Hirt's Red Prayer Plant - Maranta - Easy to Grow House Plant - 4" Pot

I bought this as a gift for a coworker and it was my first time ordering a plant online. 🪴 Nevertheless I was a bit skeptical. I was a new plant mom myself so trying to advise someone about where to buy plants was not my forte. The plant arrived during a torrential rainstorm with no hiccups. Hirt's had packaged this plant with care and whoa was I surprised. She arrived in perfect health with all leaves intact, and the perfect size. The picture on the right was fresh out the box. Six weeks later, I still have not given her to my coworker. 🫠 But I went ahead and ordered her another one, which should arrive in a few days. My prayer plant 😁 has been potted and growing like weeds. I had to find the right space in my house for her, I can't wait to see what she is going to do.

I am so disappointed with this purchase. This is the most pitiful plant I have ever received. The plant came with two leaves, one already soggy and dead the other mostly dried up, stuck inside a nursery pot with over watered soil. What I received is a “rooted cutting” without mature roots rather than a plant. It looks like a cutting stuffed in soil. The plant came with two leaves on a small stem with two tiny roots. The packaging was also unsatisfactory, with 2/3 of the potting soil upended and in the bottom of the shipping box. The soil was extremely wet when I opened the package and completely separated from plant. The plant was practically hanging out of the soil by a single root. The one remaining leaf is mostly dried up even though the soil was still moist. Since the plant was hanging out of the soil, I could easily see that the poor plant has only two small roots. I have purchased plants from Amazon before and they have looked great, not the case here. I will try to see if I can get a root system going with the tiny stem I received. If company would send me a respectable plant, I would give it a positive review.

The plant arrived much quicker than I expected. I don't really know anything about plants, but my neighbor said it looked healthy, except for 1 small leaf was yellow. She advised me to remove it, so I did. As far as I can tell, it looks really good. I'm hoping it will be easy to care for & thrive in my apartment. Update 12/14/2016 Despite my best efforts, the poor plant is looking terrible. Some of the leaves have come off, some look almost see through, and all in all pretty wilted & sad looking. I did some research, and this plant apparently needs humidity. I'm in upstate NY, & there is barely any humidity in my apartment. So, I bought a humidifier, and have also been boiling water on the stove in an effort to get the humidity up. But I can't get it above 36%, and that just doesn't seem to be enough. It's not completely dead yet, but it's not looking like it will make it. I probably should have done more research before buying, so it's my own fault. But I thought I should update in case it might help someone else. Update (again) 12/25/2016. Somehow, the plant is looking much better now. I'm keeping it right next to a humidifier, & using a pebble tray.

When I received the package, some of my prayer plant leaves were bent & torn/dead. I removed the dead leaves, and repotted my lil guy into a larger pot with more soil. I cleaned off the leaves with a wet paper towel, and watered it with warmish water (for humidity reasons). All I can say is i'm PRAYING this plant survives ;). Although my prayer plant's leaves were a little messed up...the other plant I ordered (Heart Leaf Philodendron) was in perfect condition. I'm still planning on reordering from Hirt's again. I might just order one plant at a time with a day or two in between....so I get my plants shipped separately in different boxes. I think having two plants in a tiny box might be the culprit for my prayer plant's leaves being ripped & bent all up.

I was not sure if I was going to like this plant since it is such an unique plant. When I was browsing plants on amazon, I saw that this plant was on sale so I purchased it. Now that I see this plant in person, I fell in love! It is very beautiful and healthy. I ordered more immediately to give them to my friends! Update: I ordered 2 more since I loved the first one ; however the plants I got the second time were nothing like the first one (one plant was about he same size with the first order but the other was significantly smaller and had a leaf or two) so I contacted the seller and they sent me replacements. Sadly I received the wrong plants. I contacted the seller again and they send me another shipment. The plants I received this time were the right plants but not as big as the first one. There are 2 leaves/ stems in a pot and they are not even rooted well. Mixed feelings about their products and inconsistency. I appreciated the fact that the customer service kept in touch with me though. Attached the pics of the first plant, the plants from the second order, and the replacements for the second order.

Update a month later. My initial assessment wasn’t fair. I see now that with mailed plants the loss of a few leaves or a few damaged leaves on arrival is fine. What matters is that the plant is well established. This plant was indeed well rooted and healthy. It was repotted to a larger pot after four weeks. It has been thriving and shooting new leaves in its new location with the standard care (regular watering and a tray with pebbles with water to provide humidity). ***** Previous review : The plant is just ok. About four healthy leaves, as many were dried up and had to go. Barely rooted at all. So far it hasn’t perked up. Was packaged fine and was moist on arrival so I can only guess that prior care was not great. I’m sure it will be okay with some tlc, that’s kind of a chance you take with mailed plants.

Got my prayer plant in the mail today. Broken and one yellow leaf. Hoping I can get it healthy and the broken piece will root.