Hello everyone,

My Calathea Furry Feather (which is supposed to be one of the less temperamental varieties) is dying.

I have had this plant for about four (4) months and it was doing fine. Then, suddenly, its leaves started turning yellow. As you can see on the picture, there is currently only one yellow leaf left.

The plant lives outside in shade. It is in a self-watering pot with a wick. Once the plant drinks all the water, I leave it for 3-5 days without any water to let the soil dry.

Does anybody have any suggestions? I read online and it could be anything: overwatering, underwatering, lack of light, sudden temperature changes, etc. But, to the best of my knowledge, none of those apply here.

P.S. My other Calatheas appear to be doing fine.

Guessing, but perhaps 3-5 days with no water was too long, especially outdoors and for something that small. I'd call that underwatering.

I think whatever roots it had were minimal, so they'd pucker up quickly.

That said I struggle with Calatheas much more established.

They do fine for a few months and then crash and burn.

I've been told it's not high moisture they need but high humidity, which is what make me wonder about your outdoor one.

Good luck:)

This is Calathea rufibarba.
Its pot size is way too big, and the soil mix looks very heavy. It also most likely did not get enough humidity.
It may not be done, I'd unpot it and see if you do indeed have any viable roots left. If you do repot it into a very tiny pot, like 2", in a better draining soil mix. If you can get it to re-sprout and put out new growth, only size up the pot extremely slowly, and give this plant as much humidity as you can

Your "Furry Feather Calathea", a/k/a Velvet Calathea (Goeppertia rufibarba) appears to be dead and the clear plastic container that the nursery pot is sitting in may be the cause. Without air circulation around the plants roots and proper soil moisture drainage, the roots suffocate.

Humboldt said: Guessing, but perhaps 3-5 days with no water was too long, especially outdoors and for something that small. I'd call that underwatering.

I think whatever roots it had were minimal, so they'd pucker up quickly.

That said I struggle with Calatheas much more established.

They do fine for a few months and then crash and burn.

I've been told it's not high moisture they need but high humidity, which is what make me wonder about your outdoor one.

Good luck:)

Gina1960 said: This is Calathea rufibarba.
Its pot size is way too big, and the soil mix looks very heavy. It also most likely did not get enough humidity.
It may not be done, I'd unpot it and see if you do indeed have any viable roots left. If you do repot it into a very tiny pot, like 2", in a better draining soil mix. If you can get it to re-sprout and put out new growth, only size up the pot extremely slowly, and give this plant as much humidity as you can

plantladylin said: Your "Furry Feather Calathea", a/k/a Velvet Calathea (Goeppertia rufibarba) appears to be dead and the clear plastic container that the nursery pot is sitting in may be the cause. Without air circulation around the plants roots and proper soil moisture drainage, the roots suffocate.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. Sorry I could not reply sooner. I did read your comments when you posted them and immediately repotted my Calathea in a smaller pot and used less dense and more airy soil. Unfortunately, the plant appears to have died. However, I am not throwing it out just yet in hopes that it is not completely dead.

Thank you again everyone.