Calathea leopardina

[Ilovepalm]

Hi! I bought a calathea leopardina today. Question to the specialists, how to look after this plant to grow nicely?

[GDLWyverex]

  On 10/18/2018 at 4:17 PM, Ilovepalm said:

Hi! I bought a calathea leopardina today. Question to the specialists, how to look after this plant to grow nicely?

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I struggled with the marantaceae family for quite some time until I finally tried treating them like begonia rex. That worked. They don't seem to like their roots in compact soil. They don't like sun. They don't tolerate soggy roots. They don't like to dry out. They are divas but well worth the effort.

According to the Cat of Life, it has been reclassified as Goeppertia concinna

 

Richard

[Ilovepalm]

@GDLWyverex Ok, thanks for your advice!  

[metalfan]

I agree with everything you said Richard. Especially the DIVA part LOL

 

[tropicbreeze]

Calatheas are a mixed bag, some are pretty tough and some are total divas. C. warscewiczii and zebrina are wusses. Some roseopicta cvs aren't much better. C. orbifolia is on the tender side. Makoyana, insignis, medallion, rufibarba seem to take a bit of a challenge reasonably well. Ornata and lutea are quite tough. And metallica is 'cast iron'.

I have them in the garden and metallica is spreading like a weed. When the dry season gets too hot and dry it's leaves shrivel and wait for the rainy season. When the rains come they come up so fast you can see them growing.

Also, they flower and seed prolifically. I suspect Jungle Fowl scatter the seed around as it comes up everywhere. Their scratching probably kills a lot of the seedlings too.

I haven't grown this one (leopardina) but you can't really go wrong following the advice above.

[Ilovepalm]

Today, I sprayed the leaves. The soil is wet, because when I bought it was soaked, like a sponge.

Edited October 20, 2018 by Ilovepalm

[metalfan]

What the hell is a 'jungle fowl'?

 

[metalfan]

Merde ALORS!

[tropicbreeze]

  On 10/21/2018 at 2:17 AM, metalfan said:

What the hell is a 'jungle fowl'?

 

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If it was only "merde" they left behind at least it would help the garden. Alas, not so.

They're a predominantly ground dwelling mound building bird. They build large nest mounds of rotting vegetation. These can get to over 3 or 4 metres in height. Their beaks have "built-in" thermometers, so they check and adjust the temperature near the eggs by adding or removing leaf litter. The young hatch, dig their own way out of the mound and are on their own from day one. Crocodiles give more care to their own young than do these birds.

They like more closed monsoon/rain-forest environments with deep leaf litter but are also attracted to well watered and mulched gardens. They're about the same size as domestic poultry but with much bigger and more powerful legs. They're called a lot of things which would be censored on this site, but also go by Jungle Fowl, Scrub Fowl, Bush Chook and (by twitchers) Orange-footed Scrubfowl - Megapodius reinwardt.

If you left 10 domestic chickens in your garden for a week they wouldn't do as much damage as one pair of Jungle Fowl would do in one day. And they will also empty out potted plants. They're not flightless, they're fully capable of flight (far better than domestic poultry) but prefer to be on the ground. At night, however, they roost high up in trees.

[GDLWyverex]

  On 10/20/2018 at 3:48 AM, tropicbreeze said:

I have them in the garden and metallica is spreading like a weed.

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Goeppertia louisae is spreading throughout my small jungle. It seems to be very resilient, though NONE of the marantaceaes react well to transplantation. They easily go into hysterical shock before recovering or dying.

 

Richard

[metalfan]

  On 10/21/2018 at 4:11 AM, tropicbreeze said:

If it was only "merde" they left behind at least it would help the garden. Alas, not so.

They're a predominantly ground dwelling mound building bird. They build large nest mounds of rotting vegetation. These can get to over 3 or 4 metres in height. Their beaks have "built-in" thermometers, so they check and adjust the temperature near the eggs by adding or removing leaf litter. The young hatch, dig their own way out of the mound and are on their own from day one. Crocodiles give more care to their own young than do these birds.

They like more closed monsoon/rain-forest environments with deep leaf litter but are also attracted to well watered and mulched gardens. They're about the same size as domestic poultry but with much bigger and more powerful legs. They're called a lot of things which would be censored on this site, but also go by Jungle Fowl, Scrub Fowl, Bush Chook and (by twitchers) Orange-footed Scrubfowl - Megapodius reinwardt.

If you left 10 domestic chickens in your garden for a week they wouldn't do as much damage as one pair of Jungle Fowl would do in one day. And they will also empty out potted plants. They're not flightless, they're fully capable of flight (far better than domestic poultry) but prefer to be on the ground. At night, however, they roost high up in trees.

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Do you have a photo?? Now I am really curious

[metalfan]

I looked up jungle fowl it said they are feral domesticated chickens? That doesn't seem to match your description especially the 3-4 meter height!

[Ilovepalm]

My leopardina got a plate with LECA and water underneath. I do sprinkle everyday. The temperature in the room is 22 Celsius, air humidity +70%. I watered her today.

[tropicbreeze]

  On 10/21/2018 at 11:24 AM, GDLWyverex said:

Goeppertia louisae is spreading throughout my small jungle. It seems to be very resilient, though NONE of the marantaceaes react well to transplantation. They easily go into hysterical shock before recovering or dying.

Richard

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Same with my metallica, I tried transplanting some of the seedlings but they all croaked. Maybe I wasn't careful enough.

  On 10/21/2018 at 5:24 PM, metalfan said:

I looked up jungle fowl it said they are feral domesticated chickens? That doesn't seem to match your description especially the 3-4 meter height!

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I couldn't find any of my photos but if you search Megapodius reinwardt you'll find them. Common names often mean different things in different places so not always a good search term. You misunderstood my earlier comment, the 3 - 4 metres was the height of the nest mounds, not the birds themselves.

  On 10/21/2018 at 7:29 PM, Ilovepalm said:

My leopardina got a plate with LECA and water underneath. I do sprinkle everyday. The temperature in the room is 22 Celsius, air humidity +70%. I watered her today.

 

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As long as they're in a fast draining soil you should be okay.