D
Duncan Hilder
Guest
- Thread Author
- #1
Prayer Plant / Goeppertia (syn. Calathea) and relatives
Calatheas are forest-floor plants, and their leaves work like a live read-out of what's happening at the roots. They fold up at night, curl when they're thirsty, crisp at the edges when the watering cycle swings too far, and fade when the light is wrong. Few houseplants tell you so much, so quickly.
The trouble is that the read-out gets misread. Several different problems show up as the same crispy edge, and the usual reflex is to blame humidity, buy a humidifier and keep watering the way you were. Dry air can play a part, but start with the pot: how far it's drying out between waterings, and what's in the water. Check those first, then the room, and a calathea is far less fussy than its reputation.
Calatheas are often sold as easy, low-light plants. They're not hard to grow, but they don't forgive two things: drying out, and a dim corner. If the only spot you've got is a long way from a window, or you're someone who waters when you remember, start with something tougher and come back to calatheas later.
Light
Bright, indirect light. Protect from strong direct sun, and keep it out of dim corners.
Water
Water before the pot loses much weight. Drying right out is the classic failure; sitting wet is the other. Judge by weight.
Mix
A fine, structured mix that holds moisture without packing down around fine roots.
Feed
Half strength, every second watering while it's putting out new leaves. Pause when growth slows or stops.
In the wild, calatheas grow under a forest canopy: plenty of light, but filtered through leaves above them. Indoors that means bright, indirect light, a metre or two back from a bright window or right beside a gentle one.
A little gentle early-morning sun is fine. Strong direct sun, especially hot afternoon sun through a west window, is the fastest way to ruin one. The pattern bleaches, the leaves curl to protect themselves, and scorched patches appear within days. Low light is slower damage: they'll sit in a dim spot for a long time, but new leaves come less often, stems stretch towards the window, and the plant gradually thins out. Being sold as low-light means they tolerate it, not that they prefer it.
Two rattlesnake plants. On the left, the colour has washed out and the tips have browned. On the right, the leaves are deep green and the pattern holds strong. Strong light fades a calathea; bright, indirect light keeps it.
The Shadow Test: hold your hand about 10cm above a leaf during the brightest part of the day for that spot — not midday, since an east-facing room peaks in the morning and a west-facing one in the afternoon — and look at the shadow. A distinct shadow means light the plant can use. A faint one means you're in the lower part of its range. Barely any shadow at all means the calathea is running close to the bottom of its range. If new leaves have slowed and the stems are reaching for the window as well, light is the place to start. You're not looking for direct sun, and the edges of the shadow don't matter. You're checking whether enough light reaches the leaf to cast a visible shadow at all.
Calatheas want a short dry-back. Water once the pot has lost a little weight, well before it feels light: it should feel noticeably lighter than just after watering, but still have real weight to it. You're not waiting for the big drop you'd feel with a ZZ Plant or a cactus. The dry end is where most of them get into trouble: let the pot dry too far and the leaves curl, then the edges brown and don't recover. The wet end is the quieter danger. A pot that stays heavy for a long time starves the fine roots of air, and that shows up as yellowing lower leaves and a soft base.
The Pot Weight Test: water thoroughly, let it drain, then lift the pot. That's your full weight, and it's the reference point for everything after — commit it to your hands rather than your head. Lift it again every so often until you learn how quickly that particular pot loses weight.
Weight is the test because the surface misleads. The top of the mix dries first and fastest, so it can feel dry to the touch while there's still plenty of water sitting further down — which is how people overwater while believing they've checked.
Water quality matters more for calatheas than for most houseplants. They're sensitive to what's dissolved in their water: mineral salts from tap water and fertiliser build up in the mix, and some are also sensitive to fluoride. If the edges keep browning despite a good watering routine, switch to rainwater or purified water such as reverse-osmosis water. A standard jug filter won't remove much of what matters here. Whatever you use, water until it runs out of the drainage holes so the build-up gets flushed through, then tip out the saucer. That washes built-up salts out of the mix. It won't turn brown edges green again, so judge progress by the new leaves. More on that in how to water houseplants.
Calatheas grow from short rhizomes with masses of fine roots. Fine roots want moisture on hand at all times, but they also need air, and they're the first to suffer when a mix packs down. The mix has to hold water without turning into a sponge.
The Finger Probe Test: this one reads the mix, not the watering decision — weight tells you when to water, the finger tells you whether the mix can still do its job. Push your index finger in as far as it'll go. If it moves through and you can feel distinct pieces — bark, grit, fibre — with some give between them, the structure is still working. If it meets a dense mass that smears like paste and holds the shape of your finger, the mix has broken down and lost its air. Water running around it rather than soaking in means it's gone hydrophobic. A wall of roots with barely any mix left means it's outgrown the pot. A sour or swampy smell suggests the root zone is staying too wet and poorly aerated — investigate now, not later.
