Prayer plant care: light, water and why the leaves fold
A prayer plant grows well in bright indirect light and humid air, with compost kept evenly moist while it grows. Direct sun bleaches its patterned leaves, and hard or fluoridated water browns them. This page covers where to put it, watering, curling and brown leaves, which variety to buy, and pet safety.
- Bright indirect light, never direct sun, which bleaches the leaf pattern.
- Keep the compost evenly moist while it grows, and use rainwater or filtered water if yours is fluoridated.
- High humidity helps: a humid room or a tray of wet pebbles under the pot.
What a prayer plant is, and why its leaves fold at night
The prayer plant, Maranta leuconeura, is a low-growing tropical perennial in the arrowroot family from Brazil, which NC State and Missouri Botanical Garden both give as its home. It spreads from rhizomes into a clump about 30 to 45 cm tall and wide, with oval leaves up to 13 cm long, patterned along the midrib and grey-green to purple underneath.
The name comes from what it does every evening. NC State describes the leaves as held flat by day and raised to an upright prayer position at night, and Missouri Botanical Garden says they close upward like praying hands. The genus is named after Bartolomeo Maranti, a sixteenth-century Venetian physician and botanist, and leuconeura means white-veined. Calathea, in the same family, is often searched alongside it; the plant care guide has every other species on the site.
Prayer plant varieties, from red-veined to lemon lime
The varieties differ in leaf colour and pattern, not in care. Missouri Botanical Garden describes the red-veined form, var. erythroneura, as the one with a red herringbone midrib and veins, which is why it is also called the herringbone plant. NC State lists three cultivars sold as houseplants: Fascinator Tricolor, Lemon Lime and Silver Band.
Any of them suits a shelf, a hanging pot or a wall pocket, because the plant stays low and spreads sideways. The patterned kinds need the same bright, indirect light as the plain one to hold their colour; NC State says the leaves lose colour in low light and poor fertility.
| Variety | What the leaf looks like | Light it needs | Suits a pocket? |
|---|
| Maranta leuconeura | Green, white veins running out from the midrib | Bright indirect, copes with low to medium | Yes |
| Maranta leuconeura var. erythroneura | Olive green, red herringbone veins, red-purple underside | Bright indirect, to keep the red | Yes |
| Maranta leuconeura ‘Fascinator Tricolor’ | Dark green, light green edges, red veins, yellow centre | Bright indirect, to keep the red | Yes |
| Maranta leuconeura ‘Lemon Lime’ | Dark green with a yellowish-green centre and stripes | Bright indirect | Yes |
| Maranta leuconeura ‘Silver Band’ | Dark green with a broad silver-green centre patch | Bright indirect | Yes |
| Maranta leuconeura, rabbit tracks form | Green with dark spots either side of the midrib | Copes with low to medium light | Yes |
Where to put a prayer plant in the house
Put it in bright, indirect light and keep it out of direct sun. NC State says too much sun bleaches the leaf colours, and Missouri Botanical Garden says the same, recommending bright indoor light with no strong direct sun. A spot back from a window, or by a north-facing one, gives it light without the sun.
It copes with less. NC State says it tolerates low to medium light, and plants for a low light room compares what else takes a dim spot. The cost of too little light is colour: NC State says the leaves fade in low light.
Keep it warm and out of draughts. Missouri Botanical Garden says it prefers temperatures that do not dip below 15°C, and NC State says it does not tolerate low temperatures or cold draughts.
How often to water a prayer plant
Keep the compost evenly moist while it grows, and water when the surface starts to feel dry rather than on a set day. NC State says to keep the potting soil evenly moist through the growing season, and Missouri Botanical Garden says to keep the soil consistently moist. Its watering guide puts prayer plant among the plants that like evenly moist soil that does not dry out.
In winter it needs less. NC State holds back and lets the soil dry out in the winter months, and Missouri Botanical Garden reduces soil moisture from autumn to late winter. The two differ on how far to let it dry, so let the finger test decide and do not leave it dry for long.
The water matters as much as the amount. NC State says the leaves burn with high fluoride, so if your tap water is fluoridated, rainwater or filtered water is the better choice. Missouri Botanical Garden adds that root rot follows poorly drained soil, so never leave the pot standing in water.
Humidity for a prayer plant
It needs high humidity. NC State says so directly and adds that it does not tolerate low humidity. Both NC State and Missouri Botanical Garden suggest a humidified room, or standing the pot on a tray of wet pebbles.
Missouri Botanical Garden lists tip browning among the plant’s problems, and a heated room in winter dries the air. A kitchen or bathroom with a window, away from any heater, gives it humid air without equipment.
Compost, feeding and repotting a prayer plant
Missouri Botanical Garden grows it in a soil-based potting mix, which holds moisture and still drains, which matters because it warns of root rot in poorly drained soil. NC State says it spreads sideways, so give it width to fill.
Feed during the growing season and ease off in winter. Missouri Botanical Garden feeds monthly while it grows and cuts feeding substantially from autumn to late winter. NC State warns that over-fertilising burns the leaves, as fluoride does, so err on the light side.
