Hello,
I bought my maranta leuconeura 3 months ago and kept it near a south-east window with bright indirect light. I was watering it (tap water) about once a week (fertilized it 3 times) and it was doing great. Lots of new growth and flowering. Because I noticed the last two leaves coming out a littled lighter than usual and the flowers drying before they even open I assumed that the light was getting a little too bright for the plant. So I moved it one meter away from that window and bottom watered it before it got completely dry because we are experiencing a heat wave. Then, two days later, I noticed two of the leaves were curling. The plant was more exposed to the warm wind at that spot so I thought I just shocked it when I opened the window the previous day. Then I left for one day and when I came back it was so much worse. I took it out of the pot and realised that the soil was soggy and had even some powdery mildew at some spots. I left it out of its pot to help it dry for 3 days and when the soil was only a little wet I repotted it back to its pot(which I previously cleaned well) with fresh soil and pumice stone. Its been one day and it became worse, the plant seems completely dead. I took a healthy cutting to propagate but it is too small. Please help me understand what went wrong.. Was it overwatering, heat shock or both of them? And could I possibly save something?
My Maranta is suddenly dying...
- Thread starter marantaV
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There are no signs of heat exhaustion from what I can tell. I would say it was most likely overwatering based on the curling leaves and weak stems. You did everything right by removing the wet soil and reporting it with an airy soil mixture, but repotting is always stressful on plants, especially after trauma like overwatering. Assuming you didn’t notice any signs of root rot when repotting, I’d give it a few days to recover before making any final decisions. Cut back any obviously dead leaves and try to refrain from under watering as a countermeasure. You seem to have some viable leaves toward the center of your plant, so don’t give up yet! If it persists, you will see new growth expanding out from your healthy section of the plant. Feel free to dig the surrounding leaves as they’re less likely to recover and this will make room for the healthy part of the plant to expand. Maranta are finicky. Good luck!