Repot when the Finger Probe Test tells you to, not on a schedule. Go up one pot size at most. A calathea in an oversized pot sits in more wet mix than its roots can use, which is the wet-end problem all over again. Repotting is also the time to divide a crowded clump (see Propagation).
For fine roots like these, our Indoor Potting Mix is the match: composted bark, scoria, perlite and coco coir hold moisture and air together, and there's no added fertiliser, so you control feeding from the start.
Calatheas don't need heavy feeding. Too much fertiliser raises the salt level around sensitive roots, and that can contribute to brown leaf edges. Feed at half strength, every second watering, while the plant is putting out new leaves, and pause when growth slows or stops. Feeding won't push growth the light isn't supporting, and it won't fix brown edges.
Indoor Plant Food at half strength (0.5ml per litre), every second watering during active growth. The marked pipette makes a half dose easy to measure.
Garden centres use "calathea" loosely. Most plants sold under the name now belong to Goeppertia, but close relatives get grouped in with them, and they don't all behave the same way. All of them belong to the Marantaceae, the prayer plant family.
Calathea orbifolia, one of the plants that moved to Goeppertia but still carries its old name on the label.
Goeppertia (still sold as Calathea): most of what's on the shelf. The rattlesnake plant (G. lancifolia), peacock plant (G. makoyana), pinstripe (G. ornata) and G. orbifolia all moved here. Upright clumps, bold patterns, and the care on this page.
Maranta: the original prayer plant. Lower and more sprawling, with leaves that fold up dramatically every evening. A little more forgiving of drying back than Goeppertia.
Stromanthe: usually the pink, cream and green variegated 'Triostar'. Wants the brighter end of bright indirect light to hold its colour, and grows taller than most calatheas.
Ctenanthe: often the toughest of the family. Better at handling a missed watering and lower light, so it's a good place to start if calatheas have beaten you before.
Goeppertia, Stromanthe and Ctenanthe propagate by division. When you repot a crowded clump, tease the rhizomes apart so each piece keeps its own roots and a few leaves, then pot each one up separately. Expect them to sulk for a few weeks while the roots settle. They won't grow from a single leaf or a leaf cutting. Maranta is the exception: as well as division, stem cuttings taken just below a node root readily.
Broad, flat leaves collect dust, and dust cuts the light a forest-floor plant was already making the most of. A wipe-down is also a good moment to check the leaf undersides, where spider mites start. Spray Neem Oil Leaf Shine onto a soft cloth, not the leaves, and wipe each leaf gently: it helps lift dust and grime and leaves the foliage clean without a heavy residue. Calathea leaves are thin, so patch-test one leaf first and check it a day later before doing the rest. Skip any types with velvety leaves altogether, and never wipe the leaves while they're in direct sun.
Crispy brown edges and tips: check the watering cycle first. Lift the pot: if it's been getting light between waterings, the dry-back is too long. Water quality and fertiliser salts come second, so flush the pot through with rainwater or purified water and ease off the feed. Then look at the room. If the watering is right and the water is clean, dry air is the remaining suspect, especially in winter with the heating on and the plant close to a heater or vent. See what actually helps with humidity.
Leaves curling or rolling inward: first, check the time of day. Leaves lifting upright in the evening is normal movement, not stress (more on that below). Curling and rolling during the day is different, so lift the pot. Light means thirst, and the leaves should open within a day of a thorough watering. Heavy and still curling means the roots aren't taking up water, so check them next. If the pot is fine, look for direct sun or a cold draught.
Yellowing lower leaves with a heavy pot: the wet end of the cycle. Run the Finger Probe Test and smell the mix. Sour, dense mix means the roots are short of air; see root rot in indoor plants.
Pattern fading or scorched patches: too much direct sun. Move it back from the glass, or behind a sheer curtain, and run the Shadow Test again in its new spot.
Tall, floppy stems and fewer new leaves: light first. The plant is stretching towards the window. Move it somewhere brighter; existing stems won't shorten, but new growth will come in tighter.
Calatheas have one pest that turns up far more than any other. More on identifying houseplant pests in our guide to houseplant pests.
Spider mites: fine pale speckling on the upper surface of the leaf, and on a bad infestation, fine webbing where the leaf meets the stem. The mites themselves are tiny and live on the undersides. Isolate the plant, rinse the undersides with lukewarm water, and check its neighbours.
