As a beautiful and eye-catching plant rattlesnake plant (Calathea Lancifolia) should be in your house plants collection. It is animal friendly and more attractive than other calathea varieties because of the beautiful pattern in leaves with dark green color and spear-shaped leaves attracted everyone. Here in this post at Growncares, we are going to discuss its complete care in detail.
Does the rattlesnake plant a prayer plant?
It belongs to the marantaceae family but you can’t say it is a prayer plant. No doubt it’s having some characters like prayer plants but we have listed a prayer plant Stromanthe Triostar. Prayer plants belong to the maranta genus but rattlesnake belongs to the calathea genus. But both the plants need the same care as others and if you know about the prayer plant, you can also care for this plant easily.
Care Guide Of Rattlesnake Plant
Light
Bright but indirect sunlight is suitable, and place this plant near a window or close to such a medium where it has access to bundles of filtered light.
Prevent bright light because it can burn the leaves and you will see different problems on the leaves like changes in color and brown spots on leaves.
Water
Like all the plants in its leaves, it also loves moist soil but wet soil can be dangerous. Always use a well-drained potting mixture and your pot must be having a drainage hole at the bottom to remove extra water.
If your potting mixture is not enough suitable for Rattlesnake Plant, you should use a perlite mixture.
Like other houseplants, we just use common water for our plants, but the Calathea plants can’t survive better with hard or soft water. Rainwater or totally filtered water is highly suitable and plants will show you good results. If you are using other water like hard or soft it can show some burning leaves, which always dishearten gardeners.
How To water?
To be safe from over or underwatering check the conditions of the soil with the help of fingers. Insert your finger in the potting mixture about 1 inch, and if it feels dry it means your plant needs water.
Before watering, make a small hole in the potting mixture with the help of any stick. So it will allow roots to get water and air and the plant will be healthy. Overwater or water logging will invite different root diseases like root rot.
Humidity
It loves a good humidity level and you should need focus on its humidity needs. Brown and crispy leaves are signs of less humidity.
At first, to increase humidity, use a flat tray filled with water and place your pot in it. Make sure that roots are not touching water and it will increase humidity around a single plant. I use a humidifier which is best than this method, you should need to use a humidifier because it covers a large area.
Many people mist the leaves of plants to increase humidity, but this method is not perfectly right. At first, it’s not much effective just a little change in humidity and it also invites different pests to attack your plants, so we don’t recommend this.
Fertilizers
It just needs fertilizers during the growing season in spring and summer. Normal fertilizers and liquid fertilizers are best for this plant, over fertilizers can be dangerous so always fertilizing is recommended after every month.
Does Rattlesnake Plant Need To Be Repotted?
Repotting is necessary after one or two years, or it can affect the growth of the plant. Always repot if roots are visible in the drainage hole. Use at least 2 inches wider and longer pot with a drainage hole at the bottom and use a well-drained potting mixture.
Does Rattlesnake Plant Move?
Like other plants of its family, Rattlesnake Plant opens its leaves when sunrise and it folds the leaves at night or when it starts getting dark. I have a collection of such plants in my garden which makes me happy. When it starts getting dark and if you are focusing on this plant, you will see that leaves are slightly closing and you may also listen to a very silent sound.
How Big Rattlesnake Plant Can be?
Under proper care and with the best humidity and soil conditions it can easily grow up to 30 inches.
Is Rattlesnake Plant Toxic For pests And Humans?
No, like many other breeds of the same family it is also safe for pets and humans but we always recommend keeping your pet’s friends away from plants.
Problems And Pests
We mostly don’t see any pests over this plant, but mealybugs and spider mites can be found on the leaves and stems of this plant. Taking proper actions against them or neem oil will be the best solution again.
The plant can also face different problems like root rot, yellow leaves, brown and crispy leaves, or small brown dots on leaves. It is just because of low or bright sunlight and less or overwatering can be a reason behind these. If you ill give proper care, surely you don’t have to face such problems and enjoy gardening with Growncares.
