I went on a calathea kick this summer and spent more than I ever have on a plant ($50!) on a gorgeous lavender/green/white hued stromanthe triostar.

I have kept it in its nursery pot and it did well until I moved it into a room that I think might have had too extreme of temperatures. It's an upstairs room that is very hot when the AC is not on and while this was several feet away from the vent (and a window), it may have received cold air when it was on.

Anyway, now it looks like this and I am wondering if there is anything I can do to save it. I was thinking of cutting back all of the dead leaves, putting on a humidity tray in a more evenly tempered room far from AC and sticking to distilled for watering (LA water is not the best, and I try to water those in the calathea family with distilled but sometimes I forget). What are the chances the roots can still put out new leaves? Any tips on how/where to cut?

Is it a goner? I'll never spent so much on a small plant again!

P.S. Is $50 a fair market price for this plant? Pot was extra!

That is a Calathea White Fusion, and the extreme lack of humidity in your home is responsible ( as well as extreme dry heat) for its impending demise

$50 on a small plant like that is pricey. If it includes the pot it would be ok but it didnt!
i have always paid for $5-$15 plants and watched it grow. Thats the joy of it!

Gina1960 said:That is a Calathea White Fusion, and the extreme lack of humidity in your home is responsible ( as well as extreme dry heat) for its impending demise

Thanks! I cut all the leaves back. What are the chances the roots can still push out new leaves if it stays in humid conditions? Is it dead dead?

Calathea, Goeppertia, Maranta have always been difficult for me to keep happy, as indoor plants. I had the one in your photo: Peacock Plant (Goeppertia lietzei 'Fusion White') for a short while last year but as with many other plants in that family it didn't seem to survive long under my care because I was lax about keeping the soil consistently moist.


I do have a Rattlesnake Plant (Goeppertia insignis) that I've had for almost 2 years now but I decided with this one to wick water which seems to work.


Plants in the Marantaceae family require high humidity so using a tray of moist pebbles beneath the pot will help in that regard. I keep all of my indoor plants in decorative cache pots with pebbles in the bottom to which I add a little water; as the water evaporates, it raises the humidity around the plants; you just have to remember to keep a small amount of water in the pebble container/tray at all times. Cutting back all the dead leaves is fine because they will not recover. As long as the underground rhizomes are still alive and viable, in time new growth should emerge.

It may recover, if taken care of. dry air, especially hot dry air, is not a good thing for the Calathea alliance plants

i just want to add that this is definitely NOT Stromanthe 'Triostar': they look similar, but when you know them you can see that they are different.
you need to keep yours very warm: roots al least at 75F, 80F better on heat mat and watered properly to assure that it's not damp, but just slightly moist. they are very slow when small and after damage like yours.
you can try though. you can use a heating pad for humans from a drug store. it's cheaper then a real heating mat. but use the one without the safety shut-off feature. on medium setting.

Yes, Stromanthe (Stromanthe thalia 'Triostar') has longer, narrower leaves as shown in our database photo below:

i got a 6" pot of S 'Triostar' in 2013 and this was in 2017: i divided it into 3 pots eventually.
once it gets going it's a very robust plant. I gave away several and this past summer came back home to a totally dried up pot: i keep them on wicks for watering when i am away.
Unfortunately we decided not to return home from FL when covid-19 was raging...there was not enough water to keep it going. I had a small pot in FL, but after we got finally home up north, FL started raging...and we had to stay there much longer...the last one dried up in FL too..
so this is in memory of.. of my stroms: with hope to buy another soon

skylark said:

Beautiful!

You should add your photo to the database! Stromanthe (Stromanthe thalia 'Triostar')

m-mm.. not in the shower pic?!
i tried looking for a huge one ...that dried up! and i can't find it..the usual!

LOL, I didn't even notice the shower and doubt anyone else would either, all I see is that beautiful foliage!

Calathea albertii White Fusion (also known by another older name, White Tiger, which is what I bought mine as 15 years ago) is a sport of Calathea albertii. And when it reverts, as it does with stunning regularity, you just have Calathea albertii. Which makes it less of a happy thing if you paid a lot for it

i only saw C. albertii in NYBG..and promptly put in a pic in DB


but M. 'White Fusion' is so-o much prettier, outright spectacular!

Yah it is. Mine has attempted to revert to regular albertii in the past. But it has not done it completely.

I'd say, for $50 I expect the correct ID from the seller.

You can cut that all the way back and be patient. It will take a while so don't give up. One day a new leaf will pop up. It will be beautiful again but it could take a year. I have grown this one before. I also thought is was a white version of Stromanthe Triostar. But it didn't have the vigor and actually, I let it go by not taking it in for the winter on purpose. Mine was outside in the humidity and it still did that. I probably neglected it. Maybe it got spider mites. Whatever it was, Triostar was easy and this one crisped.
Anyway, I will have to try it again. If you don't mind me saying Hg, that isn't a hard plant to get. If you are patient and make your rounds at the local plant stores, you will see that one at some point, maybe smaller. Sometime after Christmas and before Valentines Day, the houseplants stock up. Since you are in CA, I am guessing you will do even better than I do here.
Skylark, we visited the same plant.

Here are my plants October two years ago waiting to come inside. I think this is the year I left White Fusion outside but Triostar is there.

I agree, a 6" container here sells for $9.99

This is mine. I know it looks small but its actually been there for years...it never really spreads. My growing conditions: greenhouse, year round temps 60-80 at night, 75-90+ in the day. Average humidity year round 70-100%. You would think that these conditions would be optimal for this plant, but, like many plants that have large areas of sectional white variegation, the white parts still tend to brown on the edge sometimes.


A few leaves have reverted to plain albertii...there are always a few.


This one tried but didn;t quite go all the way over

That is a very nice plant and you are right. I don't remember it putting on size compared to others in the group.