Why prayer plant leaves curl, brown or fade
A rolled leaf is not always a problem. NC State says new leaves appear as a rolled tube, so a single tight roll at the top is a new leaf still unfurling. Older leaves curling up during the day is different: check the compost, because it usually means the plant has gone too dry.
Brown, crisp tips and edges come from what goes into the pot or the air around it. NC State names fluoride and over-fertilising, and Missouri Botanical Garden lists tip browning among its problems. Faded leaves mean too much sun or too little light; NC State says the colours bleach in sun and fade in low light and poor fertility. Yellowing lower leaves with wet compost point to root rot, which Missouri Botanical Garden ties to poorly drained soil, and what yellow leaves are telling you sorts out the other causes.
Can a prayer plant go outside
Only in a frost-free climate, and only in shade. Missouri Botanical Garden rates it hardy in zones 11 and 12, outdoors only in sheltered spots, in part to full shade, and says it is intolerant of frost and prefers temperatures above 15°C. In most of Europe it stays indoors all year.
Is a prayer plant safe for cats and dogs
The ASPCA lists the prayer plant as non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses, under common names that include maranta and red veined prayer plant. Its entry files those names under Calathea insignis, a relative in the same family, rather than Maranta leuconeura, and it lists the whole Calathea genus as non-toxic too.
That is the closest the ASPCA comes to an entry for this species. A cat that chews the leaves will still spoil them, so a high shelf or a wall keeps the plant intact.
A prayer plant on the wall
It stays low and spreads sideways, and NC State says it is used in hanging baskets, so a wall pocket suits it. On a wall the leaves sit near eye level, where the evening fold is easy to see. Hanging plants that last indoors covers where a trailing plant keeps its leaves full, and living wall systems, compared the other ways to put plants on a wall.
A pocket stands proud of the wall with air on every side, so the substrate dries from more directions than a pot on a shelf does, which means checking it more often for a plant that wants to stay evenly moist. The Medium pocket holds 1.8 litres of substrate, about what a 15 cm pot takes, and suits the plant’s shallow, spreading roots. Keep it off a wall with sun on it or a heater below.
The board hangs by a slot near its top on one wall hook, so the wall side is one screw, one plug and one drilled hole. Treat the filled weight like a heavy framed picture: plasterboard takes an expanding plug, brick a standard one, and a tiled wall needs a tile bit before the masonry bit. The mounting guide goes through it step by step.
- Fill the pocket a third full with a moisture-holding peat-free houseplant compost.
- Ease the plant out of its pot, keeping the shallow root ball whole.
- Set it with the crown level with the surface, top up and firm gently.
- Water slowly, with rainwater or filtered water, until the substrate is evenly moist.
Prayer plant problems and how to fix them
| What you see | Why | The fix |
|---|
| Brown, crisp leaf tips and edges | Fluoridated water, too much feed, or dry air | Switch to rainwater or filtered water and raise the humidity. |
| Older leaves curling in during the day | The compost has gone too dry | Water it through, then keep it evenly moist. |
| Bleached, washed-out leaf pattern | Direct sun | Move it out of direct sun into bright, indirect light. |
| Dull, faded leaves in a dark corner | Too little light or feed | Give it brighter indirect light and feed lightly while it grows. |
| Yellow lower leaves and wet compost | Root rot from poor drainage | Let it drain, water less and repot into fresh free-draining compost. |
| Fine webbing or white cotton under the leaves | Spider mites or mealybugs, which Missouri names | Rinse or wipe the leaves and raise the humidity. |
How to propagate a prayer plant
NC State propagates it by dividing the rhizomes, and Missouri Botanical Garden by cuttings or division. Division gives a full plant straight away. If you find white cotton in the leaf joints while it is out of the pot, how to get rid of mealybugs covers one of the pests Missouri names.
- Take the plant out of its pot and find where the clump separates at the rhizomes.
- Pull or cut it into pieces, each with roots and several leaves.
- Pot each piece at the depth it grew before, in moist, free-draining compost.
- For a cutting, take a stem just below a leaf joint and root it in moist compost or water.
- Keep new plants warm, evenly moist and in bright, indirect light while they settle.
Why does a prayer plant move at night?
The leaves lie flat by day and fold upright at night, NC State says, which gives the plant its name. NC State describes it as one of the plant’s normal characteristics.
Is a prayer plant a calathea?
No, though they are related. Both are in the arrowroot family, but the prayer plant is Maranta leuconeura and calatheas belong to a separate genus.
Does a prayer plant flower?
Rarely indoors. Missouri Botanical Garden describes small white flowers with purple spots on slender spikes, and NC State calls them small and insignificant.
How big does a prayer plant get?
About 30 to 45 cm tall and as wide, Missouri Botanical Garden says. It spreads sideways from its rhizomes rather than growing tall.
Should I mist a prayer plant?
The sources on this page raise humidity with a humid room or a tray of wet pebbles under the pot rather than misting. A kitchen or bathroom with a window gives it humid air without either.
References