Thrips: silvery streaks on the leaves with tiny black specks. They hide in new leaves before they unfurl. Isolate the plant and check the unfurling leaves closely.
Bright, indirect. No strong direct sun, no dim corners.
Water
Short dry-back: water before the pot loses much weight. Don't let it dry out. Judge by weight.
Mix
Indoor Potting Mix. One pot size up at most.
Feed
Half strength, every second watering during active growth.
Every evening, many calatheas lift their leaves upright, and every morning they lower them again. That's where the "prayer plant" name comes from, and in a quiet room you can sometimes hear the leaves rustle as they move.
Calathea exotica with its leaves lifted upright: the "prayer" position that gives the family its name.
The mechanism is well understood. Where each leaf meets its stalk there's a small, thickened joint called a pulvinus. Cells on either side of it take on or lose water, and as one side swells and the other shrinks, the leaf tilts. The timing is set by the plant's internal daily clock, nudged by light, which is why the movement carries on for a while even if the lights stay on.
Why the plant bothers is much less settled. Darwin, who studied these "sleep movements", thought folding up reduced heat loss on cold nights. Others suggest it helps shed water from the leaf surface overnight, or that the daytime movement is really about angling the leaf towards the light coming through the canopy. Each idea has some support, and nobody has cleanly separated them. What it does tell you, practically, is that a calathea's leaves are always moving, so a leaf that's upright in the evening isn't a problem to fix.
The name change: in 2012, a study of the family's DNA moved most of the plants sold as Calathea into the genus Goeppertia. A handful of species stayed in Calathea, and labels everywhere still say calathea, which is why this guide does too. Maranta, Stromanthe and Ctenanthe were always separate genera in the same family.
Pet safety: calatheas and marantas are listed as non-toxic to cats and dogs, which makes them one of the better choices for a house with pets. See our list of plants that are safe for cats.
Cold: calatheas don't like cold. Keep them away from cold glass and draughty doors in winter, and away from heaters, which dry the leaves out just as fast.
Why Indoor Plant Problems Get Diagnosed Backwards
The Do's and Don'ts of Watering Indoor Plants
Humidity for Indoor Plants: What Actually Helps
What Indoor Plants are Safe for Cats?
- Moderate care
- Needs bright indirect
- Don't let it dry out
- Spreads
- Pet safe
Calatheas are forest-floor plants, and their leaves work like a live read-out of what's happening at the roots. They fold up at night, curl when they're thirsty, crisp at the edges when the watering cycle swings too far, and fade when the light is wrong. Few houseplants tell you so much, so quickly.
The trouble is that the read-out gets misread. Several different problems show up as the same crispy edge, and the usual reflex is to blame humidity, buy a humidifier and keep watering the way you were. Dry air can play a part, but start with the pot: how far it's drying out between waterings, and what's in the water. Check those first, then the room, and a calathea is far less fussy than its reputation.
Before you buy
Calatheas are often sold as easy, low-light plants. They're not hard to grow, but they don't forgive two things: drying out, and a dim corner. If the only spot you've got is a long way from a window, or you're someone who waters when you remember, start with something tougher and come back to calatheas later.
The Plant Runner Method for Calathea
Light
Bright, indirect light. Protect from strong direct sun, and keep it out of dim corners.
Water
Water before the pot loses much weight. Drying right out is the classic failure; sitting wet is the other. Judge by weight.
Mix
A fine, structured mix that holds moisture without packing down around fine roots.
Feed
Half strength, every second watering while it's putting out new leaves. Pause when growth slows or stops.
Light
In the wild, calatheas grow under a forest canopy: plenty of light, but filtered through leaves above them. Indoors that means bright, indirect light, a metre or two back from a bright window or right beside a gentle one.
A little gentle early-morning sun is fine. Strong direct sun, especially hot afternoon sun through a west window, is the fastest way to ruin one. The pattern bleaches, the leaves curl to protect themselves, and scorched patches appear within days. Low light is slower damage: they'll sit in a dim spot for a long time, but new leaves come less often, stems stretch towards the window, and the plant gradually thins out. Being sold as low-light means they tolerate it, not that they prefer it.
Two rattlesnake plants. On the left, the colour has washed out and the tips have browned. On the right, the leaves are deep green and the pattern holds strong. Strong light fades a calathea; bright, indirect light keeps it.
The Shadow Test: hold your hand about 10cm above a leaf during the brightest part of the day for that spot — not midday, since an east-facing room peaks in the morning and a west-facing one in the afternoon — and look at the shadow. A distinct shadow means light the plant can use. A faint one means you're in the lower part of its range. Barely any shadow at all means the calathea is running close to the bottom of its range. If new leaves have slowed and the stems are reaching for the window as well, light is the place to start. You're not looking for direct sun, and the edges of the shadow don't matter. You're checking whether enough light reaches the leaf to cast a visible shadow at all.
