PlantFiles: Prayer Plant
Maranta leuconeura var. erythroneura

I didn't give much care or thought to this plant. I received it as a gift and I placed it in my South facing window (where many of my plants live). I would water it and let it dry out, since it was in a pot without drainage holes. My prayer plant must have loved drying out between watering, as well as my South facing window, because it quadrupled in size and it also flowered for 2 months - from July 2012 through September 2012.

I LOVE this plant and have had slightly different experiences than the ones I read above. Mine is 4 years old and huge. I have been trying to identify it for the past year. I have grown several babies and given them as gifts the trick seems to be to find the green hooks that form after the flowers fall off if you leave the brown tendril attached it forms a green hook type shape. I snip off just below the hook then plant it in a peat and soil mix and boom baby plant is born. I have started them in water too and they work but take a little longer to be happy plants. Mine is in an east facing window and gets direct sunlight for about half the day I allow it to dry almost completely and then saturate the soil and I have to keep trimming it or it takes over and tries to root in its neighbors

I keep failing with this plant. But I love it. I have 3 different plants. Of course the red-veined is my favorite.

I am going to bring it upstairs from my cool, well lit grow room. It never gets above 61 degrees, range 58-61. There is a wall heater in there.

67 degrees upstairs may improve it's "attitude" (or my taking better care of it.)

A very easy 'pot plant' that can even regenerate from its tuberous roots if accidentally allowed to dry out too much, so don't throw it away if this has happened. Produces small, but quite attractive lilac and off-white, violet-like flowers for several months on end. It's biggest enemies are being cold (below 8C ) and overly wet conditions at the roots. It's far better to water thoroughly when the leaves just start to wilt rather than keeping it constantly moist. This way you keep the roots active and searching for moisture.

My sister has a big prayer plant and she gave me a good size clipping. I followed the same steps as i did with my purple passion except i ended up moving it to the dinning room table away from the sun it seemed to do a lot better it grew some new leaves roots are very slow growing though. When first trying to grow some roots the clipping lost all its leaves except one. I thought for sure it was going to die. i got it back on easter it finally has grown roots big enough to actually plant just a few days ago. At least i hope the roots are big enough. It took 4 months to grow these roots. We shal see how it does now that its planted.

looks fantastic grown up a moss pole, next to the window, out of the direct sun. Softens the room and really brings the colours out on the leaves, about 3' tall now, really happy with it.

This plant has grown quite well indoors in my house for a couple of years and it tolerated a bit of neglect. This past week I turned on my swamp cooler (Tucson is pushing 100 degrees) and I watered the plant too heavily considering the humidity in my house. Now about half of the leaves on the plant are curled up (like "doey's"). I am going to reduce watering and see if taking it out of it's current pot, trimming some of the mushy roots and repotting it will do the trick. I have only myself to blame if it doesn't work! The plant has been a beautiful center piece on my dining table (trailing leaves) and I'd hate to lose it. Please let me know if you have any reccomendations!

sometimes called prayer plant and sold as Maranta tricolour

This is one of my favorite plants. I love the colors and the way the leaves fold up in the evening. I kept it as a houseplant prior to Katrina and it did very well in spite of my occasionally neglect. Unfortunately, when we returned from our month long evacuation it had died from lack of water (we did not flood). But this morning when I visited the garden center across the street from my office, they had two small ones for $5.00 each! I bought both of them, one to keep and one to give to my best friend!

I have a prayer plant and its leaves all curled up and some of the open leaver have brown on the tip of the leaves. I love my plant and I want it to keep growing.

This plant roots from cuttings (nodes). Nice when young but gets messy looking when older because old leaves don't drop off but have to be cut. Will cascade from hanging pot.

What a beauty Maranta 'Erythroneura' is! It brings back a lot of good memories for me, as this was always a part of my stock plants indoors.

I was unaware that I could plant this outside here in Florida, so now I'm really excited!

The Maranta 'prayer plant' is easy to grow if provided with the right conditions. Mine enjoys morning sun to light shade in the afternoon and sprayed with warm water once daily. High humidity is the key to successful blooming. Flowers are borne on long stems, sometimes 4-5 flowers on one stem. They are beautfiul lavendar. Also, the prayer plant dislikes cold soil, so plastic pots are more suitable. Keep moderately moist and out of direct sun. Looks good alone or as groundcover in a grouping. Leaves fold upward at night hence the name prayer plant.