Lemon Lime Prayer Plant: How to Grow and Propagate Marantas in Water.
I have a particular relationship with the Prayer Plant.
I want to say it’s a “love-hate” relationship, but that is way too extreme!
It’s more of a “love-frustration” relationship.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I am completely fascinated by the hypnotic beauty of the Prayer Plant’s leaves, I would have given up this plant many years ago. But, I simply couldn’t!
I am particularly obsessed with the Lemon Lime variety of Prayer Plant.
The contrast of bright and dark greens mesmerizes me!
So, why do I have such conflicting feelings for this plant?
The answer is simple; Because it is as finicky as it is beautiful!
The reality is that it’s not a difficult plant to grow.
On the contrary! Like the Peace Lily, the Prayer Plant grows relatively fast, BUT it doesn’t grow beautiful leaves easily. Eventually, the edges of those gorgeous leaves will start to crisp and slowly eat into the whole leaf!
It took me almost four years to find a solution to the problem and I will tell you all about it in the next sections of this Blog! So, read along!
The success of the Prayer Plant is dependant on many factors, but most of all, high humidity!
When the plant is happy, it can bloom little white, or pale purple flowers that are almost irrelevant compared to the beauty of its leaves. It is rare to see blooms in indoor Prayer Plants though.
Native to the Brazilian’s tropical forests, the Prayer Plant gets its common name from the movement of its leaves.
The leaves of this plant move with the changing in natural light; They lay flat during the day, and they tilt upwards in the evening as the sun goes down, imitating the movement of praying hands.
prayer plant light
The Prayer Plant is tolerant to different light conditions; both low and bright, indirect light.
I find that it thrives in bright, indirect light, as long as it is not exposed to direct sunlight.
Direct sunlight will scorch and damage its beautiful leaves.
It is worth knowing that the Prayer Plant goes dormant in winter, when it can actually loose all its leaves and stop growing. It is best to place it closer to bright, indirect light during these months.
Different light exposures, will call for different amounts of water. The more natural light the plant is exposed to, the more water it will require.
Lemon Lime Maranta Leuconeura trailing its beautiful stems. I keep this plant by a North facing window.
prayer plant temperature & humidity
Read this section really well, because this is the part that matters the most when it comes to the Prayer Plant!
The Maranta comes from the Brazilian tropical forest. It is hot and humid in there!
It is critical to keep this plant at a steady temperature between 60-80F (16-27C).
Keep it away from any drafts, whether they are cold or hot, like windows, doors, and A/C and heating vents.
This plant not only thrives in high humidity; it needs it in order to grow beautiful leaves without crispy edges!
I am going to repeat this; the Prayer Plant needs greenhouse humidity conditions in order to grow beautiful leaves without crispy edges!!
There are a few strategies you can adopt to increase the humidity levels around your houseplants. You can choose one, or combine a few of them together.
- Using a plant humidifier. There are several products available on the market. I like this ultrasonic cool mist from Amazon.
- Misting your plants. I mist all those plants that thrive in high humidity, such as Marantas, Monsteras, Alocasias, Stromanthes, Calatheas, Fiddle Leaf Figs, Strelitzias, Ferns, Pileas, Peace Lilies and my Norfolfk Pine.
- Grouping your plants by species. Grouping plants together will help them raise the surrounding air humidity levels.
- Using a tray filled with pebbles and water. Filling a saucer with small pebbles and adding water so that it barely reaches the top surface of the pebbles, helps maintaining higher levels of humidity around the plant. However, it is important that the bottom of the pot is not submerged in water with the roots stagnating in it. This will cause root rot in the long term.
I even cut and propagated stems in water to start a plant from scratch.
I thought that growing a Prayer Plant in water would have provided all the humidity it needed, but I was wrong!
It’s the humidity in the air that makes the difference!
Our home is so dry that even misting every day, didn’t do the trick!
Until, it clicked!
Put the plant in a closed glass jar!!
Placing a Prayer Plant inside a glass jar is like planting it inside a Closed Terrarium. The concept is exactly the same.
A Closed Terrarium is a self-sufficient micro-environment. An inclosed, miniature tropical forest with a lot of humidity! Exactly what a Prayer Plant needs!
Why didn’t I think about it sooner???
I created so many Closed Terrariums before! I even wrote Blogs about it!!
The glass container can be opened periodically for aeration, watering, cleaning and pruning purposes. I open my glass jar for an hour once a week to let my Maranta breathe.
You will need a big glass container because the Prayer Plant will grow fast inside it. You can also trim it to keep it to a certain size once the plant has reached maturity.
Now, if you don’t live in such a dry environment, you can increase your plant humidity levels by trying any other strategies listed above.
You can see how all the leaves’ edges are crispy.
Prayer Plant cuttings rooting in water placed right above a plant mister.
Prayer Plant cuttings rooting in water inside a glass jar! This is when I was finally able to grow leaves without crispy edges!
You can appreciate the condensation caused by the high levels of humidity inside this jar.
You can find several glass apothecary jars on Amazon.
prayer plant watering & fertilizing
The Prayer Plant cannot be watered on schedule.
It’s important to feel the soil moisture to understand the watering needs for this plant.
From Spring to Fall water your plant frequently so that the top soil never dries out, and it actually feels moist but not soggy. Your plant will not survive if left under-watered.
