Jungle Velvet Calathea is a tropical perennial plant. It belongs to the Calathea family and is commonly known as the prayer tree. In addition, this plant also has several other common names such as Calathea warscewiczii or Goeppertia warszewiczii.
Jungle Velvet Calathea is loved by many people to decorate their homes or office. The beauty of this plant is its bright green leaves and eye-catching veins. Jungle Velvet Calathea is also one of the rarest flowering plants.
In the ideal natural environment, this plant can grow 3-4 feet tall with large, vibrant foliage. Therefore, Jungle Velvet Calathea care is one of the topics that many people care about and seek information about. How to best take care of this plant? How do they grow healthier and reproduce more? To answer these questions, let’s find out detailed information in the article below.
Jungle Velvet Calathea Care – Important Information To Note
Jungle Velvet Calathea is a plant that is relatively easy to grow, easy to care for, and does not take much time to maintain. However, they can still experience some serious health problems such as leaf yellowing, pests, leaf drops, or wilting. Therefore, you need to pay attention to some of the basic principles below to take care of this plant best.
Proper Watering
Water is an indispensable part of plant life. Each plant species needs an appropriate amount of water for their survival. Therefore, proper watering is the most important factor to help plants grow at their best.
Watering too little or too much will also seriously affect the health of Jungle Velvet Calathea. You may not know, this plant is native to tropical forests, so they prefer moist soil. However, they also cannot tolerate waterlogged soil for long periods.
The best time to water is when the soil mixture has dried 2-3 inches between waterings. Overwatering and not having a vent are the leading causes of waterlogging. Waterlogging will cause root rot, fungal and insect damage.
However, soil that is too dry and lacks moisture will also cause plants to dry out, wilt and shed leaves. Therefore, you should not water according to the available schedule, instead, you should water according to the actual water use needs and the temperature of each season of the year.
Make sure your potted plant has at least one drainage hole to remove excess water. You need to completely wet the potting soil until the excess water drains out. Then, place the pot in a well-ventilated and sunny area to promote evaporation.
You should water in the morning when there is sunshine to avoid creating a humid environment. Watering the Jungle Velvet Calathea in the evening will increase the likelihood of fungi and pests attacking the plants. The reason is that the fungus will thrive in humid environments, especially at night.
Choosing The Right Soil
Soil quality is the second most important factor that you need to pay attention to when growing Jungle Velvet Calathea. Soil of good quality and suitable for plants will stimulate their growth better. How good is the soil quality? Good soil needs to ensure factors such as sufficient nutrients, good moisture retention, good drainage to avoid waterlogging, pest control, and good air circulation.
The best potting mix for growing Jungle Velvet Calathea is one-part perlite or two parts peat or coir. They are ingredients with good water-holding capacity. To add nutritional ingredients, you can add a mixture of organic fertilizer from leaves, coconut fiber, and plant-based fertilizer. Organic nutrients or slow-release fertilizers will maintain the nutrients needed by plants for a long time.
You should also regularly check the soil quality and clean the soil after repotting or cleaning the roots. Harmful bacteria or earthworms can live in the soil and grow rapidly. So they will attack the roots and stems as they mature. In particular, you need to clean the soil or change the potting soil when the roots are flooded because there are many types of harmful bacteria lurking in the soil.
High Humidity
Jungle Velvet Calathea is a plant that loves high humidity. The ideal humidity for them to grow best is 50%. The humidity outside the house will be more ideal than inside the house. So, if you grow Jungle Velvet Calathea in your room, you need to maintain the right humidity for them.
To increase humidity, you can use a humidifier to maintain the appropriate humidity in the room. In addition, you can use some simple methods such as placing potted plants next to the aquarium, pebble trays, water trays, or groups of potted plants next to each other to take advantage of moisture rising from the water and gas exchange. In addition, you can also mist the leaves to maintain moisture during hot days and prolonged droughts. However, you should not mist in the evening because the humid environment will create favorable conditions for the fungus to grow.
Ideal Temperature
Jungle Velvet Calathea will grow best in warm temperatures. Room temperature is suitable for this plant. The ideal temperature range is 65 to 85ºF (18-29ºC), and they can also withstand up to 90ºF (32ºC). However, in the winter, you should place the potted plant in an area with warm temperatures, away from cold drafts and frost. In summer, hot air from radiators or heat pipes will affect the growth rate of Jungle Velvet Calathea.
