Although Calatheas don’t exactly grow like weeds, healthy ones should steadily increase in size until they fill their containers or reach their mature height. If your Peacock Plant isn’t growing new leaves or stems, there may be something wrong with its living conditions. You’ll probably need to adjust your care regimen to get the plant back on track to healthy growth.
So why isn’t your Calathea growing? Anything that prevents your Calathea from getting enough energy, water, and nutrition can slow or stop its growth. Improper hydration or sunlight levels deny your plant the resources it needs to produce new foliage. And a root system that’s cramped by too little space or stressed out by a recent transplant can have the same effect.
We’ll go over the main reasons Calatheas refuse to grow and explain how to correct each one. Unfortunately, these beauties can be a bit dramatic, so almost any imbalance in their care routine can cause them to reduce their growth rate.
Why Do Calatheas Stop Growing
Calathea growth can be affected by a lot of different factors. Be sure to read through the whole list below before diagnosing your plant. Several Calathea problems can look very similar to one another, so it’s essential to consider the full range of possibilities before trying to fix the issue. Here are our eight reasons why your Calathea may have stopped growing.
Reason 1: Overwatering
Watering issues are the most common cause for a Calathea’s failure to thrive. Surprisingly, the problem is usually excess, not neglect. When the soil gets too soggy for too long, it can smother the roots and cut off the oxygen they need to function. If the problem persists, it may cause a deadly infection called root rot.
Take a look at the soil. If it’s persistently moist for days after watering, you may not be letting it dry out enough before giving your Calathea more to drink. It’s best to test the potting mix with a finger before watering, holding off for another day or two if the top two inches are still damp.
In addition to hampering your Calathea’s growth, overwatering often causes additional symptoms like yellowing foliage and browning leaf tips. Squishy stems and swampy smells are more alarming signs, pointing to a severe case of root rot.
If you think your Calathea may have root rot, take it out of the pot and inspect the root system carefully. Snip away any roots that are mushy, gray, or black, disinfecting your pruning scissors with rubbing alcohol or a 10% bleach solution between cuts. For more detailed instructions, you can read our post on treating root rot in Calatheas.
Reason 2: Underwatering
Balance isn’t just for gymnastics and Zen Buddhism; it’s also the key to proper houseplant care. Watering too much is bad – but so is watering too little.
Your Calathea needs water to perform the primary task of turning sunlight into energy. If you let it get dehydrated, it will stop growing, and its leaves and stems will droop and sag. The foliage will also likely curl inward at the edges and develop brittle brown patches of dead tissue.
If your plant is no longer growing and the soil is bone-dry, you may need to water more frequently. The surface of the potting mix shouldn’t remain damp between waterings, but you also don’t want the soil by the roots to dry out completely. Try sinking a bare wooden chopstick down into the base of the pot every 2-3 days; if you pull it out and the tip is only slightly moist, it’s time to water again.
If you’re watering your Calathea regularly, it may be an issue with quantity and not frequency. Always water your Calathea thoroughly until at least twenty percent of what you put in, flows out through the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot. Thorough waterings ensure that all parts of the root system have access to the water they need. Just remember to empty any excess water from the saucer after watering.
The good news is that your Calathea should recover fairly quickly once it’s getting the right amount of water. Any leaves that have already dried out will stay that way, but the plant will start putting out new foliage again soon enough.
Reason 3: Not Enough Light
Sunlight is the fuel that powers your Calathea’s growth. You need to keep them out of direct sun to avoid scorching their leaves; however, inexperienced owners often take this too far and put their plants in a space that’s far too dim.
A light-starved Calathea will produce little or no new growth. If it does generate new stems, they may be tall and spindly, with leaves that are overly large and floppy. The leaves might also darken, losing their vibrant contrasting patterns. This happens because the plant is trying to pack as much chlorophyll as possible into the available surface area.
The key is to provide bright, indirect light. A sunny south-facing room can be a great environment for a Calathea as long as you keep the plant 4-6 feet back from the nearest window, or hang some sheer curtains to take the edge off the sun’s rays. Even an unshielded east-facing window is often a good spot; your Calathea can tolerate direct sunlight during the cool hours of the morning.
Not every home will have a location that gets the right balance of sun and shade for these needy plants. That’s where technology can help out. A decent grow lamp may work wonders for a Calathea that’s been struggling to create new foliage.