Water
Calatheas want a short dry-back. Water once the pot has lost a little weight, well before it feels light: it should feel noticeably lighter than just after watering, but still have real weight to it. You're not waiting for the big drop you'd feel with a ZZ Plant or a cactus. The dry end is where most of them get into trouble: let the pot dry too far and the leaves curl, then the edges brown and don't recover. The wet end is the quieter danger. A pot that stays heavy for a long time starves the fine roots of air, and that shows up as yellowing lower leaves and a soft base.
The Pot Weight Test: water thoroughly, let it drain, then lift the pot. That's your full weight, and it's the reference point for everything after — commit it to your hands rather than your head. Lift it again every so often until you learn how quickly that particular pot loses weight.
Weight is the test because the surface misleads. The top of the mix dries first and fastest, so it can feel dry to the touch while there's still plenty of water sitting further down — which is how people overwater while believing they've checked.
Water quality matters more for calatheas than for most houseplants. They're sensitive to what's dissolved in their water: mineral salts from tap water and fertiliser build up in the mix, and some are also sensitive to fluoride. If the edges keep browning despite a good watering routine, switch to rainwater or purified water such as reverse-osmosis water. A standard jug filter won't remove much of what matters here. Whatever you use, water until it runs out of the drainage holes so the build-up gets flushed through, then tip out the saucer. That washes built-up salts out of the mix. It won't turn brown edges green again, so judge progress by the new leaves. More on that in how to water houseplants.
Mix
Calatheas grow from short rhizomes with masses of fine roots. Fine roots want moisture on hand at all times, but they also need air, and they're the first to suffer when a mix packs down. The mix has to hold water without turning into a sponge.
The Finger Probe Test: this one reads the mix, not the watering decision — weight tells you when to water, the finger tells you whether the mix can still do its job. Push your index finger in as far as it'll go. If it moves through and you can feel distinct pieces — bark, grit, fibre — with some give between them, the structure is still working. If it meets a dense mass that smears like paste and holds the shape of your finger, the mix has broken down and lost its air. Water running around it rather than soaking in means it's gone hydrophobic. A wall of roots with barely any mix left means it's outgrown the pot. A sour or swampy smell suggests the root zone is staying too wet and poorly aerated — investigate now, not later.
Repot when the Finger Probe Test tells you to, not on a schedule. Go up one pot size at most. A calathea in an oversized pot sits in more wet mix than its roots can use, which is the wet-end problem all over again. Repotting is also the time to divide a crowded clump (see Propagation).
For fine roots like these, our Indoor Potting Mix is the match: composted bark, scoria, perlite and coco coir hold moisture and air together, and there's no added fertiliser, so you control feeding from the start.
Feed
Calatheas don't need heavy feeding. Too much fertiliser raises the salt level around sensitive roots, and that can contribute to brown leaf edges. Feed at half strength, every second watering, while the plant is putting out new leaves, and pause when growth slows or stops. Feeding won't push growth the light isn't supporting, and it won't fix brown edges.
Indoor Plant Food at half strength (0.5ml per litre), every second watering during active growth. The marked pipette makes a half dose easy to measure.
Which one have you got?
Garden centres use "calathea" loosely. Most plants sold under the name now belong to Goeppertia, but close relatives get grouped in with them, and they don't all behave the same way. All of them belong to the Marantaceae, the prayer plant family.
Calathea orbifolia, one of the plants that moved to Goeppertia but still carries its old name on the label.
Goeppertia (still sold as Calathea): most of what's on the shelf. The rattlesnake plant (G. lancifolia), peacock plant (G. makoyana), pinstripe (G. ornata) and G. orbifolia all moved here. Upright clumps, bold patterns, and the care on this page.
Maranta: the original prayer plant. Lower and more sprawling, with leaves that fold up dramatically every evening. A little more forgiving of drying back than Goeppertia.
Stromanthe: usually the pink, cream and green variegated 'Triostar'. Wants the brighter end of bright indirect light to hold its colour, and grows taller than most calatheas.
Ctenanthe: often the toughest of the family. Better at handling a missed watering and lower light, so it's a good place to start if calatheas have beaten you before.
Propagation
Goeppertia, Stromanthe and Ctenanthe propagate by division. When you repot a crowded clump, tease the rhizomes apart so each piece keeps its own roots and a few leaves, then pot each one up separately. Expect them to sulk for a few weeks while the roots settle. They won't grow from a single leaf or a leaf cutting. Maranta is the exception: as well as division, stem cuttings taken just below a node root readily.
