Worried about my Maranta

[lilypad]

My beautiful Maranta is possibly in trouble so any suggestions for what to do next will be much appreciated.

I live in the north of England and it is now winter with the temperatures between 10-15 celcius. In order to keep my Maranta warm, I took it to my office at work to winter it. My office has a radiator but the plant is not near it. I keep all the plants in my office misted. Sometimes I mist them twice a day to keep them happy. The Maranta, however, is now keeping its leaves pointing down as if you protect itself. If first noticed this "movement" of the leaves when the autumn evenings started getting darker: the leaves would move during the day up and down as if to soak up all the light from either the window or the light strips in the ceiling. I thought this was normal. Now the leaves are pointing down all the time. Is this normal? It cannot be surely. Some of the leaves are also exhibiting slight yellowing and then browning on the edges. The lowest small leaves are yellowing all over. I don't think there is a problem with over or under watering. I keep it moist but not soaked.

Grateful for any expert help. The image included is not of my plant but of the same variety of Maranta I have. Mine is also a lot smaller. Image mine with with hunched downward turned leaves and you're there.


Satu

[Joe Keller]

Your maranta is actually a Calathea makoyana. It does sound like there is a problem with low humidity. Try placing the plant on a tray of pebbles with water so that it stands over the evaporating water, not in it. The leaves moving upward before probably was associated with a cooler night relative to the day. The current environment likely has a more constant temperature. Brown edges on the leaves can also be caused by fertilizer burn or a buildup of salts in the soil. Joe

[lilypad]

Thank you for the name clarification. I will make an effort to improve the humidity. Misting then does not seem to do the trick.