Potato and Tuber Crops

Potting

• Marantas need a minimum temerature of 60 degrees. In cool climates, Marantas grow as a house or greenhouse plant in containers filled with one part loam, two parts peat, and half a part of sand. The atmosphere should be humid and the leaves sprayed with water several times a day.
• They should be set in a draft-free area with medium to bright light, but not direct sun. These plants are great for a terrarium. Repotting is done in February or March. Their pots need adequate drainage because the plants need a lot of water during the summer and will not do well if they're waterlogged.
• When they are repotted, the loose soil should be removed and they are set in slightly larger pots. The soil must not be packed too hard, firm gently with the fingers. Water sparingly until the pots are filled with roots when it can be given freely until the end of the summer. The soil is only watered when it becomes fairly dry in the winter. During the summer months, well-rooted plants should be watered with weak liquid fertilizer.
• As soon as new growth begins in the spring, remove the old, loose soil from their roots and then repot in a mixture of peat moss, sand and loam. The pots need good drainage. While they are growing vigorously in the summer an abundance of water is applied, but throughout the winter, less water should be given. Established plants that have filled their pots up with roots will benefit from regular applications of dilute liquid fertilizer.
• The minimum winter temperature of the greenhouse should be 55 degrees; from spring through fall (the time that they're actively growing), the minimum temperature that should be maintained is 60 to 65 degrees