Prayer Plant Care (Maranta leuconeura): Light, Watering, Humidity and Propagation

The prayer plant (Maranta leuconeura) is a low, spreading houseplant with oval leaves marked by dark blotches, silver bands or bright red veins. Every evening it raises its leaves like hands folded in prayer, which gives it its name. It looks good on a shelf or in a hanging basket and handles less light than most patterned houseplants.

How to identify a prayer plant

Maranta grows from underground rhizomes and forms a low clump that spreads outward. The Missouri Botanical Garden gives a height of about 12–15 inches; the RHS gives 4–20 inches. The leaves are broadly elliptic to oval, up to about 5 inches long, with pale veins running from the midrib to the edge and gray-green to purplish undersides.

The standout feature is movement. During the day the leaves lie almost flat; in the evening they lift and fold together. This rhythm is called nyctinasty and is completely normal.

Prayer plant belongs to the Marantaceae family, like calatheas. Kew’s Plants of the World Online gives its native range as central and eastern Brazil. It rarely flowers indoors, and the small white flowers are easy to miss.

Light

NC State Extension recommends bright, indirect light and warns that too much sun bleaches the leaf colors. The plant tolerates low to medium light, and the RHS lists it for partial to full shade. A spot a few feet from an east or west window, or behind a sheer curtain in a south window, is ideal.

Watering

During the growing season, roughly March through September, keep the soil evenly moist. The Missouri Botanical Garden and NC State Extension both recommend consistent moisture in summer and less water in winter. The New York Botanical Garden suggests letting the top inch of soil dry out in winter.

Use lukewarm water and empty the saucer about 15 minutes after watering. Constantly wet, poorly drained soil leads to root rot. Maranta is sensitive to fluoride: NC State Extension notes that the leaves burn with high fluoride levels and with overfertilizing.

Soil and repotting

The New York Botanical Garden recommends a soil-based potting mix with added peat and sharp sand, kept loose and well drained. The RHS recommends a peat-free mix. Use a pot with a drainage hole.

Repot in spring every one to two years.

Humidity and temperature

Prayer plants need high humidity. NC State Extension describes the plant as intolerant of low humidity, and the New York Botanical Garden recommends keeping humidity above 50%. A pebble tray, a humidifier or grouping plants together all help.

The New York Botanical Garden gives an ideal range of 65–70°F and a minimum of 55°F. The Missouri Botanical Garden recommends not letting it drop below 60°F. Keep it away from cold drafts.

Fertilizer

The Missouri Botanical Garden recommends feeding monthly during the growing season and cutting back substantially from fall to late winter. Use a liquid houseplant fertilizer at the label rate or weaker. Too much fertilizer shows up as burned leaf edges.

How to propagate a prayer plant

You can propagate maranta by division or by stem cuttings. Spring is the best time for both.

Division:

1. Slide the plant out of its pot and gently shake off some soil.
2. Pull or cut the rhizomes apart so each piece has roots and several leaves.
3. Pot each piece in fresh mix and water it in.
4. Keep the divisions warm and humid for a few weeks until new growth appears.

Stem cuttings:

1. Find a node, the point on the stem where a leaf grows.
2. Cut just below the node, keeping one to three leaves on the cutting.
3. Insert it in moist, well-draining mix and cover with a clear bag or dome.
4. Keep it warm and in bright, indirect light until it roots and puts out a new leaf.

The Missouri Botanical Garden lists both cuttings and division; the RHS also mentions basal cuttings and seed.

Prayer plant varieties

A prayer plant’s pattern isn’t variegation in the strict sense. It’s a natural trait of each variety or cultivar, and the Missouri Botanical Garden notes that they’re distinguished by leaf pattern and color. The ones you’re most likely to see:

• Red prayer plant, var. erythroneura (herringbone plant, often sold as ‘Tricolor’): the RHS describes dark olive-green leaves with a bright green central zone and bright red midrib and veins. It holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
• Green prayer plant, var. kerchoveana (rabbit’s tracks): mid-green leaves with gray-green markings and conspicuous brown blotches on either side of the midrib, per the RHS.
• ‘Lemon Lime’: dark green leaves with a yellowish-green center and striping, according to NC State Extension.
• ‘Fascinator Tricolor’ and ‘Silver Band’: other cultivars listed by NC State Extension; ‘Silver Band’ has a broad silver-green patch in the center of the leaf.

Common problems

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Brown, crispy tips and edges	dry air, underwatering, fluoride, overfertilizing	raise humidity, water regularly with soft water, feed less
Leaves curl or drop	not enough moisture or humidity	water more consistently, add a pebble tray or humidifier
Faded leaf pattern	direct sun	move farther from the window
Root rot, wilting in wet soil	poorly drained, soggy mix	repot into a looser mix, empty the saucer
Fine speckling, webbing	spider mites	see spider mites
White cottony clusters	mealybugs	see mealybugs
Silvery streaks, black specks	thrips	see thrips on houseplants
Spots on leaves	leaf spot	remove affected leaves, don’t leave foliage wet for long

The Missouri Botanical Garden also notes that cucumber mosaic virus has been reported on marantas. Isolate any plant with mottled, distorted leaves.

Is a prayer plant toxic to cats and dogs?

The ASPCA lists maranta (prayer plant) as non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses, which makes it a good choice for pet owners. As with any plant, a pet that eats a lot of it may get a mildly upset stomach, but poisoning isn’t expected.