If you have Calathea Ornata and it is not growing well in its pot. This means there is something wrong with your care techniques.
Because ornata is a plant that is easy to care for, even for the new growers. It hardly gets pest infestations and diseases.
Just give it little care and it will thrive like crazy.
Don’t worry if your plant is not thriving. Because today you will find all solutions in this post.
Just keep reading this article to find out what is wrong with your care routine.
Give indirect bright light to indoor growing Calathea Ornata plants, keep the temperature at 65 to 85 degrees F, and increase humidity and water less frequently. Add peat to the potting soil and fertilize monthly for a better healthy plant.
With the help of the below care guide, you will be able to grow a thriving Calathea Ornata in just a few days. If you are a beginner grower then you should make some notes of important things.
Let’s start:
You May Also Like: How do you look after Calathea Crocata?
About the Plant
Calathea Ornata is a tropical plant and is also known as the pinstripe plant. These plants have beautiful green leaves with pink stripes on them.
Whereas the undersides of leaves are red or purple depending on the type of plant. Hybrid Calathea Ornata plants have violet undersides.
They are naturally found in tropical jungles of South America, Brazil, and Peru.
Once your ornata plant grows some flowers. The pink lines on the top surface of the leaves will disappear. And green brush pattern takes place.
Calathea Ornata (Pinstripe plant) Care
For happy thriving Calathea Ornata, you need to give it proper care and nutrition. Everything is discussed in detail. Ornata care requirements are similar to Calathea beauty star except for fertilization and humidity.
Light, water, humidity, and temperature are the main growth factors.
Calathea Ornata Light Needs
Before buying an Ornata you should decide its final place in your home. Because this is a plant that is picky about its light needs.
It needs the proper amount of indirect bright light for its growth. Keep in mind that low light can result in stunted growth. Whereas direct bright light can burn its leaves.
Its natural birthplace is tropical rainforests. There it grows under the shade of large trees. This means it does not need direct sunlight and also does not need high intense bright light.
You should always keep eye on the line of its leaves. Because in too much bright light your plant will lose its pink lines.
If this happens to your plant, immediately take action and move it to a less bright place for the healing process. Also, give it some water to prevent dehydration.
The best place for Calathea Ornata is an east-facing window. But before placing it on the window shelf you must install a sheer curtain.
This way only filtered light will fall on your plant leaves and it will keep thriving.
Potting Soil for Calathea Ornata
Potting soil plays an important role in the development of Calathea Ornata. Because this plant needs consistently moist soil.
This is only possible if the soil has the capability to hold a good amount of water for a long time. But without being waterlogged.
Waterlogged soil will result in root rot and it is a deadly disease for calathea plants.
Choose potting soil with perlite and peat moss in the ingredients.
You can also choose another formula to make general-purpose potting soil perfect for growing Calathea Ornata.
Just make sure your soil formula can hold moisture for a long time without being too wet.
I use potting soil 60% + 20% Compost and 20% peat moss. Sometimes I add bark when I have it in my stock.
Temperature
The location of the plant directly affects its temperature. Your Calathea pinstripe needs warm weather to grow.
The ideal temperature for its best possible growth is between 60 to 85 degrees F. keep it to the higher side for better leaves.
This is an indoor plant and it’s your duty to make sure that the room temperature will not drop below 60 degrees F.
It can tolerate higher temperatures for some time. But will not survive in cold drafts.
Keep in mind that cold temperature is deadly for all types of tropical forest plants. Also do not put your plant close to the heating vents.
The direct flow of hot air will dehydrate the leaves and you will get cracked leaves with brown edges.
Tropical plants are moisture-loving plants. Don’t do anything that will suck all moisture from the plant.
To keep eye on room temperature, you can use a room temperature monitor device. It is an inexpensive device and is easily available on Amazon.
It will trigger an alarm when the room temperature drops below your set degree F.
Fertilizing Pinstripe Plant
Calathea plants do not need many fertilizers for their growth. But a little bit of nutrient boost will surely benefit.
You should only fertilize it once per month in spring and summer.
No need to use fertilizers in the winter months. Because it is the resting period of plants. Plants do not grow in cold months.
The general rule says only fertilize your plants when they are actively growing.
In dormancy conditions, fertilizing plants will only result in fertilizer burn. Because the plant is resting and does not need nutrients.
For best growth, you should use compost tea like organic fertilizers.
Calathea Ornata watering needs
In this case, you need to follow a regular watering routine. Calathea plants are tropical plants so they need constantly moist soil.
This is only possible when you give a sufficient amount of water to your plant.
Remember that your plant cannot tolerate soggy soil and also completely dry soil. Calathea is not a drought-tolerant houseplant.
Once the top 1 inch of the soil becomes dry immediately give some water to your plant. Because dryness in the soil for a long time period results in brown leaves.
Because in the absence of moist soil. Calathea, start using water that is stored in leaves for respiration.
This makes your plant dehydrated and tunes its leaves yellow and brown in color.
To avoid all the water-related issues you should check the soil moisture before watering it. I use a soil moisture testing kit for measuring the moisture percentage in the soil.
