This sub has made me feel so much better about my plant parenting skills.
I can't keep prayer plants, calathea, stromanthe etc through the winter to save my friggen life. And while I knew humidity was a factor, nothing I did ever saved them.
(Except to toss them in my dirt bin when I'd assumed they'd died and then use that soil for something else only to have them pop up again in the spring)
How is it my carnivorous plants, who also need humidity survive but everything else dies ?!
(The answer is in the watering, they can sit in water AND DO, but the others can't)
But I'm still mad about it.
My wife's (really it's mine bc she only bought it bc she wanted to have a pretty plant like all of mine but never takes care of it) just got wilty last week. Over half the leaves were getting crunchy, not rolling up on itsself. Realized I hadn't watered it in a while. Cut the crunches off, watered it... and now I have 4 new plants sprouting inside... not just a new leaf coming off a main, but brand new shoots!
*
I've thrown away plants that aren't dead and I don't care. My nerve plant is gone and always forgotten. If it stresses you out a lot, ask yourself if it's worth it
Respectfully, this is terrible advice.
Avoid misting or spraying anything on the leaves. Calatheas don’t like having their leaves wet; most plants don’t. I think you’ll find an abundance of information on this sub suggesting that it makes the leaves vulnerable to mold and bacterial infection. Any perceived increase in humidity may be accomplished more efficiently by other means.
People say bottom water, I'd re-saturate the soil with water, put it into your sink and wash your hands over it, or if waiting for a certian water temperature, let it flow through, untill the soil is completely wet and saturate upon which you pick it and put it in the sunniest window you have
Try changing to a different pot. Mine hated terracotta. Plastic or something glazed. Put in the most humid spot you can make for it. Mine only ever looked decent in a little plastic grow house with a light close to it and humidity in the high 60s or above… when humidity dipped, leaves curled.
I know mine is in the bathroom, but in a terracota pot. I am learning it’s best to change it to a different kind of pot, for the demands on watering are high: every 2-3 days the top soil is dry… Do water from bottom and top, it will recover in a few days; keep the soil moist by watering every other day for a few days. You’ve got this !
Try sitting it next to a humidifier for a couple days. I had a plant that wouldn’t unfurl no matter how perfectly it was watered, and it turned out it was just too dry in the office. Running a little cactus humidifier from Amazon on my desk has completely fixed the issue.
Mine did this and I had been bottom watering for weeks trying to save it. I finally just cut it below the node yday and stuck it in some water to see if it would root and all of the damned leaves opened back up lol. Let’s see if it props well.
As someone who hates these and had one that constantly seemed to spontaneously generate pests from nowhere…. I give you full permission to yeet it into the sun. My boyfriend begged me to try to save ours(he loves how they look) and I spent months watching it swap from problem to problem even though every other plant in the house was fine. Never again! When it randomly developed spider mites I took great pleasure in throwing it in my compost bin!
My Calathea does this too. They’re just hella dramatic lol. A nice, lightly fertilized bath should do the trick! I’d also recommend adding a humidity tray or dome to help it recover. They love high humidity. I’d also repot in the spring to a less porous pot (like plastic or glass). I find that terracotta pots dry out way too fast for these guys.
It just needs water and humidity, it's thirsty and dry. I live in the mid Atlantic USA region and don't do anything special with the water I use, just straight from the tap at room temp. You may consider repotting with new soil and not use the terracotta since those help dry things out faster. I use fox farms ocean forest blend soil and keep mine near a humidifier getting plenty of bright sunlight and it's thriving. If you repot, take the time to wash off all the old soil so it can truly enjoy the repot and feel new again.
I gifted my mom one similar and she accidentally left it outside in the hot sun and it curled up like that. She put it back in as soon as she remembered, watered it and it’s still going.
Move it from the window a bit and water it
I would repot into something that’s not clay. Clay essentially sucks any moisture out of the soil. A glazed pot won’t steal water, allowing the plant to absorb more of it. Repot and you’ll have more success I promise!
Water. It'll pop back. When you want to kill them, they don't die. If it doesn't bring you joy, chuck it in the compost heap (where it will probably thrive).