Plants will not be able to withstand extreme temperature changes. Therefore, they can suffer from heat stress due to excessive stress. From there, the leaves will dry, wilt, fall, or droop around the pot. If you do not fix this situation in time, the plants will gradually die.
Nutritional Requirements
Nutrition is one of the important factors to determine the growth rate of plants. To help the Jungle Velvet Calathea grow at its best, you should fertilize once a month during the growing season. When plants fully absorb nutrients, they will have enough energy to produce the most vibrant flowers.
However, you should not abuse too much fertilizer to stimulate plant growth. Too much fertilizer will cause undue stress on plants such as root burn, leaf burn, or plant death. You should use organic fertilizers to promote plant growth. If you use chemical fertilizers, you should consider using the dosage and duration recommended by the manufacturer. Slow-release fertilizers are suitable for Jungle Velvet Calathea for long-term nutrient absorption.
Prune To Stimulate Growth
Jungle Velvet Calathea has a high growth potential and large, verdant foliage. However, you still need to prune periodically to remove old or diseased branches and leaves to prevent them from spreading to other healthy leaves. In addition, too many leaves will also affect the ability of this plant to flower. The reason is that plants will use most of the energy to make young leaves, so they don’t have enough energy to produce brilliant flowers.
You should prune them after winter is over and temperatures are warm again. Remove the old leaves to stimulate the growth of young leaves because old, wilted, or yellow leaves will not be able to recover when the temperature is warm again. However, it is important to note that you should not prune too many leaves at one time. Because it will cause excessive stress to the plant because there are too many open wounds on the stem. From there, the sap will flow out and seriously affect the health of the plant.
How To Propagate Jungle Velvet Calathea?
Jungle Velvet Calathea is one of the few plants that can grow well in a pot. You also cannot propagate this plant from all its parts such as leaves, stems, or branches. You can propagate them only by branching or by planting seeds.
Separating A Branch From A Big Plant
Jungle Velvet Calathea is a very picky plant, so propagation by branching from a large tree is the simplest and most effective way. Seedlings will quickly adapt to the new environment because they already have a healthy root system. From there, they can grow independently and add new branches under favorable growing conditions. Here are the ways you can split the subtree.
- Remove the plant from the pot gently and make sure the root system is not broken or broken during soil removal.
- Remove damaged roots, wilted leaves, or branches for more accurate separation.
- Identify subtree branches in a large tree. You should only take 1-2 branches or more but it depends on the size of the original tree.
- Plant each seedling into a well-drained and nutrient-rich potting mix.
- Water the soil moist and watch the plant’s roots stick to the soil.
- The rate of plant growth will depend on how quickly the roots attach to the soil and the careful care of the grower.
Propagate By Seed
Propagation of Jungle Velvet Calathea from seeds is more difficult than propagation from seedlings. Because seeds will take a long time to germinate and the development of seedlings will also face many difficult problems such as pests or weather factors.
To propagate by seeds, you can mix peat, soil, and coarse sand in a 1:1 ratio. Then pour the mixture into the pot and sow the seeds of Jungle Velvet Calathea. You should place the pot in an area with full light and ventilation when to support seed germination. Warm sunshine from the sun and proper moisture in the soil will stimulate the seeds to germinate faster. Take care to always keep the soil moist until the young plants have grown above the ground. When the tree is young, you need to take care of it carefully and prevent pests and diseases. Because seedlings are very susceptible to death by pests and insects.
Conclude
Jungle Velvet Calathea is an eye-catching tropical plant that many people love to decorate their homes or office. To take care of this plant the best, you need to water it properly, too much water or too little water also affects the growth of the plant.
You also need to choose the right soil mix for Jungle Velvet Calathea plants because they are plants that cannot live in any soil. Maintain high humidity around 50% because they are native to tropical forests. The ideal temperature is between 65 and 85ºF (18-29ºC) for best plant growth and bloom.
In addition, you also need to add fertilizer once a month during the growing season. Prune old, damaged, diseased leaves to avoid spreading to other healthy leaves. In addition, removing leaves also helps plants have enough energy to bloom.