Maranta leuconera image source: care: Floresyplantas
In the genre of marantas, the maranta leuconera is one of the best known and appreciated for its leaves with green and red tones. Its maintenance is very simple, but it is true that it is necessary to know a little in depth what are the needs to be covered to avoid major problems.
Then we discover you what is the care of the maranta leuconera and everything you need to know to grow this prayer plant healthy and fast in your home.
Contents
Caring for the maranta leuconera
leucone maranta it is characterized by growth in width and not in length. Its branches are not strong enough to support the weight, which is why it is sold as a hanging plant or as a trailing plant. Therefore, it is indicated in small spaces.
Its stems are quite long and root easily, so it makes sense that when you have it, in a short time it can increase in size.
Native to Central and South America, this plant has very striking leaves. On the underside they will be entirely red while on the top they will be light green with touches of dark green, yellow or white and red. in the area of the leaf veins.
Something that not many people know is that this plant, called “prayer plant”, moves. During the day it usually has its leaves unfurled but as it loses light they bend like when we join our hands in prayer. This plant too.
And do you want to know their care? Well, be careful.
lighting and temperature
Let’s start with the first. The location of your maranta leuconera. You should know that, in their natural habitat, they are on the ground and surrounded by vegetation much higher than them, making them barely receive sunlight. And that’s what you need to provide. Place it in a semi-shaded place, where it gets some light, but not too much.
If you want the drawing of the leaves to be very clear, it is better to give it a little light, perhaps first or last in the morning, so that it retains that shine.
Regarding its temperature, you must take into account that the ideal is between 20 and 25 degrees. Does that mean you can’t take it anymore? In fact, yes, it can handle more degrees without a problem, as long as you watch the humidity in the room (as this will prevent the leaves from drying out and appearing scorched).
Now well, if the temperature drops below 5 degrees things change and the plant itself could suffer a lot, so this must be taken into account.
Substrate
In case you need to transplant it, what you can do when you see the roots coming out (since it is more of a horizontal plant than a vertical one, you may not have to transplant it as quickly as the others).
The earth to be used we recommend that it be very light. you can use a mix of substrate, perlite and a little orchid soil or leca to ensure that the roots are always well aired, because it is important.
Irrigation
We come to one of the most important and decisive treatments of the maranta leuconera. If you go too far, he dies, and if you fail too.
To give you an idea. As it is a plant that is more indoors than outdoors, watering in summer and winter is not as abundant as for other plants.. You can water it once a week in summer and every 10-15 days in summer.
In reality, The most important thing and where you should focus your efforts is on humidity. It needs high ambient humidity.
To do this, you can put a plate with stones or pebbles, one with perlite and water or a humidifier. This way, you’ll help it feed on that water without needing constant watering (in winter, you might not even have to water if you keep it moist).
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During the spring and summer months it may be advisable to fertilizer to give it more strength. We recommend that it is liquid fertilizer and that you mix it with the irrigation water.
You can put it in the humidifier (or in the water dish) or put it in the irrigation water. Both options are good and can be very effective.
Plagues and diseases
In general, it can be said that pests and diseases are not a very big problem when it comes to caring for arrowroot leukonera. But it’s true that There are two pests that should not be overlooked: the red spider mite and the cochineal. If you are attacked, your health may be affected.
As for diseases, most are related to irrigation. This will produce fungus that will appear on the leaves.
Multiplication
Image – Wikimedia/Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz
Do you want to reproduce your maranta leuconera? Well, it’s not as difficult as you might think at first, quite the contrary.
The arrowroot can be multiplied in two different ways:
- By cuttings. It consists of cutting a branch of the plant, about 10 centimeters. You need to make sure it has a knot because that’s where the roots will come out. You just need to put it in a jar or glass with water and wait for the roots to come out (normally in about 3 weeks you will get it). When these are abundant, you can plant it and keep the soil moist and the temperature warm so that it adapts well.
- By division. It is the fastest, because it simply consists of dividing the plant into several parts. Of course, you have to make sure that they all have enough roots and several stems for it to reproduce well.
What many do is take a part of the plant and when it is well established plant it in the same pot to give it more volume.
As you see, Caring for maranta leuconera is not complicated at all, In return, it is a very grateful plant that will attract a lot of attention when you have it. Of course, it is inconvenient to place it where there are a lot of plants. Although this is a way to provide an ecosystem and better humidity, it can get overwhelmed if there are a lot of plants around it, so it will need you to give it its space. Do you dare to have this plant at home?