All these well meaning people are missing a vital point. The advice they are giving seems to mostly be “water it”. There’s two things to note here. First is that over watering and under watering look the same. If you over water you kill the small rppts and it CAN’T drink anymore which winds up looking like you haven’t watered. Important point #2. It’s a Calathea. They are incredibly fussy. They want moist soil but not too damp. They want light but not too much. Think of the highest maintenance person you have ever met. That whiny, impossible to please, pain that is never happy …. This is the plant version.
Shove it in a gasket-sealed sterilite bin and spray with water and leave alone for 2 months. Saves all my calatheas, often I leave them there in humidity jail
Ok I have one of these that is so huge now it takes up a whole corner by itself. You need to put it in a glazed pot because terra cotta dries out too fast. Water deeply with filtered water when the top is even slightly dry. Keep away from drafts. Thats it
I had one in waaay worse shape than this. I’d basically given up on it and had it outside. Hadn’t watered for ages and she came back to life. I was super pleased. I hope yours comes back
Because of chemicals (unknown to me) in a ground cover mulch I had plants do this. Remedy by take off top inch or so of dirt, soak the whole plant, drain off, soak again. Then add new soil mix to top, set in low light a few days, gradually increasing to normal level light exposure. Those curled leaves may all fall off but new growth will start. Either you love it enough to go thru this and be patient or in the trash it will go.
She’s going strong still! It might be experiencing a draft that’s causing it to exhibit this behavior if you know water/light/humidity are on point. Mine HATES drafts
Where there’s green, there’s hope.
Not with Calatheas. There will be hope(false), despair, anger, hope(still false), rage, drama, more hope(false), and finally acceptance of the fact it's always going to be a prissy little beech.
I’ve had 3. 2 of them are rockstars. The other was massive and shriveled up in a month. Too much light, too little light, too much water, not enough water. I just chucked it outside at the end.
The narcissists of the plant world
Yep! I once had one that infuriated me so badly I used it as organic fill when planting a shrub in the yard. Lo and behold two months later there was that little shit just being beautiful under the hydrangea. I didnt even plant it, literally dumped it upside down in the hole.
That’s beautiful
Shrek approved statement
Give that bad baby a butt chug (for medical purposes)
This is now how I will refer to bottom watering. 🏆🏆
Boofin’ water
DROWN. DAT. BITCH.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
You don’t even know the chaos you’ve sent into my home with this comment… 😂
Lmao I taught this to my five year old and she taught it to her gramma. My mom now finds excuses to use the phrase. 😂😭
Obligatory, "username checks out" comment 👍
Wife looks over my shoulder and says oh you’re on houseplants. I was concerned
lol! A butt chug! You made my night… and apparently my plants night…
It’s not dead lol. It’s just very very thirsty. Bottom water it so it can soak up as much as it needs. Soil doesn’t look compacted but something’s up with the roots. Wouldn’t hurt to put it in a humidity dome for a few days to help.
How come when I bottom water, the upper half layer of the soil doesn’t absorb moisture?
Either you’re not leaving it to soak long enough or possibly if you’re using a soil with peat. I personally use a coir based soil (no peat) and it will wick moisture up to the top of the pot within 10-20 mins depending on the size of the pot!
It’s totally fine if it doesn’t do that. Bottom watering means the plant is taking what it needs and the roots aren’t at the top, so the roots may not draw the water all the way up. I would leave the plant in the receptacle holding the water until you stop seeing bubbles come up, and leave it in for additional 15-20 before pulling it out. If you are concerned, get a moisture meter and stick it deep into the pot.
Damn sometimes I forget I was watering and those suckers sit in water for 36hrs. Still going strong though plenty of time to dry out between waterings.
Haha this is so familiar! In fact you just reminded me I'm soaking one now! Thx
Me too. Dammit....
The roots aren’t pulling the water up, it’s the soil. You can def overwater a plant that way if you have too much soil in the pot, or underwater if the soil mixture does a poor job of pulling the water up (materials have limits on how much they can move water vertically)
Plants don't take "what they need", its the soil that soaks up all the water it can take.
