🌿 Plant Help
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My rattlesnake calathea is alive, which already feels like a small miracle, but the leaf edges keep getting crispy. I keep humidity around 50 to 55 percent with a humidifier. It gets medium indirect light, no direct sun. I water when the top part is dry but not bone dry. I switched from tap to filtered water a month ago and I have not fertilized since winter. No webs, no sticky residue, no moving dots. It keeps pushing new leaves, but the older leaves look like toasted paper around the edges. Is this just calathea life or am I missing something obvious?
Filtered water may still have minerals depending on the filter. If you want to test the water theory, try distilled or rainwater for a month. Also flush the soil once so old mineral buildup is not sitting there.
Check for heat or AC drafts. People focus on humidity numbers, but a vent blowing across leaves can crisp edges even when the room average looks fine.
Peat can get hydrophobic in pockets. The top may feel right while the center is dry, or the center stays wet while the outer root ball dries. Next watering, soak thoroughly and make sure the whole root ball accepts water.
Some old edges will stay ugly no matter what you do. Watch the new leaves. If new leaves open clean and only older ones are crispy, your care is probably close enough.
I trimmed mine with scissors because looking at crispy tips made me keep changing care every week. It did not help the plant, but it helped me stop fussing with it.
Humidity swings matter too. If it is 55 percent during the day but drops to 30 percent overnight, calatheas notice. A cheap hygrometer that records highs and lows can be useful. ## Care and Growing
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