Prayer Plant

Check your light →

Its reds and limes hold their color best with plenty of light and no direct sun, which bleaches them. It gets by in medium or low light, just a little duller.

NC State files it under dappled light, the kind that reaches a forest floor through a canopy overhead. It’s native to the wet tropics of central and eastern Brazil (Kew), where Missouri Botanical Garden describes it as low and clump-⁠forming.

A north-⁠facing sill, or a table well back from an east window, is a close indoor match for that canopy shade. When light runs short, the purple-red undersides fade along with the markings on top (NC State notes both sides lose color).

The cold of a January pane is the other limit: it has no tolerance for chilly drafts, so keep it out of them in winter (NC State).

Every 5-7 days from spring to fall, stretching to 7-10 in winter. It prefers steady, even moisture, though poorly drained, soggy soil can lead to root rot.

In dry winter air, its leaf edges may curl or crisp. NC State says it needs high humidity, so a humidified room suits it; a pebble tray is an optional extra, never a must.

Penn State Extension’s guide to Maranta problems calls brown, dying leaf edges tip burn, and traces them to fluoride, phosphate fertilizer, or strong light. If the browning bugs you, switch to rainwater or distilled water, feed lightly, and choose a mix without perlite, which carries fluoride of its own. Skip all that and the plant carries on, just with crisper margins.

Gone for a while? A week is its limit; water it the day you leave and set it back from the window so the soil dries out more slowly.

Only 6-12 inches tall but sprawling to 2 feet, so it wants width more than height: a low shelf or a wide sill. Its rhizomes spread sideways, so a crowded pot divides easily into two.

In warm climates it’s planted as a groundcover, shopping malls included, and it grows slowly (UF/IFAS). The red-veined form takes about 2-5 years to reach full size (RHS).

Each new leaf arrives rolled into a tight tube and opens flat (NC State), so on a growing plant you’ll often spot a scroll or two among the open leaves.

Because the pattern sits on top of each leaf, it reads best looked down on: a nightstand, a bathroom ledge, a low table beside a sofa.

The ASPCA lists the prayer plant as non-toxic to dogs and cats, and CHOP, a children’s poison center, lists it as non-poisonous for kids.

Good news all around: there’s nothing harmful in it for a toddler, a dog, or a cat. Look it up on the ASPCA’s list and you’ll find its entry filed under Calathea insignis, a cousin in the same family; the rating holds either way.

The bigger risk runs the other way. A writer at the Chicago Botanic Garden watched her cat chew her prayer plant until it died, and the Garden’s floriculturist notes that even a non-toxic plant may bring on a little tummy discomfort when eaten.

If a pet treats it as a snack, a hanging basket, a common use NC State notes, may keep it out of easy reach, though a determined cat can climb.

1. ASPCA: safe for dogs.
2. ASPCA: safe for cats.
3. CHOP: safe for kids.

Cats and dogs: The ASPCA lists it as non-⁠toxic.

Kids: CHOP lists it as non-⁠poisonous.

Happiest at 60-90°F, and it shouldn’t sit below 50°F. It wants at least 40% humidity.

Temperature

60-90°F

Spider mites are the common guest, and they settle on leaf undersides. Mealybugs hide in leaf axils, stem joints, and leaf bases, and thrips tuck inside rolled new leaves. Flip a few leaves when you water.

• Spider mites
• Mealybugs
• Thrips
• Caterpillars

Not many. Spider mites are the one to watch for, especially in dry winter air, then mealybugs, and root rot if the soil stays soggy.

Spider mites leave fine webbing and a speckled, faded look on the leaves. Rinse the whole plant in the shower, undersides of the leaves included, and raise the humidity, since mites thrive in dry air. If they come back, an insecticidal soap is the next step.

Mealybugs look like tufts of white cotton where the leaves meet the stems. Wipe them off with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, then check again next week.

Brown spots that spread across a leaf are leaf spot, a fungus that likes wet leaves. Cut off the spotted leaves and water the soil, not the plant.

Keep humidity up year-⁠round, and use low-fluoride water at every watering, since fluoride burns the leaves. Feed monthly in spring and summer, lightly, and much less from autumn on. Divide in spring when repotting.

• Feed6× a year
• Raise humidity52× a year
• Use low-⁠fluoride water48× a year
• Divide1× a year

An ordinary peat-based potting mix that holds moisture but drains, in a pot with a drainage hole. A wide, shallow pot suits its spread.

Repot when it fills the pot, in spring, which is also the time to divide it (see Propagation).

Food is optional: a houseplant fertilizer at half strength a few times in spring and summer is plenty. Too much burns the leaf edges.

Each oval leaf is painted lime and deep green, with red ribs running through it. The surface has a gentle sheen, and the leaves overlap in a low, spreading clump that covers the soil.