Leggy Prayer Plant
Prayer plants are a beautiful popular houseplant known for their delicate pink detailing and the way they move throughout the course of 24 hours as if they were praying. They make a great houseplant being relatively easy to care for, looking great and easy to find but what happens when you get a leggy prayer plant? When your beautiful plant starts to lose its volume and droop. Why is this happening? And what can you do about it? Let’s take a look and find out.
Why Is My Prayer Plant Leggy?
The main reason for a leggy prayer plant is due to a lack of sufficient light. The recommended lighting condition for a prayer plant is bright indirect light. You mustn’t place your prayer plant in direct sunlight as this could scorch their delicate leaves but on the other hand, if your plant is placed too far away from a light source then you will notice it becoming leggy which is never a good look. This is because the stems are stretching themselves trying to grow towards the light source before they put out new growth in terms of leaves.
If you want to prevent your prayer plant from becoming leggy or to stop a leggy prayer plant in its tracks then you need to move your plant to a bright spot immediately. If its the winter or if you live somewhere like Washington state with its constant rainy days then you could probably get away with putting your prayer plant directly on the windowsill. If this isn’t the case and you live somewhere with lots of sun then you’re going to want to give your plant access to bright but INDIRECT light to help protect its foliage.
What If I Don’t Have Access To Bright Light?
If you don’t have bright light in your home and your leggy prayer plant is getting worse despite your best efforts to provide it with light then why not try using a grow light? The plant needs light but this light doesn’t have to be natural. Grow lights can be used in place of natural light to help your plant get all the light it needs. You can find grow lights on amazon and they’re often big enough to help provide light to several plants at a time.
What To Do With An Already Leggy Prayer Plant
Putting your plant in a bright spot will prevent further stem elongation but won’t do anything to fix your already leggy prayer plant. If you don’t like the look of your plant then you have no other option than to trim it. Take a pair of sharp sterilised scissors to ensure a clean cut. Then cut away the stretched pieces of stem that you don’t want on your plant anymore. Be careful not to cut too much of the plant away in one go as this can shock it.
These stem cuttings can then be used for propagation to make new plants but try to do this during the spring and summer for the greatest chances of success. Just make sure when you take a stem cutting that the section has a node. Then you can either place this in a glass of water and watch the roots grow or you can plant it straight into soil.
Article: Leggy Prayer Plant
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