Houseplantfoliage houseplantDemanding

Calathea

Goeppertia makoyana

The most demanding plant in this set and the one most often returned as 'impossible'. It wants genuinely high humidity, warmth, no direct sun and soft water, and it responds to failure on any of those with crisp brown leaf edges. Grown in a bathroom or a cabinet it is superb; grown on an ordinary living-room shelf it declines steadily.

Position: Bright, out of direct sun
Water: moderate demand
Drainage: Moisture-retentive
Grows to: 40–60 cm × 40–60 cm
Frost: Frost tender
Difficulty: Demanding

August

Nothing to do

No sowing, planting, harvesting or pruning window falls in August.

Calathea’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

Activity	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Take cuttings					May.	June.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Conditions it needs

Light: Partial shade, Dappled shade
Frost: Frost tender
Grows best at: 18–27 °C
Soil: Peat-free compost
Soil pH: 6–6.5
Drainage: Moisture-retentive
Water needs: moderate
Drought: poor tolerance
Waterlogging: poor tolerance
Heat: moderate tolerance
Wind and exposure: poor tolerance

Where these figures come from

LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — position
Checked 2026-08-13
FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — hardiness
Checked 2026-08-13
Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — temperature
Checked 2026-08-13
SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Goeppertia — culture
Checked 2026-08-13
DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

Soil	Verdict	Why
Heavy clay	Works, with one condition	Calathea will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Sandy	Works, with one condition	Calathea will crop on sandy, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering.Water and mulch will carry it through. On this soil the watering is not optional in a dry spell, which is the difference between a crop and a failure.
Chalky and alkaline	Struggles here	Calathea struggles on chalky and alkaline: The soil is substantially too alkaline for it: it wants pH 6 to 6.5, and this soil sits around 7.8 to 8.5. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering. A container or a raised bed of imported soil sidesteps the problem entirely.
Loam	Grows well here	Calathea grows perfectly well on loam without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Silty	Grows well here	Calathea grows perfectly well on silty without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Peaty and acid	Works, with one condition	Calathea will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rock	Works, with one condition	Calathea will crop on shallow over rock, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering.Water and mulch will carry it through. On this soil the watering is not optional in a dry spell, which is the difference between a crop and a failure.
Made ground and urban soil	Struggles here	Calathea struggles on made ground and urban soil: The soil is substantially too alkaline for it: it wants pH 6 to 6.5, and this soil sits around 7.2 to 7.8. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. For a crop lifted before winter the risk is not rot but the season: waterlogged ground is cold and unworkable in spring, so sowing is late and germination patchy. A container or a raised bed of imported soil sidesteps the problem entirely.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height: 40–60 cm
Mature spread: 40–60 cm
Rooting depth: 20 cm

Where these figures come from

Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

In a container

Minimum volume: 3 litres or more
Minimum depth: 15 cm

Where the container figures come from

Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

Method	Suitability	What it needs
Indoor pot	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	High humidity; Warmth above about 18 °C; No direct sun
Container	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	Indoors only
Greenhouse	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	A heated humid greenhouse suits it far better than a house does.
Windowsill	Marginal source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	Most windowsills are too bright, too draughty and too dry.
Hydroponics	Not assessed source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Open ground	Not suitable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

ProtectionRaise the humidity properly rather than misting. Misting raises humidity for a few minutes; a pebble tray, a group of plants together, a humidifier or a bathroom raises it for the rest of the day, which is what the plant actually needs.
WateringCrisp brown leaf edges are the plant's standard complaint and mean dry air or hard water, usually both. Soft yellowing lower leaves mean too much water. The two look similar at a glance and have opposite remedies.
PropagationDivision at repotting time in spring is the only practical method — calatheas cannot be grown from a leaf or a stem cutting. Separate the rootball into clumps each carrying several leaves and their own roots, pot them into small containers, and keep them warm and humid until they are growing again.
FeedingFeed sparingly — monthly at quarter to half strength in spring and summer, and nothing from October. Calatheas are notably sensitive to fertiliser salts and to the minerals in hard tap water, and both show up the same way: crisp brown leaf edges that never green up again. If a plant is browning at the margins, flush the compost through with rainwater and feed less rather than more. Brown edges are far more often water quality or dry air than hunger.

Where this guidance comes from

ProtectionSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — humidity
Checked 2026-08-13
WateringSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — care
Checked 2026-08-13
PropagationSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — cultivation
Checked 2026-08-13
FeedingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Calathea — cultivation
Checked 2026-08-13

The rule is the same in all four: the new piece needs both a growing point and roots of its own. A cutting is the exception that has to make its roots afterwards, which is why the node matters so much.

What goes wrong

Start from what you can see

Safety and edibility

Cats and dogs

Listed as non-toxic to cats and dogs

Calathea appears on published non-toxic lists for cats and dogs. That is a statement about the plant's chemistry, not a guarantee: any plant eaten in quantity can upset an animal, so it is still worth discouraging heavy chewing.

source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center — toxic and non-toxic plant list — American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Calathea makoyana — non-toxic plants list

Checked 2026-08-13

Goeppertia makoyana — most of Calathea was moved to Goeppertia, and both the trade and the toxicology lists still say Calathea.

Pets and livestockpets
Not toxic to cats or dogs. Unusually among popular foliage houseplants, this one is safe, which is a fair reason to accept its difficulty.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Goeppertia — toxicity
Checked 2026-08-13
No precautions needed for pets beyond preventing the plant being dug up.

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.

If something is wrong with it

Brown, crisp leaf tips — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for calathea
Spreading brown or black patches on leaves and stems — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for calathea
Lower leaves turning yellow — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for calathea

Something else? Work through it with the diagnostic tool.