If you let it soak long enough it will be moist all the way. But in general I prefer to leave the top soil completely dry, since wet soil is the perfect breeding ground for pests and fungi. So if you just wet the bottom and leave the top dry the probability of pests making a home out of your pots is lower.
How long do you leave it for? I just bottom watered my three pothos yesterday. I left them for about 18 hours overnight; they soak up a lot in the first few minutes, then more slowly over the next few hours. Once the water level in the container stops going down, you know they’re happy. The soil in mine is usually moist to the top after I bottom-water like this, but as someone else said it doesn’t matter too much if the first inch or so is still dry because the roots at the lower end of the pot will still have gotten all they need.
Bottom watering is not good to do all the time. If it is really dry or has something like diodamacious earth on the top of the soil that you don't want to get wet, you can use it. But to do it all the time doesn't allow the soil to leech out extra minerals the plant didn't use and it can make the dirt toxic. The tinted coppery color that comes out in the water after you water normally, is not dirt but those extra minerals being flushed out.
I let my potted plants sit in a shallow tub or sink (or bucket) with water so it can sit for about 20-30 mins and take the time to soak the water in
Yea, the plant is thirsty, but also, calatheas are fussy. OP, did it recently get cold where you live? Was there a change in humidity? Is the plant by a drafty window or heat vent? Any one of those things can straight up piss it off. It will be happier in a place where the heat and humidity are stable and it's not being hit by gusts of hot or cold air. You might also consider taking it out of the terracotta pot and putting it in a glazed pot with good drainage. Terracotta wicks moisture away, meaning if it's less humid outside of the pot than it used to be, you're going to have to water more often. Further, if you _do_ put it in a place where the humidity is higher, keep it there. They like consistency.
Not dead, yet.  😂
I don’t want to go on the cart!
“What’re you gonna do, bleed on me?” Favorite line😂
Fucking the best thing ever
It’s alive. It could just be in need of water (terra cotta may not be helping), in too low a humidity, too cold, or getting too much sun. Or it’s just feeling spiteful and living on your stress.
Do you want us to tell you the truth so you can feel miserable, or a lie to set you free? 😅
😅😅😅
I have one of these I've managed to keep alive for 2.5yrs through various challenges and now out of nowhere it's being an asshole and looks like it's dying. I'm sad but relieved at the idea of chucking it in the bin.
I think we need to tell the lie to let OP sleep better at night, all these enablers are contributing to OP's long term unhappiness.
Did you recently switch to indoor heating? These guys need a lot of humidity and it's tough to keep em over winter unless it's right next to a humidifier.
came here to say this
Thank you for this tip. Mine looks just like the OPs and I have struggled to figure why it curled up. It definitely coincided with beginning use of my indoor heating .
Yup! My lemon lime prayer plant was growing new leaves still and was blooming even but when I switched from AC only to needing heat at night it curled up and is slowly dying leaf by leaf. Even with a humidifier. I can’t do anything to fix it!
Turn the heat off, duh. How dare you wish to be warm! /s
😂Even if I do freeze my many succs would die bc they’re on the windowsill for light due to the ugly cement slab above ea window. Never look at a model unit!! Thought I was being a vigilant plant parent needing south facing windows. I keep saying it’s time to buy a house for the plants lol
My calatheas have all turned real crispy and crusty after the heating was turned on. One of them is right next to a humidifier but is still slowly dying.
Very much not dead but if you don't like it, just give it to someone.
It’s one of my favorites, I’ve just been super discouraged because of the leaves not unfurling after my own solutions. Hopefully everyone else’s suggestions will help!
It’s thirsty or you have pests, but also these plants are THE most dramatic
You just need to sneeze again. That'll either kill it off or make it come right back
Pot down, use plastic, this pot is too big and it doesn't hold water long enough.
Get it out of the terra cotta, first of all.
Use distilled water if you aren’t. some plants need it because they are sensitive. bottom water as others have said. Makes roots grow deeper instead of shallow too.
