Calatheeas have the most beautiful and most splendid leaves, but keeping it in perfect form can be a challenge. Does your Calathea get brown leaves? This is one of the most common problems with which every owner is confronted and it is a sign that something is wrong with your plant. We explain which the causes can be and how to fix them.
Calatheeas are beautiful houseplants, even if it is not easy to maintain them. These plants quickly show you that you are unhappy by getting brown leaves. The leaves can either be brown on the leaf edges, at the tip or in the middle of the sheet. In some cases you can simply ignore it, but it can also indicate a more serious problem. Let us talk about what the brown leaves cause and what you can do about it.
Should you cut off the damaged leaves?
If you find that your plant gets brown leaves, you should remove them first.
A sheet that has become completely brown is to be cut off.
However, if the leaves are partially brown and there are many of them, they should be careful. Make sure you should remove them gradually. They should never remove more than a quarter of the leaves at once, since the Calathea obtains a large part of their energy and moisture from the foliage.
Your plant will soon produce new leaves and as soon as it is fuller again, you can cut off the remaining leaves that you consider superfluous.
The most common causes and their solutions
- Bad water quality:One of the most common reasons for the brown of the leaves of Calathea is the use of water with a high content of dissolved minerals, chlorine or fluoride. These plants are sensitive to dissolved minerals and chemicals that are usually added to drinking water. In this case, the leaves of their plant on the edges become brown and they start to curl. If this is the cause, leave the water for a day before pouring the plant. Most chemicals have time to evaporate what makes the water much safer for the plant. Or you can use rainwater or distilled water to stop the brown color.
- Over -fertilization:If the water quality is not the cause, you should keep in mind that over -fertilization has a similar effect to hard water. It leads to mineral and salt deposits in the ground, which soon show up on the leaves. TheLeaf tips turn brownAnd you can find some salt crusts on the floor surface. If you suspect that over -fertilization is the problem, first try to remove as much fertilizer as possible from the earth's surface without eliminating more than 25 % of the potting soil. Then rinse the rest of the fertilizer by pouring. However, make sure that your container has drainel holes so that the excess water can flow completely.
- Low humidity:The Calathea is a tropical plant that absorbs a large part of the moisture over its leaves. If the air humidity in the apartment is too low, the plant cannot absorb enough water and it dries out. When the leaves start to become brown and accept a paper -like structure, it means that the plant needs a more damp environment. Increase the air humidity by spraying the leaves regularly, using a pebble bowl or putting a humidifier nearby.
- Drying down:Your plant prefers a uniformly damp soil. If it happens that the earth dries too much, the leaves become brown and they shrink. Check the Calathea regularly to ensure that only the top layer of the floor is dry. Make sure that it should be watered more often in summer.
- Obering:You would probably first notice other characters how to yellow the leaves, but if the top layer of the soil is wet, this is a sign that you irrigate your plant too much.
- Temperature:Extreme temperature fluctuations caused by hot areas or cold draft can also lead to browning the leaves of your calathea. Ideally, this plant prefers temperatures between 18 ° C and 27 ° C.
Calathea gets brown leaves because of pest infestation
If the leaves of their Calathea become brown a few weeks after buying a new plant, their collection of houseplants could bewas affected by pests.
Pests such as wool lice, scale insects, spider mites and aphids feed on the juice in plant tissue. This creates brown spots on the leaves, either on the edges or near the trunk.
If you think that the brown spots are caused by spider mites, you should examine the underside of the leaves. Clean the plant with a cotton cloth that is soap soap solution with an insecticide. If a certain sheet is too affected, cut it off to prevent the spread to the entire plant.
Put the infected plants under quarantine and keep them away from healthy plants.
To protect your Calathea from the future pest infestation, you can spray it with neem oil every two weeks.
Read too:Calathea lets leaves hang: how you can save your exotic basket margin!