This makes watering very easy for me. This way you will also prevent overwatering your plants.
Humidity Requirements
Like other rainforest plants ornata calathea also need high humidity. In a low humid room, you can mist some water on plant leaves to give some comfort.
It is best to place it in a high-humidity room.
The kitchen is good for growing this plant. But do not put it in the bathroom. Because there we do not have good air circulation.
In the absence of adequate air, your plant will get many fungus diseases. It is hard to treat fungus diseases, especially leaf fungus diseases.
To improve humidity, you can use the traditional method of a pebble tray.
Take a tray fill it with pebbles and place your plant over it. Make sure the water level of the tray does not touch the bottom hole of the plant pot.
This technique will help to improve humidity to a good level.
Another humid increasing device is a plant humidifier. It is specially made for houseplants and is less expensive than a home humidifier.
Use it to keep humidity at the perfect level for a happy plant.
Repotting
Remember that a healthy calathea needs repotting once a year. We do this to give more space to plant roots. So, they can grow more in size.
Also, to refresh the potting soil.
When you see the roots coming out through the draining hole this means the pot is small for it. The root ball needs more space to grow.
The next repotting sign is cracking in the pot due to root-bound and visible roots over the soil surface.
There will be less soil in the pot and the soil dry out more quickly than before.
All these signs indicate root bound which is a result of using a smaller pot or not repotting your plant on time.
Toxicity
Calathea Ornata is nontoxic to cats, dogs, and humans. It does not contain any harmful chemicals, neither the sap nor the plant parts.
Pruning
Whenever you see some broken calathea plant stems, remove them from your plant. Old leaves also turn yellow, and brown and fall off the plant.
Keep the pot and surroundings clean.
Use sharp shears to cut the damaged parts of the plants. Cut the dry dead leaves and damage broken stems.
This way you save lots of plant energy from being wasted.
Your calathea will then use this saved energy to grow new leaves and flowers.
Maintenance is necessary to keep the plants healthy and disease-free. Therefore, regularly clean the pot of your plant and remove dead leaves.
Also, spray neem oil once in 30 days to prevent diseases.
Calathea Ornata Propagation
In the case of Calathea Ornata propagation, you only have one option which is root division. You cannot propagate calathea by leaf cuttings.
This means you are dividing your single plant into multiple plants and repot them in different plant pots.
Gently unpot your plant and remove soil from its roots. Carefully divide it into different sections. Each division must have its separate root system.
Untangle roots from each other and use a sterilized knife to cut the roots (if necessary).
Plant each division in a different pot and give them water. Keep the soil moist for many days. Place your new plant pots near the mother plant.
So that they can get the same amount of light.
If newly potted plants do not grow, then you need to wait to see them. Because repotting is a shock for plants.
Within a few days, you will see visible growth in your new plants.
Pests and Diseases
If you follow the Calathea Ornata care guide you will not face pest problems. But at a point, every houseplant owner faces pest infestation.
In this case, spider mites and aphids are the main enemies of plants. They suck the sap of the plant and make it weak and nutrient deficient.
They build their colonies under the leaves.
You can easily get rid of them by using rubbing alcohol. Use it to wipe them manually.
For serve infection, uses insecticidal soap to rinse your plant. After rinsing use a neem oil spray to heal your plant faster.
As long as diseases are concerned root rot is the main culprit. This is a type of fungus that eats the root ball.
Overwatering and wrong potting soil are the two leading causes of root fungus.
Therefore, use correct potting soil and learn the right watering method to prevent root rot. Once the plant is wilting and the soil releases a foul smell.
This confirms the root infection. Gently take out the plant from its pot and repot it in fresh soil and in a new pot.
Cut the infected roots with a sterilized knife.
At once you can cut 50% of the root ball. If the entire root ball is infected then apply copper fungicide before repotting.
If your plant shows healthy growth. Then you must propagate it to save your calathea.
FAQ
How big Does Calathea Ornata Grow?
In tropical jungles, Calathea Ornata grows 4 to 9 feet tall. But this growth is not possible in an indoor environment.
Therefore, indoor growing calathea ornata only grow 3 feet tall and spread 2 to 3 feet wide.
In pots, plant roots have limited space to grow. The size of a plant depends upon the size of its root ball.
Should I Mist My Calathea Ornata?
Yes, you can mist your plant but only when the humidity is low in the room. Do not spray too much water and stop misting water in the winter season.
Remember that too many sprays can cause leaf rot.
How do You Make Calathea Ornata Bushy?
It is a naturally bushy type plant. You don’t need to do anything to make it bushy. But if your plant is leggy then you need to fix the care issues.
In low light calathea ornata grows leggy and produces fewer leaves.
Give it proper indirect bright light and your plant will grow bushier.
Can I Grow Calathea Ornata Outside?
It depends upon the weather in your home town. If you are living in tropical areas then you can grow it in your outdoor garden.
The main thing of concern is humidity. Calatheas need high humidity like tropical jungles to grow healthy.
Otherwise, indoors is the best place to keep it thriving and safe.