Cleaning the leaves
Broad, flat leaves collect dust, and dust cuts the light a forest-floor plant was already making the most of. A wipe-down is also a good moment to check the leaf undersides, where spider mites start. Spray Neem Oil Leaf Shine onto a soft cloth, not the leaves, and wipe each leaf gently: it helps lift dust and grime and leaves the foliage clean without a heavy residue. Calathea leaves are thin, so patch-test one leaf first and check it a day later before doing the rest. Skip any types with velvety leaves altogether, and never wipe the leaves while they're in direct sun.
Common problems
Crispy brown edges and tips: check the watering cycle first. Lift the pot: if it's been getting light between waterings, the dry-back is too long. Water quality and fertiliser salts come second, so flush the pot through with rainwater or purified water and ease off the feed. Then look at the room. If the watering is right and the water is clean, dry air is the remaining suspect, especially in winter with the heating on and the plant close to a heater or vent. See what actually helps with humidity.
Leaves curling or rolling inward: first, check the time of day. Leaves lifting upright in the evening is normal movement, not stress (more on that below). Curling and rolling during the day is different, so lift the pot. Light means thirst, and the leaves should open within a day of a thorough watering. Heavy and still curling means the roots aren't taking up water, so check them next. If the pot is fine, look for direct sun or a cold draught.
Yellowing lower leaves with a heavy pot: the wet end of the cycle. Run the Finger Probe Test and smell the mix. Sour, dense mix means the roots are short of air; see root rot in indoor plants.
Pattern fading or scorched patches: too much direct sun. Move it back from the glass, or behind a sheer curtain, and run the Shadow Test again in its new spot.
Tall, floppy stems and fewer new leaves: light first. The plant is stretching towards the window. Move it somewhere brighter; existing stems won't shorten, but new growth will come in tighter.
Common pests
Calatheas have one pest that turns up far more than any other. More on identifying houseplant pests in our guide to houseplant pests.
Spider mites: fine pale speckling on the upper surface of the leaf, and on a bad infestation, fine webbing where the leaf meets the stem. The mites themselves are tiny and live on the undersides. Isolate the plant, rinse the undersides with lukewarm water, and check its neighbours.
Thrips: silvery streaks on the leaves with tiny black specks. They hide in new leaves before they unfurl. Isolate the plant and check the unfurling leaves closely.
Quick care summary
LightBright, indirect. No strong direct sun, no dim corners.
Water
Short dry-back: water before the pot loses much weight. Don't let it dry out. Judge by weight.
Mix
Indoor Potting Mix. One pot size up at most.
Feed
Half strength, every second watering during active growth.
Why do calathea leaves move at night?
Every evening, many calatheas lift their leaves upright, and every morning they lower them again. That's where the "prayer plant" name comes from, and in a quiet room you can sometimes hear the leaves rustle as they move.
Calathea exotica with its leaves lifted upright: the "prayer" position that gives the family its name.
The mechanism is well understood. Where each leaf meets its stalk there's a small, thickened joint called a pulvinus. Cells on either side of it take on or lose water, and as one side swells and the other shrinks, the leaf tilts. The timing is set by the plant's internal daily clock, nudged by light, which is why the movement carries on for a while even if the lights stay on.
Why the plant bothers is much less settled. Darwin, who studied these "sleep movements", thought folding up reduced heat loss on cold nights. Others suggest it helps shed water from the leaf surface overnight, or that the daytime movement is really about angling the leaf towards the light coming through the canopy. Each idea has some support, and nobody has cleanly separated them. What it does tell you, practically, is that a calathea's leaves are always moving, so a leaf that's upright in the evening isn't a problem to fix.
Good to know
The name change: in 2012, a study of the family's DNA moved most of the plants sold as Calathea into the genus Goeppertia. A handful of species stayed in Calathea, and labels everywhere still say calathea, which is why this guide does too. Maranta, Stromanthe and Ctenanthe were always separate genera in the same family.
Pet safety: calatheas and marantas are listed as non-toxic to cats and dogs, which makes them one of the better choices for a house with pets. See our list of plants that are safe for cats.
Cold: calatheas don't like cold. Keep them away from cold glass and draughty doors in winter, and away from heaters, which dry the leaves out just as fast.
Why Indoor Plant Problems Get Diagnosed Backwards
The Do's and Don'ts of Watering Indoor Plants
Humidity for Indoor Plants: What Actually Helps
What Indoor Plants are Safe for Cats?