Calathea Multicolor is a Prayer Plant?
Hi, plant lovers! I am a newbie in the plant world. I became a plant parent in mid-2020 when the pandemic has happened. Most of the work and activities were spent at home and I saw a lot of my friends grew their plants beautifully. I thought that it was very interesting to take care of plants from a baby. And I bought few plants at the beginning and now I am addicted to this hobby. However, I am still learning to understand the plant language and habit because every plant has a different character.
Calathea Multicolor
In this article, I would like to share my story about the new plant that I bought a few days ago. A lovely plant with 3 color combination was stealing my heart. I was already like this kind of plant but I just bought it, which is a Calathea Multicolor. It is called a Meranti Bali or Red White Calathea in Indonesia. I like the leaf color very much, which is the combination of green, purplish-red, and cream colors. It is very pretty and elegant! The leaf has an oval and firm shape. It makes the color has seen clearly.
This plant is also being called as a prayer plant because the leaves closes inwards at night like praying act.
Calathea Multicolor is originally from tropical America, which is in the forest. The location is humid with a low level of sunlight. It can grow both in the highlands and lowlands. With the pretty look, this plan can be used as an ornamental plant or a plant that is placed in a pot. The height can reach around 20 cm to 40 cm.
How to Care for Calathea Multicolor
The suitable planting medium for Calathea Multicolor is loose and slightly sandy soil. However, I do not know what type of planting medium that I used for my Calathea. I just let the seller plant it for me. Hopefully, my Calathea can grow properly.
This kind of plant prefers to live in a cool and shady place or the place with indirect sunlight. The leaves will curl inward when exposed to direct sunlight and the quality of leaves can be affected as well. We can put this plant on the balcony, terrace, or other places with a little sunlight. I think this one could be challenging because a lot of my friends told me that it is not easy to grow Calathea. But I will prove that I can do it.
Watering the plants is another factor that we should consider. Calathea Multicolor likes the water very much, even likes stagnant water. Therefore, we should do abundant planting watering. This is different from the Aglaonema types. Whereas we watering Aglaonema every 2 or 3 days, we do once a day for Calathea Multicolor. And we should spray the leaves with fresh water as well.
To reproduce Calathea multicolor plants, we can do this by separating the rhizome cuttings. To maintain the plant, we better do the leaf trimming to reduce evaporation. If we found the broken or dry stem, we better cut the stem to avoid the spread of damage to the stem.
We have to give the nutrition to the plant every 6 months by giving the fertilization and change the planting medium. It can make the plant stay healthy and fresh. The organic fertilizer with nutrient ingredients (nitrogen and phosphor) can be chosen. In Indonesia, you can use NPK fertilizer liquid or solid.
The Benefits of Caring for Calathea Multicolor
It can contribute to supply the fresh air. It can make the room air cool. So, it is very good to have this plant if we live in a big city with high pollution.
Reminder!!!
Calathea plant is very sensitive to some elements, such as wind, stove smoke, and cigarette smoke. So, please make sure that the area around the plant is clear from those elements.
This is my first article about Calathea Multicolor. I will update my story while growing my Calathea and what are the findings that I have. I will also make the vlog about this plant and I use the Indonesian language for the vlog. Please let me know if you need the English translation for the video.
If you have a story about Calathea Multicolor, please share it in the comment box. It will be interesting!
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