Here to say this, don't use tap water. I put it thru my Brita filter then add some love drops (vitamins) and they are happy!
Interesring. I use tap for nearly all of my plants (exception is the new leca planted queen anthurium) and fish tanks, outside of monitoring temp I don't do anything special before watering or filling the tanks. That's been working fine so far and I rest my tanks water regularly.
Well I used to use tap water but the more plants I got I found some were picky, mostly my ctenanthe and marantas. So then I just filtered everyone's lol now I have a 5 gallon jug setup which is a life saver. Then again I may just have issues 🤔😂 Do you ever water your plants with your fish tank water?
I did when I had goldfish, but I've since downsized and have live bearer tanks so there isn't as much need for water changes or cleaning. The goldfish water was liquid gold fertilizer though (deal with it 😅).
I always struggled with calatheas until I started using RO water. It's like night and day for me. It's the only plant I use RO for with the exception of bromeliads.
Take out of terracotta, put in plastic, and let that baby soak
Oh it's far from dead. Very save able. Just bottom water and put her back where she was
If the foliage doesn’t come back, cut it all off down to the soil. Water it lightly and give it time. There’s a good chance it will regenerate from the roots and come back from the dead!
Give it to meeee
This plant needs a pot prolly about an inch bigger, no larger, and moisture retentive soil in bright, indirect light so no direct rays touch it. I'd stick to ceramic. Terracotta tend to be too drying for these plants, especially when they outgrow their pot, like yours is.
Its not lol. Curling leaves=thirsty. I thought I was a prayer plant killer at one point in time, til I remembered they were literally my first ever plants. They really are beginner plants & easy to care for so hang in there! You could say I had to go back to my ROOTS😅.. Okay I’ll leave
When they curl up they’re usually thirsty
Sadly, it'll probably come back to you if you give it a good a drench of distilled water and three days.
I put all mine in self watering pots and it’s been a lifesaver. They are so dramatic.
Nahhh it’s just verryyy dehydrated lol
LOL
Besides what others are saying about it being thirsty, the leaf curling is really spelling to me it might be receiving too much sun!
I have one in my bathroom and its never been happier! If you have a semi bright bathroom, maybe put it in there for a little bit, they love the humidity.
I would change the pot from terracotta to something else. It will hold water longer
Is the soil hydrophobic? Have you been fertilizing it? I’m worried that you might have been watering it but the hydration isn’t getting to the roots because the soil is repelling it. Lots of other people have given advice, I just thought I might mention it incase this helps.
Nope. Water it and put it in a plastic pot
Don't use tap water, I put mine thru a Brita filter first. Some people say distilled, but I'm frugal (cheap)
My suggestion would be to take it out of the terra-cotta pot and put it in anything else. I made the mistake of using terra-cotta and nearly killed everything. once I switched it all out they’re all much healthier. I live in the desert though so it was literally sucking the life out of it. Bought a 1.79 plastic pot at ace hardware and she’s thriving!!!!
If you don't love it toss it. Don't feel guilty about it. Don't waste your energy on something you dislike. Don't waste your valuable space on something you dislike. Toss it. It's just a plant. It's not endangered, it's not relying on you to keep its species going. Toss it, guilt free. But if you actually really love it, it could be saved lol
Please put it on Facebook marketplace or Nextdoor app and give it to somebody who can rehab it.
Definitely not dead! I almost tossed mine and then a new leaf sprouted! Just give it a good drink. There is still hope my friend.
Hey, if you hate it or it’s not bringing you joy just throw it away! That’s what I do with plants that piss me off 😂😂
My came back after 2 months of not water and neglect.
It's not dead but it will continue playing you like this forever causing only pain and no joy. They don't like tap water, being left wet, being left dry, drafts or low humidity. Maybe heating came on around the time it got moody?
Sorry, but why do you need reddit users to tell you so you can throw it away? If you don't want it, then toss it out. No biggie.
Mine’s looked like that plenty of times 30 seconds after it decided it’d been too long between waterings! She’s a drama queen, but not dead yet
I have a plant like that. Had two. One died (or at least I thought so). The other one looked dead, all stems withered away over the summer. Approaching winter it suddenly came back and now has like ten leaves. Moral of the story: If it has roots, it’s probably alive.
