To ensure healthy peacock plant foliage, it is essential to plant the plant in a well-draining potting medium high in organic matter and choose a location in the shade or with filtered light. Water the plant just enough to keep it consistently moist, monitoring the room for moisture levels. Use distilled, rainwater, or filtered tap water to avoid leaf browning from fluoride.
Water the Calathea makoyana houseplant whenever the top soil is dry, as long as the top layer of soil dries. Check that the top 1″ (2.5 cm) of soil is dry before watering. Place the plant in indirect sunlight, maintain a humid environment, and water when the top inch of soil feels dry. Opt for well-draining soil and keep indoor temperatures low.
To water the plant, make sure the top inch of the soil is slightly dry to the touch. The soil should reflect both the plant’s love for water and dislike of getting soaked. Mix your own prayer plant soil with a favorite easy blend. The best way to water a peacock plant is using the bottom-watering method, filling a sink or basin with lukewarm water and letting the plant sit in the water for about 15 minutes.
To avoid yellowing and browning leaves, water the plant with distilled or filtered water or consider setting up a rainwater collector. Maintain a humid environment, only water when the soil is dry and the pot’s weight is light. Wipe leaves regularly with damp cloth.
A peacock plant needs 0.8 cups of water every 9 days when it doesn’t get direct sunlight and is potted in a 5.0″ pot. Water the plant 1-2 weeks, allowing the soil to dry out half way down between waterings. Water more often in brighter light and less often in less light conditions.
📹 Calathea, Ctenanthe & Maranta In Water Culture
I’m finally able to grow these plants well, with the help of water culture. Come browse my favorite plant products in my …
📹 My Watering Routine With My Calathea
Calathea #Houseplants #WateringPlants In today’s video I show you how I water my houseplants. I forgot to water my Calathea …
WOW Paul they’re all gorgeous, thank you for sharing!! My Red Prayer plant after being medium -sized and thriving, started struggling last Summer with spider mites, and even after months of using insecticidal soap and putting it in water culture, it still struggled!! But once I saw that the spider mites were completely gone, I placed my cuttings back in soil!! It’s STILL struggling but I see one out of the three cuttings is getting a new leaf!! I think I’ll remove one of the cuttings and try it in water culture again to see which method works better!!🤗
Very informative. I have two calathea. One was infected with gnats that I could not seem to get rid of, so I sprayed it down along with my other nearby plants and planted half in full sun and the other half under my Azalea bush. The one planted in a full sun location is hanging in there. Some days she’s all curled up then in the evening or not so sunny days she’s open wide and pretty. Her sister was doing well until I brought her upstairs to my bedroom with some other plants on my new plant stand. She didn’t seem to like it so I moved her back downstairs. She was doing well for a while, now she looks sad and parts of her has dried out. After viewing this article, I think I’ll dig up the ones in yard and try growing them both in water. Thanks again for the informative article.😊
Hey Paul, excellent guide! Transferring out calathea saved her from death but only a single stem survived the previous root rot. Since this one is still struggling, I suspect that I’m doing something wrong. So if I could ask you two quick questions: How often do you flush them and exchange their water? How much (orchid?) fertilizer do you use and how often? Thank you so much!
Clever idea! One of my Calatheas is barely hanging on and I just discovered from a different YT’er that it has compacted soil, I’m sure of it. But TODAY I am going to transfer it to oxygen rich water!! Thank you!! Just subscribed. OMG, you’re problem child is the one I am talking about too. Misting doesn’t work.
I have started water culture with my begonia Rex black beauty. I definitely start to see water root growing. However new leaf is still ashing. I suspect it could due to drastic temperature changes (20 day 10 night) or my LED scorching it (120W 50cm distance). I do think my other propagation in growing medium seem to enjoy high light and fairly warm and very moist environment.
Wow, great article, SO glad I found it. I got a maranta as a gift for Xmas. It came in a decorative container w/NO drainage! I inserted a glass ball w/a thin tube (that mimics wick watering) until I can transplant it in early spring, since it’s winter in NY & I didn’t want to shock it. There has been some noticeable growth but I’ve observed crisping at some leaf tips and some of the older leaves closer to the soil have dried out completely. Clearly, I think I better not wait & get it into a water culture asap before I kill it. Thank you!!
Hi, I bought a Calathea from Petco, it actually came in it’s own little water only vase. It’s beautiful! My question though is they seemed to have filled the water too high and it covered bits above the roots. The roots are nice and white, but the stems where they are shooting out from that are submerged in water, are getting a bit slimy, and dark. I’m really worried about them rotting. I use distilled water, and change it once a week. Any recommendations on what I can do to get that slime off the bottom stems? Thank you, and love your articles! Oh, also what do you do when the roots are super long?
Hello Paul not sure if you will see this but advice would be appreciated. I decided to put mine in water after struggling with fungus gnats / mold. Its been 3 days and all the leaves have drooped. Is this normal do I just need to give it time or do i need to take some action? Its a Calathea roseopicta
hi paul! thank you so much for this very informative and inspiring vid. thanks to you, i recently converted my prayer plants from soil to water (and they are loving it, well most of them)! have you ever successfully done this with maranta leuconeura? i had one in water for about a month+ with no new root growth, and all the leaves curled/boarderline died. my other plants grew tons of new roots/shoots by that same time. i am worried i may have almost killed (or seriously shocked) my maranta leuconeura and reverted it back to soil. would love to know your thought and if you’d had any success with that variety in water!
Hi ! I need your advice pretty please 🙏 After seeing your article months ago I transfered a very little Triostar (only 1 stem that I divided from a mother plant in soil) in water months ago and it was doing perfect, shooting a lot of water roots and even a new leaf, so I didn’t change anything from my routine with it and its always at the same spot, but since this week its leaves are curling… At the end you’re talking about “your problem child” (lol) that suddendly did the same : Did you ever find a solution ? thank you for your attention 🙂
I had such great calathea like the leafs were very nice and big with no brown spots but it sadly got infected or invaded by lice which I didn’t manage to get rid of so I threw it in the trash. Since then I haven’t bought a new one but calatheas are really cool will buy a new one soon. But how do you grow in just water? I mean is there something in particular to think about or to avoid. It looks very simple but it almost looks too simple to be true so to speak.😉😀 And how do they get nutrients since there is no soil?
Don’t say”problem child ” that is not a nice way to see children . It is from culture, we don,’ t say “problem mother,father, sister, friend ” is always towards children. The sad thing they hear things about themselves,society has “stigmatised children in this way”,be kind and have compassion for them .
I had to not water my calatheas for two weeks because of a fungus gnat infestation and my calathea maui queen looked okay until the 13th day and was suddenly flopped over like a peace lily when it’s dried out. It’s putting out a lot of new growth now so its thankful I got rid of the gnats for good I guess lol
I have my juvenile medallion literally right next to my humidifier, almost touching it and it’s still having a hard time. And I use pür filtered water for the humidifier and to water it I let the pür water sit out so it’s even extra distilled. It came with little green fertilizer balls in it, maybe that’s why?