Prayer Plants are beautiful plants that have the unique ability to move throughout the night and fold their leaves, so it almost looks like they are praying. While these plants can bloom, they rarely do, leaving many people surprised or concerned when it does happen.
A flowering Prayer Plant is a sign that it is thriving under your care as they only bloom in ideal conditions. However, as they are very particular about their environment, they may go years without blooming.
Unlike other flowering plants, many people who get Prayer Plants do so for the leaves, not the flowers. Because the flower can cause slower leaf growth, some people decide to trim off the flowers. What to do with these flowers is entirely up to you, but you can at least feel pride that their ideal growing conditions are met.
If your Prayer Plant isn’t flowering, don’t worry. They still may be in acceptable living conditions, just not the most ideal. For ideal conditions, you must be aware of each part of their habitat and what they need.
Is a Prayer Plant Flowering Good or Bad?
A Prayer Plant flowering poses no danger to the plant itself. It will not harm the plant for the most part. It is worth noting that these flowers do take up a lot of energy. So any weaker or older leaves may die to support the flowers.
Also, flowers will likely restrict new growth for a time until they die. So if you want your plant to focus more on growth and its leaves than on new flowers, it can be bad. If you don’t mind waiting so that you get to experience these flowers, which aren’t easy to bloom, then it doesn’t hurt to let them grow.
Blooming flowers often signifies that your plant is happy and healthy, especially if you get bigger flowers instead of just a few small ones. Some people don’t even see flowers on their Prayer Plant most of the time because they aren’t easy to grow.
When Do Prayer Plants Flower?
If your Prayer Plant is going to flower, it will likely be in spring and summer or during the active growing seasons. These flowers are often very small and easily overshadowed by the foliage, so you may have to look closely to find them. They are often white or purple and have three petals.
If these plants are in ideal conditions, the flowers may be a bit bigger than others you have seen online, and they may also bloom all year round. However, many people find these plants hard to grow and even harder to make bloom, so if you don’t see flowers for years, don’t be too worried.
How to Get a Prayer Plant to Flower?
To get a Prayer Plant to flower, it needs to be in ideal growing conditions. This includes ensuring water,light, temperature, humidity, fertilizer, and water quality are all ideal.
Water
Like most tropical plants, Prayer Plants enjoy moist soil. Unlike many other plants, they don’t like their soil to dry out completely. Instead, keep your plants moist but not soaking by ensuring no more than the first inch (2.5 cm) is dry at any given point.
Light
Bright, indirect light works well with Prayer Plants, like many tropical ground floor plants. This is because they are beneath a canopy of trees, protecting them from heavy sunlight. Usually, placing them near a window with sheer curtains is good, or somewhere where the plant will get mostly morning light.
Light is one of the most important ways to entice a Prayer Plant to bloom.
Temperature
Prayer Plants like warmer temperatures. Cold air or cold breezes can harm your plant. They do not tolerate cold temperatures and easily become damaged or have stunted growth. Prayer Plants enjoy anything between 60 and 80°F (15.5 to 26.5°C).
Anything below 60°F (15.5°C) can cause serious harm to the plant.
Humidity
The Maranta Prayer Plants enjoy high humidity. Keeping them in a humid room and spraying the leaves constantly to ensure they stay humid is a good option.
You can also create your own humidifier by placing a tray of rocks under the Prayer Plant. Then, you put water in the tray, ensuring the water doesn’t go above the rocks. This allows the water to evaporate and increase humidity without keeping water touching the plant’s soil and causing root rot.
Additionally, you can purchase a humidifier and keep it in the room with your plant.
Fertilizer
Fertilizing during the growing seasons is important to maximize a Prayer Plant’s growth. It helps them have the nutrients they need to keep growing and put the nutrients towards their flowers.
Water Quality
Maranta Prayer Plants are pretty picky. They don’t handle tap water well due to the chemicals like fluoride in the water. Though they may be okay for a few waterings, over time, the plant will start to struggle. Usually, their leaves will begin to brown and wilt.
To avoid this and keep your plant happy enough to flower, use filtered, distilled, or rainwater instead.
How Do You Keep a Prayer Plant Healthy?
By following the guidelines to make your plant healthy and have all the correct habitat requirements, you can be sure that your Prayer Plant is happy. They are picky plants, but once you figure out what they like, you can keep them happy and healthy for a long time.
Who knows, you may even be able to see one of their rare flowers blooming on your very own plant.
What Is a Prayer Plant Supposed to Look Like?
Prayer Plants get their name from their unique features. Once the sun begins to set, these plants will lift their leaves straight up and fold them, almost looking like they are in prayer. The plants move up and down on their own quite a bit, making them unique.
The leaves themselves are gorgeous as well. There are four main types of Prayer Plants.
The first is the Green Prayer Plant. They are usually bright green with dark green splotches along the leaves. Sometimes, these splotches may even be dark purple or red and people compare these spots to animal tracks. This is why the Prayer Plant has another common name and is sometimes referred to as a Rabbit Track Plant.
One often seen online is the Red Prayer Plant, also called the Herringbone Plant, as it has waxy dark green leaves. Near the center of the leaves, they are more of a bright yellow-green, and the veins are bright pink.
Black Prayer Plants are smaller and have more of a fuzzy leaf. They are dark green to the point of almost being black, and some describe the leaves as a dark silver-blue with greener margin colors. The center is usually brighter and often a purple color.
The final Prayer Plant is the Pinstripe Calathea. It has dark green leaves with pinstripes of lighter, almost white-green. There is usually a lot of contrast on the leaves because of this.
Why Does My Prayer Plant not Pray?
If your Prayer Plant doesn’t seem to be moving throughout the night, a few common issues could be causing it. First is too much or too little light. The second is that the soil could be dry, or your plant could be shocked.
If your Prayer Plant stops moving, it isn’t an immediate cause for concern. Instead, it may be warning you that something is wrong in its environment and needs changing. However, while you may be sad to lose this movement temporarily, your plant will continue to grow and live without the motion.
Where Should I Put My Prayer Plant?
There aren’t many places where a Prayer Plant can be an outdoor plant in the United States. Instead, it is best to keep them indoors in a humid and warm environment. For sunlight, they do better, somewhere they can get bright but indirect light inside your home, or where they can get early morning light and not harsh afternoon light.
Summary
Prayer Plants are unique plants that move throughout the night to a standing-up position. Though most people get these plants because of this unique movement and their beautiful leaves, some people want the challenge of getting their flowers to bloom.
A flowering Prayer Plant is a sign that it is thriving under your care as they only bloom in ideal conditions, but as they are very particular about their environment, they may go years without blooming.
A flowering Prayer Plant may slow growth or kill off already-dying leaves but poses no harm to the plant itself. Instead, it is an achievement many struggle to get, so if you find your plant blooming, you can feel good knowing it is happy and healthy.