Nerve plant with curly crunchy leaves

Question

I've had this nerve plant for several years. Since moving apartments in June 2018 it's been looking worse and worse. It got very tall and leggy at first, which I assumed was because it wasn't getting enough light, so I moved it to a spot with brighter (still indirect) light. Now the leaves are curled under with dryish edges. I pulled it out of the pot to make sure water was getting to the roots and they weren't rotting—they looked ok to me and the soil was damp all the way through. I'm at a loss here. It lives on a little tray which I fill up with water to try giving it a more humid atmosphere, but maybe I'm not doing that enough? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Fittonia likes humidity, heat and indirect light. The first two are essential, and there is some movement on the third as least important. Its natural environment is in a steamy tropical forest. A close substitute in a temperate environment is under the benches of a steam heated greenhouse, where it can grow in poor soil but constantly dripped on from watering of the plants in the benches above; they then have lots of humidity and the heat from the steam pipes. Growing in moist soil is not enough; the leaves have to be in humid air, air that would be too uncomfortably humid for human habitation. So, to share your living space your plant needs to be in an artificial environment, like a terrarium, where the glass walls can keep the inside warm and moist. It eliminates watering since the water is recyled inside the container and it is easily moved about to profit from different light conditions.