Need Help Identifying Strange Leaf Spot on Calathea

5 years ago

Hi! I just noticed that my Rattlesnake Calathea is developing some strange spots on the back of the leaf that almost look like mold (but are not). The Calathea is in relatively good shape outside of a
Few crispy spots, but these discolored spots are new. I know the weather in CA has recently gotten much colder so I brought it inside and will need to get a humidifier, but not sure if this is some type of infection or pest. I have googled but the spots on google searches only seem to bring up brown crispy edges, and not these discolorations on the leaf.

Any help is appreciated! I also have another Calathea that is struggling a bit to bloom.

Also, a friend abandoned this Rattlesnake Calathea to me when it was completely dead at one point, and I put him on my shaded balcony outside all summer and he really bloomed surprisingly. Hoping he can still stay alive 😅

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Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years ago
why would you need a humidifier ... do you have a forced air furnace that runs 8 hours a day??? .. like mine seems to in my MI???

how about you let it adjust to the stress of moving it indoors .. make sure it gets enough proper light ... water properly ... and lets see what happens ..

try not to heap stress upon stress upon stress... if it were mine.. and it was just a leaf or two.. i would just snip them off.. i would not stress it by spraying some kind of goos on it ....

ken

ps: i would suggest its pretty deep in that pot.. but i wont.. because i dont want you stressing it by repotting it right now ... lol.. so ignore that .. lol ... but keep it in mind for a month before it can go back outside .. so it will settle down and get over that stress before you stress it putting it outside ... and dont foget to harden it off to outdoor light when it goes outside.. so you dont stress it then ... i hope you note the key word in all that .. lol ...
Sam R
Original Author
5 years ago
Calatheas prefer humidity and the weather in Cali went from being 85* to 45* in a night and got super dry. And there aren’t any goos on it, I had just misted it with water before the pic. The plant for the most part has been outdoors for the last 7 months, but due to the cold that hit out of blue I moved it indoors and try to move it outdoors in daytime (because CA goes from 80* in daytime to 60* and below at night and I don’t think Calatheas like below 60*).

I mostly am wondering what the leaf spots were, since I would think stress spots make it crispy versus dyed lol
I’ll keep it inside for now so it won’t stress out going back and forth and will look to repot in the future. The last time I repotted a zombie plant (came back from dead) I killed it so I have avoided it haha

Thanks for the reply!
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petrushka (7b)
5 years ago
it is a good practice to spray the plant with insecticide and/or fungicide before bringing it indoors. otherwise you risk bringing infections indoors. even better is to use systemic insecticide 1-2 weeks prior to bringing it in to ensure nothing will hatch later..

calatheas are sensitive to salts in water and often develop spots. i would not remove the leaves now, as it will naturally drop some from change of environment and perhaps cooler temps and lower light levels indoors.

spray it at least with neem oil solution. it acts as insecticide/fungicide/miticide. and calatheas invariably get mites indoors...