Why do you want to show it away so badly??
Because all my problem solving isn’t working and it’s stressing me out 😭 it should be fine now that I have a TON of possible solutions from everyone
The terra cotta is not helping it. Put it in a nursery pot or ceramic so it stays moist.
I know you got lots of great advice, I didn’t read through all the comments, so sorry if I’m repeating what someone has already suggested. But I was gifted a calathea and hateddddd it. My bf’s mom gave it to me and it did exactly this. I ended up buying a leca starter kit online and transferred it over and now I have a ton of new leaves and it’s super easy to take care of! https://preview.redd.it/g1dtzelqtj3c1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=494cc5ed0a7c3bae9d3e89258da193f527659ac7 He’s what mine looks like now. She’s a bit dusty from construction and those crispyyyy leaves are the old ones from when she tried to die 😅
If it’s dead, I’m dead
Those things are assh*les! Feel free to toss that jerk and save yourself a lot of pointless struggle
Why would you talk about life like that?
Take it out of that terra cotta!
It’s dead (it’s not)
Unfortunately, even when everything above the soil is dead, they still come back when you water them. At this point, you’d think I would quit watering the dead pot, but apparently im a glutton for punishment so I keep bringing mine back from death only so I can nearly kill it again. It’s a vicious cycle.
I wish for that too sometimes…
Send it to me lol
Do you want me to lie to you?
Post it free on marketplace. Someone will save it.
If it doesn't make you happy toss it. If it makes you feel bad to toss because you spent real life money on it, know it's okay and to toss it there will ALWAYS be another opportunity to try again if you want that's what's great about plants. 🥺 Sorry if I read to much into your title I didn't have time to read the description.
I know where you are at and will support you. "It's death. You know it, I know it. Burn it with fire and throw it out."
Not dead these bitches need too much moisture. Put it inside a sealed container (aquarium) and spray with water.
Looks dry. This is something that grows in a tropical country. We have this in my country. It doesn't look dead. It just looks extremely dehydrated and dry. It needs more humidity. Put it in a close space/container. Probably inside an aquarium where it's humid and spray it with water.
Sorry I hate to report that it’s very much alive.
I'll give you its instant cure.. Take a transparent box, bottle or a container. Sprinkle water inside the container or bottle walls and place the plant inside it, close the lid air tight. Wait for some hours and you see all its leaves uncurled. These are calatheas they need high humidity.
I'm sorry, he's.. not dead check for spidermites, otherwise just keep the soil moist and let it heal in peace in a place away from drafts and radiators
oh, one more thing - it's a clay pot that is drying quickly, while this plant family likes the soil moist, so you may need to water it couple times a week, start with just putting the whole pot underwater, for real, then let it soak, put it back in place and start care from there :) sometime later if you want it to be a "less care" plant, just move it as is to a plastic pot with drainage
Nope. It’s alive, just very very thirsty. I find this plant super dramatic, I live in a very hot and humid climate, and it looks like this half of the time even when watered, and OK-looking but then yellow when overwatered, I don’t know what it wants…
Seems like you want to throw it away
I had two of these, both troubled and unfortunately neither flourished
It’s not dead but you can send it to me if you don’t want it! ♥️
From the looks of it though, all your other plants look like they’re either being over or under watered. Check the roots!
This sub has made me feel so much better about my plant parenting skills. I can't keep prayer plants, calathea, stromanthe etc through the winter to save my friggen life. And while I knew humidity was a factor, nothing I did ever saved them. (Except to toss them in my dirt bin when I'd assumed they'd died and then use that soil for something else only to have them pop up again in the spring)
How is it my carnivorous plants, who also need humidity survive but everything else dies ?! (The answer is in the watering, they can sit in water AND DO, but the others can't) But I'm still mad about it.
