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Marantaceae - Prayers, Calathea, etc.


The Silent Seed

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Does anyone else on here enjoy them? I will be updating this thread eventually with some pictures of mine. 

I have only recently re-discovered them, and am in love! Ease of cultivation, beautiful colors, and sweet flowers, and many of them "move." I'm hooked! 

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I'm curious if you can help me identify one plant I recently bought.

It is a Stromanthe sanguinea, but lacks the coloration of "Triostar." It instead has a single silver band down the middle of each leaf. (The leaves are also held horizontally.) 

I'd love to know if this has a varietal name. 

I can post a pic (I will be adding pics anyway, later, but can sooner, if it will help with an ID.) 

Thanks, Jude 

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I'm curious to hear if anybody else grows any. 

I found some tubers at the bottom of some pots of Calathea makoyana and another species - Can each individual tuber produce a new plant, does anybody know? 

Hope to find some others here who enjoy them. 

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Over the past few years I've collected different Calatheas to trial them for the garden. They're a bit of a 'mixed bag', the different species have different tolerances varying from being weedy to being total wusses. If you pick the right ones for your conditions you should be right. But, you may not be successful with the one you prefer.

 

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Hi,

Australia makes me think of a more hot, dry climate, which sounds challening for most Marantaceae. I'm curious which ones have done well for you. 

All of mine are inside due to me being in the "Frozen North." So far, I have had wonderful success with all of them; approximately 20 different species / cultivars across several genera. They are proving to be really enjoyable plants. I love how the new leaves unroll. 

 

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Depends on where you are in the country, you can get any climate you want if you're prepared to move.

Only got Calathea, about 12 species. The roseo-picta 'Jungle Rose' didn't like it and disappeared. On the other hand roseo-picta 'Royal Standard' is doing well. Warscewiczii is barely hanging in but we're coming into the dry season now so I suspect it'll go this time. Zebrina is another that may not be long for this world. Orbifolia I'm not sure of, it does get knocked by the hot dry weather but still hangs in. Metallica is at the other end of the scale, it's spreading like a weed. Dies back in the dry season despite being under automatic irrigation, back with a vengeance in the wet season.

Just off the top of my head, ornata soldiers on quite well through the dry season, as do rufibarba, insignis. Vittata, medallion, majestica and makoyana seem to be okay. Lutea does well, but it's one of the very tall ones and a bit "un-Calathea" looking.

Bought C. lancifolia some time back but turns out that's a synonym of C. insignis. In fact, it looks like all Calathea have been moved into genus Goeppertia, so Calathea itself is a synonym. The taxonomists do keep busy.

 

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  • 2 months later...

I have 3 Calatheas: Calathea orbifolia, Calathea lancifolia, and Calathea ornata. I’ve had them for about a week.

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Took this photo right after I potted them up. Still getting the hang of them. I’ve kept them outside (in the shade) in the heat and humidity, Calathea ornata has shown signs of growth, Calathea orbifolia looks sad with leaf damage, and Calathea lancifolia has some minor leaf damage from drying out.

How/when should I fertilize these? I’ve read that they’re very sensitive to pretty much everything, so far I’ve only top dressed them with worm castings and gave them water from the air conditioner.

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CM,

Nice plants! May I ask where you got them, if you bought them at a local store? I ask, because I'm often through NYC and am always looking for new places to check out. 

I've found that they actually do better (for me, anyway) if not fussed over too much. They hate heat so that may be part of why you're seeing some leaf damage. 

I use no chemicals at all, so unfortunately I can't help you there - but that may be one reason I am having success with them. 

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Ornata isn't too bad with heat, although still needs shade. Lancifolia is a bit more sensitive, but orbifolia just doesn't like heat at all.

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I have C. makoyana and C. lancifolia and both have done well in the extreme heat we're having right now and mild chills we had over the winter. The one thing I've noticed is to not let them dry out or they'll start getting crispy leaf edges. I'd love to add a few more Calathea species to my collection.

Naples (inland), FL - technically 10a but more like 9b in the winter :hmm:

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