Dog try this tonight.

Take a ;pic of it this after noon. Then tonight Turn the light off and leave the room for about an hour and go back in and take another pic. Compare the pictures.

Sometime it is not a dramatic difference. My plant seems to do more of a dramatic movement when it is outside in the summer. I do not know if it is the humidity, heat or the amount of light but I know the more noticeable movement is when I have it outside for the summer. I can sit there and see the leaves moving like something is inside the pot.

Cinta, that's got to be wild.

I've heard rustling before. Hubby looked at me and went, what was that?!

The Stromanthe sanguinea tricolor I posted above is the one I got up and started to run. Those leaves are big and when they move they you notice. I have never seen the prayer plant move as much as that one or make as much noise. It really startled me.

When your house sits back in the woods and it is dusk you get a little jumpy when things get to moving and you do not see what is moving.

It's a good thing that I always kept that one in my living room. The leaves are thicker and larger and yes, I can imagine them making one uneasy if you hear something rustling and see leaves moving in the dark. If it were me, I know that I'd be scooting inside in a hurry too, woods or no woods. Right now mine is in the garage at night and outdoors less and less hours during the day, as I transition it to life indoors again.

Debbie it is one of my plants that does not seem to care that it is in doors. It does want a lot of water when it comes in for the winter

Cinta said:The Stromanthe sanguinea tricolor I posted above is the one I got up and started to run.

I would, too, I'm sure! Especially outside.


I did the dark for an hour thing and checked back later and you're right, some of the leaves were folded a tiny bit and I caught a bit of a jiggling of a couple leaves.

DND you can imagine with large leaves it is not a little jiggling. Those big leaves can scare a girl to death.

I hope it's ok to ask a quick question here instead of a new thread. I noticed flowers on some of the photos in the database. What a bonus for an already beautiful plant! I am curious; what time of year would there be blooms?

The database shows Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura) bloom time as summer. My plants have had sporadic blooms since September ... possibly because the weather is still very summer like here with daytime temp's in the mid and upper 80's and nights in the low to mid 70's.

Well, that was I didn't pay attention to the text. I had uploaded an image yesterday when I noticed some had flowers. Thank you for pointing that out.

Summer is when I saw mine bloom too. My mother had this plant and I never saw a bloom. Probably because she never put it outside. When mine received morning sun outside it bloomed in July.

The bloom pics in this plants' entry in the database here show blooms at all times of the year. I've seen them on my plants inside over winter and while outside for summer.

Dec. 19 '12:

Beautiful shot Tiffany!

TY! It was very glittery & intricate, when I looked very closely, such soft little petals. I think these may bloom a bit more often than people think, on the side nearest the window, without anybody noticing, for those who have mastered that advanced technique of perfect benign neglect and have tons of great looking foliage. I can't keep this plant looking happy all of the time, but whenever it gets to looking nice, it blooms. I have separated into 2 at this point, which has caused suicidal tendencies for both, that persist... Oh well, at least this 3+ year run with the latest specimen(s) has been that long, an improvement for me.

For those of you who are new to this plant here something to note FYI: Like calatheas, maranthas form rhizomes and may go dormant if the air is too dry or if the plant dries out. You'll see the leaves turning brown and curling in on itself. Don't panic and discard it. Let it rest, but keep the soil slightly moist. Don't let it completely dry out. It will re-awaken in the spring. I place mine outdoors at that time. If it's happy it will bloom year round.

Thank you Debbie that is good info,

It will probably not bloom in my house because PA generally is partly cloudy, partly sunny all winter. There is so little sun because of mountains and the city is basically down in a valley.

Lack of sun depression is very common in this city.

I'll post a picture when I get it off the camera, but my prayer plant seems to be happy. It is about to open its forth new leaf. I mist it every day and it is kept in the bathroom where the majority of us shower; it's also the laundry room. There is a south and west window in there, but the position it and other plants are in, it gets no direct sun.

Both of mine are withering; I'm not going to discard them though ... didn't someone say they go dormant?

Mine is not looking good either. I knew when I purchased this plant I was going to kill it. I have kept it moist I have no idea why it is failing.