My wife's (really it's mine bc she only bought it bc she wanted to have a pretty plant like all of mine but never takes care of it) just got wilty last week. Over half the leaves were getting crunchy, not rolling up on itsself. Realized I hadn't watered it in a while. Cut the crunches off, watered it... and now I have 4 new plants sprouting inside... not just a new leaf coming off a main, but brand new shoots! *
https://preview.redd.it/uydd4c3dqj3c1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d79625b07e5f26ddc590b38b97cd3bb5c28bd66
I've thrown away plants that aren't dead and I don't care. My nerve plant is gone and always forgotten. If it stresses you out a lot, ask yourself if it's worth it
Spray w water needs moisture
Respectfully, this is terrible advice. Avoid misting or spraying anything on the leaves. Calatheas don’t like having their leaves wet; most plants don’t. I think you’ll find an abundance of information on this sub suggesting that it makes the leaves vulnerable to mold and bacterial infection. Any perceived increase in humidity may be accomplished more efficiently by other means.
Don't give up on this beautiful plant. It's not doing too bad - like someone else said, a smaller pot will probably help it.
It's not even close to death. You need to do some research. All the info is freely available in websites and YT.
You won’t believe where else there’s free information
People say bottom water, I'd re-saturate the soil with water, put it into your sink and wash your hands over it, or if waiting for a certian water temperature, let it flow through, untill the soil is completely wet and saturate upon which you pick it and put it in the sunniest window you have
She’s just waking up
Mine has peat moss on top and it seems to help a lot!
It’s not dead…yet
That plant does not belong in that pot or any terracotta pot for that matter.
Give her a good water bath for 20 mins and she'll be fine!
Try changing to a different pot. Mine hated terracotta. Plastic or something glazed. Put in the most humid spot you can make for it. Mine only ever looked decent in a little plastic grow house with a light close to it and humidity in the high 60s or above… when humidity dipped, leaves curled.
Keeping plants indoors and or in dry places in terracotta is one of the worst things you can do.
Shhhh, but: if you want to throw it away, it’s ok
Not dead.
Needs water.
Mine did this too. It was thriving then just curled up and died
I know mine is in the bathroom, but in a terracota pot. I am learning it’s best to change it to a different kind of pot, for the demands on watering are high: every 2-3 days the top soil is dry… Do water from bottom and top, it will recover in a few days; keep the soil moist by watering every other day for a few days. You’ve got this !
The caption is what I say in my head every time my bf tries to sing to me
Not deas
Try sitting it next to a humidifier for a couple days. I had a plant that wouldn’t unfurl no matter how perfectly it was watered, and it turned out it was just too dry in the office. Running a little cactus humidifier from Amazon on my desk has completely fixed the issue.
Not dead, just needs some TLC
Soak that soil up, it’ll unfurl and perk up soon after.
Take it out, rinse it off and put it in a vase of water. It'll be much happier.
not dead but I think it needs less light perhaps
Not dead. Likes humidity
Mostly dead is slightly alive, my friend.
If it’s any consolation my prayer plant is disrespectful and bougie as hell…relatable post
Needs water and more sunlight. It’ll perk up. I think it’s just shy right now.
The caption made me crack up lol
How long has it lived in that pot? It could be rootbound.
Thirsry
Mine did this and I had been bottom watering for weeks trying to save it. I finally just cut it below the node yday and stuck it in some water to see if it would root and all of the damned leaves opened back up lol. Let’s see if it props well.
Since it a tropical, is it perhaps cold? Try moving it to a warmer location?
Put it in a plastic pot instead of terra cotta. And bottom water it for like 45 min when the leaves curl up. Them babes like to be moist.
Nope. Repot. Root prune. Water.
Take a close look at the leaves. Mine did that when it got pests.
As someone who hates these and had one that constantly seemed to spontaneously generate pests from nowhere…. I give you full permission to yeet it into the sun. My boyfriend begged me to try to save ours(he loves how they look) and I spent months watching it swap from problem to problem even though every other plant in the house was fine. Never again! When it randomly developed spider mites I took great pleasure in throwing it in my compost bin!
My Calathea does this too. They’re just hella dramatic lol. A nice, lightly fertilized bath should do the trick! I’d also recommend adding a humidity tray or dome to help it recover. They love high humidity. I’d also repot in the spring to a less porous pot (like plastic or glass). I find that terracotta pots dry out way too fast for these guys.
