How often to water prayer plant

The interval

A prayer plant is watered about every 5 days in the growing season and about every 9 days in winter. Growing season means the warm, bright months from spring to early autumn, roughly March to September in the northern hemisphere and September to March in the southern. Winter is the cold, short-day part of your own year. NC State Extension asks for evenly moist soil through the growing season and says to hold back on watering in winter, and the interval stretches because a plant in weak light drinks less.

The margin is narrow. Let the surface dry slightly between waterings, and never let the pot dry right through. Push a finger 1 to 2 cm into the compost: if it is dry at that depth, water, and if it is damp, wait. Then lift the pot. The Royal Horticultural Society says a drier pot feels lighter than a wet one, and a prayer plant in a small pot is easy to judge this way.

Water from the top with rainwater or filtered water at room temperature, until water runs from the drainage holes, and empty the saucer. NC State Extension warns that the leaves burn with high fluoride and with over-fertilising, and chlorine and dissolved minerals in tap water are the usual cause of brown edges. Humidity is high for this plant. Mist it about every 2 days, or stand the pot on a tray of wet pebbles, as NC State Extension suggests, or keep it in a steamy bathroom.

Too much water gives root rot, which NC State Extension warns can occur in poorly drained soil, and shows as limp leaves in damp compost. Too little, or dry air, shows as brown edges. Look at the compost before you blame the air.

What is particular to this plant is that its roots are shallow. A deep pot only holds wet compost, so use a shallow one, and divide a crowded clump at repotting. The leaves rise in the evening and lower at dawn, and a plant that stops doing it is usually too cold, too dry or too wet, so the nightly movement is a free moisture gauge.

Related guides

How to tell whether a plant actually needs water

The finger, the weight, the leaf and the pot. Four ways to read a plant's thirst, and what overwatering actually is.

Rescuing an overwatered plant

How to tell overwatering from underwatering, how much root damage is recoverable, and the exact rescue steps once compost has stayed wet too long.

Watering through a southern winter

Winter in the southern hemisphere runs June to August, and houseplants drink far less then. How to read the soil, and why overwatering is the bigger risk.