Prayer plants (Maranta leuconeura) are a stunning species of tropical plant with distinctive foliage and attractive blooms. With the right care and environment, these plants can be quite easy to maintain indoors and can add a lot of beauty to your home.
One question many people have when considering adding prayer plants to their collection is, “how often do prayer plants flower?”
The answer can vary depending upon a variety of factors, including the species of prayer plant, how it is cared for and where it is grown. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the different factors that can affect how often prayer plants flower and provide some tips to help you get the best out of your prayer plants and get them to bloom more often.
Prayer plants rarely flower indoors
Prayer plants are a type of foliage plant that are known for their unique and attractive leaves. Though these plants are often found in the wild and – outdoors – can flower during spring and summer, but when grown indoors, prayer plants rarely flower.
This is because the conditions of the typical home or office simply do not provide the necessary requirements for the plant to bloom. To encourage flowering, you should provide your prayer plant with ample sunlight, high humidity, and consistent temperatures.
If you give your prayer plant these conditions, you may be rewarded with a (perhaps a bit disappointing) display of blooms.
Pruning and proper care can encourage blooming
Pruning and proper care can encourage blooming in prayer plants.
To encourage blooming, prune the stems of your prayer plant back by about one-third of their length during fall or in spring. Remove any dead or dying leaves and stems using sharp pruning shears.
Pruning back your prayer plant will reduce legginess and encourage a healthy, bushy growth pattern. This will help reduce the amount of energy your prayer plant is using to maintain stems and leaves that aren’t benefitting the plant.
Doing so, combined with adjusting lighting based on the below recommendations will give your plant enough energy to focus on flowering.
Low light levels can inhibit flowering
Prayer plants are beautiful and relatively easy to care for, but they can be slow to bloom. One factor in the lack of blooming can be the amount of light the plant is getting.
Low light levels can be one of the main factors that inhibit flowering on these plants when grown indoors, so if your prayer plant is not producing flowers, you should make sure it is getting ample sunlight or artificial light from a proper grow light.
Prayer plants generally prefer light levels of medium to high, so make sure your prayer plant is placed in a bright spot that is not receiving direct sunlight.
Temperature and humidity levels can affect blooming
Temperature and humidity levels can have a drastic effect on how often prayer plants flower.
Prayer plants like to grow in warm temperatures, ideally between 65-85 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, they require high humidity levels, so they should either be placed near a humidifier or near a water source.
If the temperature or humidity levels are too low, the flowers may not bloom as often as they would otherwise, because they are used to growing in tropical climates and are too cold or at too low of humidity to effectively grow like they would in the wild.
This isn’t going to be as huge a factor as some of the other ones on this list, but giving your prayer plant the right conditions is about adjusting a lot of small factors to help your plant be as healthy as possible.
Fertilizing regularly can encourage flowering
Praying plants are known for their attractive foliage and their occasional blooms. To ensure you get the most out of your prayer plant’s blooms, it is important to fertilize regularly.
Fertilizing during the growing season can promote the development of more flowers and help them to last longer. The type of fertilizer you use should be low in nitrogen and high in phosphorus and potassium. This will provide your prayer plant with the essential nutrients it needs to bloom and remain healthy.
Additionally, reducing the amount of fertilizer you use during the winter months is recommended, as your plant will grow more slowly when it is colder.
A final note on fertilizer is that if you are interested in prayer plants for their foliage and not their flowers, you should be using a higher nitrogen fertilizer for indoor plants. Because high nitrogen can often inhibit blooming by encouraging plants to grow more leaves, however, a lower nitrogen fertilizer should be used if you are trying to encourage your prayer plant to bloom.
Conclusion
In conclusion, prayer plants can be a great addition to your home or office if you are looking for a plant that will bring life, color, and beauty to your space.
While these plants may not flower often, when they do, it can be a rewarding experience because of how rare it is. Honestly, though, it may not be worth the effort of trying to get a prayer plant to bloom indoors. Since these plants are grown for their remarkable foliage, it’s perfectly fine to ignore the prospect of flowers and focus just on what your prayer plant does best.
You will likely need to provide a lot of care, including adequate amounts of light, water, and fertilizer, in order to ensure that your prayer plant is able to bloom and thrive.