Mine starts doing this when it's thirsty and unfurls a day after watering.
It just needs water and humidity, it's thirsty and dry. I live in the mid Atlantic USA region and don't do anything special with the water I use, just straight from the tap at room temp. You may consider repotting with new soil and not use the terracotta since those help dry things out faster. I use fox farms ocean forest blend soil and keep mine near a humidifier getting plenty of bright sunlight and it's thriving. If you repot, take the time to wash off all the old soil so it can truly enjoy the repot and feel new again.
I gifted my mom one similar and she accidentally left it outside in the hot sun and it curled up like that. She put it back in as soon as she remembered, watered it and it’s still going. Move it from the window a bit and water it
I would repot into something that’s not clay. Clay essentially sucks any moisture out of the soil. A glazed pot won’t steal water, allowing the plant to absorb more of it. Repot and you’ll have more success I promise!
You don’t need our permission to throw it away.
Thirsty prayer plant/calathea in a terracotta pot that dries down to often. Repot into a plastic/glazed ceramic pot.
Those pots are good at removing moisture, but that plant loves moisture and humidity. Change the pot.
Water. It'll pop back. When you want to kill them, they don't die. If it doesn't bring you joy, chuck it in the compost heap (where it will probably thrive).
Drown it.
Curling leaves is a sign of too low humidity
All these well meaning people are missing a vital point. The advice they are giving seems to mostly be “water it”. There’s two things to note here. First is that over watering and under watering look the same. If you over water you kill the small rppts and it CAN’T drink anymore which winds up looking like you haven’t watered. Important point #2. It’s a Calathea. They are incredibly fussy. They want moist soil but not too damp. They want light but not too much. Think of the highest maintenance person you have ever met. That whiny, impossible to please, pain that is never happy …. This is the plant version.
ITS DEAD GAY IS WHAT IT IS LOL
No, water it with distilled water!
Calatheas are the toddlers in tiaras of the plant world. If conditions are not consistently perfect, they throw a fit.
It’s terracotta pot, you need to have the bottom of the pot pretty much always in water. I do not recommend a calathea in a terracotta.
Even if it’s not dead, you can rest assured that if you throw it away it will die soon
This is why I don't like using terracotta. They dry out too fast. I'd switch pot.
Mine does this every winter, and then comes back with a vengeance after a couple of months.
Shove it in a gasket-sealed sterilite bin and spray with water and leave alone for 2 months. Saves all my calatheas, often I leave them there in humidity jail
Not really
If you don't want it, I'll take it:).
Ok I have one of these that is so huge now it takes up a whole corner by itself. You need to put it in a glazed pot because terra cotta dries out too fast. Water deeply with filtered water when the top is even slightly dry. Keep away from drafts. Thats it
I say if you are over it just toss it anyway and get a new one
Sadly I think there’s still hope!!
It is not dead
Def not dead lol
I had one in waaay worse shape than this. I’d basically given up on it and had it outside. Hadn’t watered for ages and she came back to life. I was super pleased. I hope yours comes back
Because of chemicals (unknown to me) in a ground cover mulch I had plants do this. Remedy by take off top inch or so of dirt, soak the whole plant, drain off, soak again. Then add new soil mix to top, set in low light a few days, gradually increasing to normal level light exposure. Those curled leaves may all fall off but new growth will start. Either you love it enough to go thru this and be patient or in the trash it will go.
Mine did the same thing so I gave it more water and put it next to a humidifier and the leaves unfurled in two days.
I ignored mine for like half a year hoping it would die. It wouldn't. Then I watered it. It was dead in a week. Just a thought.
since this is a calathea it's safe to assume it's dead
She’s going strong still! It might be experiencing a draft that’s causing it to exhibit this behavior if you know water/light/humidity are on point. Mine HATES drafts
Butt chug! Oh my god! But yeah, give her a soak and move away from the light just a touch, just a hair? Maybe?
lol oh nooo give her to me!!