You can cut watering back in winter, but make sure that the top soil is never completely dry.
Do not water your Maranta with cold water. Use room temperature distilled water whenever possible. (I water all my plants that are prone to crispy edges and tips with distilled water as our tap water is extremely hard!).
Frequently fertilizing the Prayer Plant is also important to its success.
Fertilize every two weeks from Spring to Fall, and once a month from Fall to Spring with a water soluble houseplant fertilizer.
I use a multipurpose liquid plant food.
Lemon Lime Maranta Leuconeura sitting by a North facing window.
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prayer plant repotting
Even though the Maranta grows quite fast, it enjoys being root bound and having its roots tight inside its pot.
Don’t rush to repot your Prayer Plant unless;
- the roots are growing out of the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot.
- when you pull the plant out of its pot you notice more roots than soil.
- when your plant is infested by pests.
Unless your plant has pests, do not repot it until Spring! Even if the roots are bursting out of the pot, it can wait until Spring!
When repotting your Prayer Plant, make sure you go only one pot size bigger! (For example; if your plant is in a 4″ pot, repot it into a 6″ pot. Not 8″!). A bigger pot contains more soil, which can retain more moisture around the roots and water-log them, leading to root rot and death!
Click here to read more about repotting plants!
The Prayer Plant does well in a plastic pot, as long as it does have draining holes at the bottom. Plastic pots are not porous like terracotta pots, and allow the soil to stay moist longer, which is what the Prayer Plant needs. However, proper drainage of both soil and pot is fundamental!
If you place your plastic pot inside a decorative pot, make sure that you either place a layer of draining rocks at the bottom of that decorative pot, or that you discard the water accumulated at the bottom of it every time you water your plant. Stagnant water is fatal to roots!
I use a tropical plants soil mixed with perlite to increase drainage. (1 part perlite to 4 parts soil).
Repotting the Prayer Plant using a tropical plants soil mixed with perlite to increase drainage.
In this case, the Prayer Plant is planted inside a plastic pot with draining holes. I then placed the plastic pot inside a decorative pot that I empty every time I find water at the bottom of it.
prayer plant water propagation
I’ve propagated the Prayer Plant multiple times.
Every time I’ve done it has been out of frustration.
I was tired to see a beautiful plant spoiled by crispy edges, so I would cut the most recent stems that had not yet been compromised and place them in water to root.
I’ve done the same with new offset sprouting next to the mother plant. I simply gently pulled them off and the whole stem with the roots came off.
You can propagate the Prayer Plant two ways
- By stem cuttings; cut the stems between the nodes and place them in water for a few weeks to root before planting in soil. Allow the roots to be at least 1″ in length before planting. (The nodes are those protrusions along the stems where the leaves are attached. New roots will grow from the nodes).
- By division; gently pull the roots apart where they naturally part. In some cases you can even have offsets growing right next to the mother plant. You can divide that stem with its roots from the mother plant. Place those stems with their roots directly in a small pot of soil, (proportional to the size and amount of roots you plant, keeping in mind that too much soil will retain too much moisture).
Washing the Prayer Plant before cutting the best stems for propagation. It is always a good idea to wash leaves and stems you are propagating in case there are pests you can’t see.
Freshly cut Prayer Plant stem placed in water to root.
A few weeks later the roots have grown to a good size and the cuttings can now be planted.
I chose the let this Prayer Plant cutting to grow in water to see how it developed.
growing prayer plant in water
A while back I decided to grow a Prayer Plant in water.
I was fascinated by the way it looked in a glass jar and I was on a quest to experiment different ways to grow these plants in an effort to find solutions to the (damn!) crispy edges.
It was a fantastic and intriguing journey that taught me a lot about Marantas and I would recommend it to anyone!
As a matter of fact, propagating plants in water, allowed me to actually start growing a few different plants in water, which is quite cool!
Did you know you can grow plants in water? They come with the great advantage of not having to worry about when to water them! Not every plant is great at growing in water, but some are really adaptable.
Click here if you are interested to know which plant can grow in water!
Anyway, growing a Prayer Plant in water starts with a cutting or two, (or even three!).
As time goes by, the roots will continue to grow and develop.
I change the water every two to three weeks and add some organic liquid fertilizer for hydroponics to provide the nutrients the plant can’t get from the soil.
Because I live in such a dry climate, growing the Prayer Plant in water did not prevent the leaves from crisping at the edges, so eventually I pruned off the decaying leaves. (Remember that what is important is humidity in the air, not the roots. So whether the plant is growing in water or in soil, it doesn’t make any difference!).
However, it was quite interesting to see how the Prayer Plant was developing these long aerial roots, that eventually turned out to be stems from which node a new plant would form. And then, the new plant did the same and created a set of new long stems at the end of which a new planted would form. And so on, like a chain of new plantlet under the other!
I could have cut these plants, rooted them in water and plant them in a pot of soil but I was curious to see how long the chain went…
It went to four different levels of plants and then it stopped!
I decided to cut what was left of the plantlet and root it in water.
So I have this never ending re-birth of Prayer Plants from the first and only one I bought over 4 years ago!
The triple decker Prayer Plant. As you can see there are two fully developed plantlet in the chain, while the last ones at the bottom are still developing.
The aerial Prayer Plant baby.
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