Growing guide
How to grow calatheas
Grow these foliage houseplants for their lush, tropical-looking appearance. They have leaves in many bold colour variations and patterns to brighten up your home.
Quick facts
- Calatheas are long lived plants, usually chosen for their interesting foliage
- They like warm, humid conditions and bright but indirect light
- Keep the compost evenly moist during the growing season
- Take care not to overwater in winter
- Kitchens and bathrooms tend to be the most humid rooms in a house, making them suitable for calatheas
- Repot every few years using peat-free compost
All you need to know
What are calatheas?
Calatheas, or prayer plants, are a group of clump-forming,
Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.
Their rounded, oval or paddle-shaped leaves emerge at ground level, unfurling atop tall, thin stems. Plants range from about 20–100cm (8–40in) tall.
Like others in the prayer plant family (Marantaceae), many calatheas display a phenomenon known as nyctinasty, where their leaves fold upwards at night like hands in prayer.
Choosing calatheas
Calatheas come in a wide range of colours and leaf patterns, and it’s largely down to personal preference when it comes to selecting one for your home. Options include:
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Colourful variegated leaves – Goeppertia roseopicta (rose-painted calathea), G. lietzei ‘Fusion White’ and Stromanthe sanguinea ‘Triostar’
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Intricately patterned or striped leaves – Goeppertia makoyana (peacock calathea), G. insignis (rattlesnake plant), G. kegeljanii (network plant) and G. orbifolia
Although mainly grown for their striking foliage, some calatheas have other attributes, such as Goeppertia crocata (saffron-coloured calathea), which produces vibrant orange flowers, and G. rufibarba (furry feather calathea) with velvet-textured leaves.
Calatheas prefer a bright spot, shaded from direct sunlight. If you want a leafy houseplant for a sunny situation, consider alternatives such as Strelitzia reginae (bird of paradise), Ficus lyrata (fiddle-leaf fig) and Musa acuminata ‘Dwarf Cavendish’ (dwarf banana). The
A group of plants that have thick, fleshy leaves or stems that are able to store water. This allows them to survive in arid habitats with low moisture.
Houseplants for cleaner air
Houseplants for different locations
Buying calatheas
You can buy calatheas all year round from most garden centres and houseplant retailers, but bear in mind that these tropical plants are easily damaged by cold temperatures. So if buying in autumn or winter when it’s chilly outside, protect the foliage by double bagging or using extra wrapping for the journey home. Calatheas are also widely available from online houseplant retailers.
Although sold under the umbrella name ‘calathea’, many of these plants have been renamed and grouped into three separate genera: Ctenanthe, Goeppertia and Stromanthe. Until these names become more widely used, look for those labelled calathea when buying.
Choose plants that are healthy in appearance, with unblemished leaves and no signs of wilting or insect damage.
Buying: garden centre plants
Buying: mail order plants
Repot your calathea every few years once the clump has filled the pot. Do this in spring or summer using free-draining, moisture-retentive, peat-free compost – either buy a houseplant compost mix or make your own using multi-purpose compost mixed with around ten per cent perlite/potting grit (per volume used).
Choose a pot that’s just one or two sizes larger than the rootball diameter, to avoid overpotting problems. Position the plant in its new container so the top of the rootball is just below the surface of the compost.
See our guides on repotting houseplants:
Houseplant 101: Episode Seven
How to repot a plant
Peat-free compost choices
Top Tip
When repotting, mix a slow-release fertiliser into the compost. This delivers nutrients steadily over several months, meaning you shouldn't need to feed regularly with a liquid fertiliser for the first year.
Location
Calatheas grow best in a bright spot, out of direct sunlight. In summer, a position near a north- or east-facing window is ideal. In winter, when light levels are lower, a south-facing windowsill is better. If there is insufficient natural light, you could use artificial grow lights.
See our video guide to light levels for houseplants:
Artificial lighting for indoor plants
Houseplant 101: Episode Two
Temperature
Keep plants at 16–21°C (61–70°F) and avoid temperature fluctuations, so position them away from draughts and direct sources of heat, such as fires and radiators.
Humidity
These plants enjoy high levels of humidity (moist air), so consider keeping them in a bathroom where there’s plenty of water vapour.
To create a humid microclimate elsewhere, stand the pot in a wide tray filled with gravel or clay granules (Hydroleca). Add water, to just below the surface of the gravel, and top up regularly.
Alternatively, mist the foliage regularly and group your calathea with other houseplants, so they can share the moist air they transpire.
Watering
Water plants moderately throughout spring and summer, keeping the compost evenly moist. In autumn and winter, allow the surface of the compost to dry out before rewetting, but never let the compost dry out completely. Careful watering is required in winter to prevent oedema (see Problems below).
If using a decorative cover pot or water dish, remember to tip away any excess water that collects after watering. If the roots stand in water for any length of time, they can easily rot.
All houseplants prefer rainwater, as mains tap water contains lime (calcium carbonate) and chlorine. However, calatheas will tolerate tap water if it has been left to stand for at least 24 hours beforehand, so the chlorine evaporates. Alternatively, use distilled water that collects in dehumidifiers and tumble dryers.
Feeding
Feed plants once a month during the growing season (April to September) with a general-purpose liquid fertiliser or a balanced houseplant fertiliser. Avoid feeding in autumn or winter (October to March).
Most calatheas are self-supporting, but taller cultivars occasionally need staking to keep them upright.
Divide the clump in spring, cutting the rootball into sections, each with several leaves. Pot these up into individual containers and keep the divisions warm, humid and moist at all times until growth resumes.
Plants with branching stems, such as Ctenanthe pilosa ‘Golden Mosaic’, can also be propagated by stem cuttings. Snip just below where the stem branches. Insert the cuttings into pots of free-draining, peat-free compost and keep in a propagator or cover with a clear plastic bag until well-rooted.
Cuttings: softwood
How to use peat-free compost: for seeds and cuttings
Perennials: dividing
Calatheas grow easily if conditions are favourable, however they can sometimes suffer from the following issues:
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Oedema – a condition where plants can’t transpire properly. It causes patchy, water-soaked areas on the leaves and is most likely to occur in winter when the compost is too wet
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Poor, weak growth due low light levels (especially with Goeppertia species) – move to a brighter position or use artificial grow lights
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Browning of the leaf tips and edges – this is usually a result of low humidity (dry air). Increase the humidity by moving the plant into a bathroom or standing it in a tray of damp gravel
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Speckled, yellowing or silvery leaves and fine webbing may be a sign of red spider mites
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Black powder-like sooty mould may indicate the presence of mealybugs or soft scale – sap-sucking insects that feed on leaves
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Fungus gnats – these tiny black flies can be annoying indoors. Water from the base, to keep the top of the compost drier, and reduce watering to avoid soggy compost. You could also repot into fresh compost
How to help a poorly houseplant
How to help a poorly houseplant
Leaf damage on houseplantsLeaf damage on houseplants
Discover calatheas
Everything you need to know about choosing the right calathea for you.
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