How To Propagate A Prayer Plant

The prayer plant, or maranta, is a stunning houseplant that is also one of the easiest plants to care for.

Many people have fallen in love with their beautifully patterned leaves and any of the over 50 different varieties is sure to add some green beauty to your home.

Prayer plants like to grow and this makes them simple plants to propagate. You can take several cuttings from a prayer plant and they will grow into their own plants that are full of vitality and are just as stunning as their parent plant.

In this article, we will explain the best methods to propagate a prayer plant. If you follow our instructions and tips, you’ll soon have several beautiful prayer plants of your own!

How To Propagate A Prayer Plant

There are several ways that you can propagate a prayer plant. Although some methods are easier than others, the best method is usually the one that suits your needs the most. 

You can propagate a prayer plant by:

• placing cuttings in water
• placing cuttings in soil
• propagating from seeds
• propagating from root division

For most people, the easiest way to propagate a prayer plant will be one of the first two options. These are the two methods we will look into.

How To Cut A Prayer Plant For Propagation

If you’re going to propagate a prayer plant from cuttings, then the first step is to make your cuttings!

You can’t just cut any part of the plant and expect success so we will explain how to cut your prayer plant for propagation correctly.

When you make your cut, you need to make sure that you make it below a plant node in order for it to propagate. On a prayer plant, these nodes are where the stem of a leaf (known as a petiole) attaches to the main stem of the plant.

You can also find petioles on prayer plants when smaller leaves grow from the stems of larger leaves.

Prayer plants are able to grow networks of stems and leaves that don’t directly attach to the main stem and you can cut them here, as well. 

As long as your cutting takes place below a petiole node, it doesn’t matter if it is attached to the main stem of the plant or just to a larger leaf.

You need the node to be part of your cutting as this is where the roots of the new plant will grow from. Remember to always cut below the node instead of above it.

How To Propagate A Cutting In Water

Now that you have your cutting, you can look at propagating it. Using water to propagate a prayer plant is probably the simplest method and one you can easily do at home without any complicated or expensive materials.

You will need a glass jar for this and it should be filled with some clean water.

Take your prayer plant cutting and place it in the water, making sure that the water is deep enough for the petiole to be submerged below the surface.

However, the water shouldn’t be so deep that any leaves are underneath it too.

Once you’ve placed the cutting in the jar, place the jar somewhere that it can receive lots of bright, but indirect sunlight. You will need to monitor the jar and the water level and top up the water whenever it falls below the node. 

Eventually, you will see that the root system of the cutting will start to grow. It usually takes a few weeks to a month for the roots to grow long enough for this to happen. Ideally, the roots should be around two to three inches long.

When the roots reach this length, you can remove the cutting from the jar and plant it into a pot and some soil. Once planted, water it well, and then you can begin to care for the plant as you would any other prayer plant.

How To Propagate A Cutting In Soil

The second option for propagating a prayer plant cutting is by using soil. This is very similar to the previous method we just explained.

Instead of placing the cutting in a jar of water, you can completely skip that step and jump straight to planting it in a pot with some soil.

If you choose this method, ensure that the node is completely covered by the soil but that any leaves are not. The soil must be kept moist so that your new cutting can get all of the water it needs.

Place your pot with your cutting in a place where it can get bright but indirect sunlight. You will need to monitor the soil to ensure that it remains moist and water it whenever needed. This will allow the roots to develop. 

You can speed this along and help your plant propagate by placing a clear plastic bag over the top of the cutting and pot. This keeps the humidity in and prevents the soil and cutting from drying out as quickly.

Just remember to remove the bag frequently so that the cutting can get some fresh air and oxygen. We would recommend removing the bag every other day.

When you use the soil method instead of the water method, it can be more difficult to know when your cutting is taking root. With water, you can see that the roots have grown but this isn’t possible with soil. 

You can check the progress of your cutting by gently tugging it. Wait a few weeks before you try this and if you feel some resistance from the plant, that is a sign that the roots have bedded in and you can treat the cutting like a regular prayer plant. 

Final Thoughts

In this article, we listed two different methods for propagating a prayer plant from a cutting. We gave step-by-step instructions for making your cutting and then explained how to propagate it in both water and soil.