How to Root a Prayer Plant

Prayer plant (Maranta spp.), with its striped leaves that fold like hands at prayer, is a beautiful and easy-to-grow houseplant. It is just as easy to propagate as it is to grow. If you have a prayer plant you'd like to multiply, or if a friend has given you a piece of the plant, rooting it is an easy indoor gardening project.

Things You'll Need

• Sharp knife
• 6-inch deep plastic pot
• Potting medium
• Rooting hormone

Instructions

1. Prepare a 6-inch deep plastic pot by filling it with a light, well-draining potting medium. A potting mix with about 1/2 peat moss and 1/2 vermiculite and/or perlite is ideal. Set the pot in a pan for a few hours to moisten the mix from the bottom up. Overhead watering will compact the mix.

2. Gently poke several holes into the soil with a sharpened pencil, making sure not to compact the soil by excessive movements. The holes should be about 2 inches apart.

3. With a sharp knife, cut several prayer plant stem tips from the parent plant, about 6 inches long each. Trim the stems by diagonally cutting them directly below a leaf.

4. Carefully trim the leaves from the bottom of each stem so that leaves cover the top half and are absent from the bottom.

5. Dip the bottom half of each stem in rooting hormone, making sure the powder gets on all cut parts of the stem. Gently tap excess powder from the stem.

6. Place each stem in a hole in the soil, being careful not to knock the rooting hormone off the stem. Gently tamp the soil around the stem to secure it in place. Don't compact the soil.

7. Place the cuttings in bright, filtered light. If your house is dry, humidify the area immediately around the pot by placing it on rocks in a pan of water.

8. Keep the soil moist, but never soggy, which encourages rot. Place the pot in a pan of water to re-moisten the soil when it shows the first sign of drying.

9. Rooting will take a few weeks. Gently pull on a stem to see if it resists pulling out. When a stem resists, it is ready to transplant to its own container.

Tips & Warnings

• You can root prayer plant any time of year, but you will have the best results when the plant is actively growing--about April through September.

• Potted prayer plants often consist of several cuttings in a pot. You can leave all the stems in the one pot to create a full pot very quickly, if you wish.

References

• Texas Agricultural Extension: Propagating Foliage & Flowering Plants
• New Mexico Master Gardeners: Asexual Plant Propagation