Be aware that the reduced ambient light usually causes Calatheas to slow their growth naturally during the winter. There’s no cause for concern if your plant seems sluggish during the colder months of the year. It should start showing signs of life again once the spring arrives.
Reason 4: Low Humidity
Calatheas come from the misty jungles of Central and South America. As such, they’re accustomed to air that’s rich in moisture. Lack of humidity can hold them back from reaching their full potential.
The symptoms look much like those of underwatering: slow growth, curling leaves, and crispy edges and tips. What’s happening is that although you’re providing enough water, the dry air is wicking it out of the leaves too quickly.
Try to keep the ambient humidity around your Calathea above 60% if you can. The simplest method is to group your Calatheas near each other, along with any other tropical plants you’re growing. Don’t let their leaves actually touch – a little space is good for air circulation – but let them stay close enough to gossip about your desert plants without being overheard.
Placing your Calathea on a pebble tray can also help. This is a shallow dish filled with smooth rocks and a shallow layer of water. The pebbles keep your Calathea’s pot elevated above the surface to prevent root rot, while the water evaporates and helps to bump up the humidity.
The most sure-fire tool for overcoming dry air is a humidifier. If you want to really make your Calatheas happy, place a portable humidifier nearby and watch them luxuriate in their newly moist surroundings. Find our recommendations for humidifiers here.
Reason 5: Root Bound
When your Calathea’s roots have grown too much to fit inside their pot, they can become crowded and cramped, cutting off their access to nutrients and water. This will prevent the plant from growing even if it’s got plenty of moisture and sun. If you take it out of its pot, you’ll see that the roots have wound into a dense coil the same shape as the container.
You can tell your Calathea is feeling claustrophobic if its roots are poking up out of the soil or down through the drainage holes. Move it to a slightly roomier pot, and while it’s out of the soil, gently spread its roots apart with your fingers. This will nudge them toward growing out instead of continuing to wrap around each other.
Choose a pot that’s roughly 20% bigger than the old one, or about 1-2 inches larger in diameter. You should repot the plant every 2-3 years to avoid this issue in the future. See our guide to repotting Calatheas for more info.
Reason 6: Overpotting
There’s a reason we didn’t recommend repotting your Calathea in the biggest pot you can find. If you increase the size too much, your plant may be tempted to put all its energy into filling the space with roots rather than producing new foliage. If your Calathea is dwarfed by its container, this could be why it doesn’t seem to be growing.
An excessively large living space can also be dangerous to your Calathea. The more soil you have in the pot, the longer it will take to dry out, which means a greater risk of root rot.
Reason 7: Transplant Shock
If you’ve recently moved your Calathea to a new pot and you’re concerned that it’s not growing, you may be worrying for nothing. These plants aren’t big fans of any type of change. It often takes them 3-6 weeks to get really established in a new container. Once your Calathea gets over the stress of moving, it should start to grow once again.
To make the recovery as smooth as possible, keep it warm and away from any direct sun – even if you normally let it get a few rays in the morning, you should move away from windows until it shows signs of growth again. Also, be extra-diligent about giving it lots of humidity while it’s getting used to its new home.
Reason 8: Nutrient Deficiency
This should be the last item on your checklist. Your Calathea is unlikely to die from lack of fertilizer, while many of the problems above can be deadly if left unchecked. And providing more nutrition than your plant requires can be harmful to its roots.
That said, an incomplete diet can sometimes be the cause of your Calathea’s failure to grow. Once you’ve ruled out the other issues on this list, it’s time to consider giving your plant some fertilizer to help it along. Our recommendation is to use a liquid formula with a balanced ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK). An organic fertilizer with a 3:1:2 ratio can also work well.
Whatever option you choose, start with a very weak dose – dilute it to ⅛ or ¼ of the strength recommended on the packaging – and use it to water your plant once per month. You can increase the dose gradually if your Calathea still seems to be lacking in nutrition, but you’ll often find that a little goes a long way. Our article on fertilizing Calatheas offers more detail.
You should flush the potting mix out with distilled water once every 1-2 months to prevent a harmful accumulation of mineral salts. Use 3 or 4 times the total volume of your Calathea’s container, pouring it into the soil and letting it drain out the base.
Putting It All Together
Calatheas don’t grow unless they’re healthy and truly happy, so almost any problem with their environmental conditions can prompt them to give you the silent treatment. Think through your care habits, keeping our list in mind, and you should be able to figure out where you went wrong. Once you restore your plant to the growing conditions it craves, it will start sending out lush new foliage before you know it.