Nmo1223
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 3:21 pm

Dumb cane help?!

    I received this plant in an arrangement combined with a few others so I never knew what it was until last night. Now I know it's a dieffenbachia of some sort. Sometimes it does well and other times like now it looses leaves and color. I just read about how to care for it and now I understand what I was doing wrong but its thin and leggy. Can I cut the weird stalk and somehow plant it to make like a cluster or dumb cane? Can it grow in water? I've attached a picture taken about a month ago. Thanks in advance.
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    catgrass
    Green Thumb
    Posts: 532
    Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2014 2:56 pm
    Location: Southwest Louisiana

    I would remove it and replant in a pot one size bigger. If you cut the stem and re-pot at the same time, the plant may go into shock and not recover. Put in an area where it will receive indirect light, but not too much. They will survive in low light, but only if healthy. After it is healthy, yes, you can cut it off and it will 'branch'. You can pot up the cutting and have another plant.

    Nmo1223
    Newly Registered
    Posts: 2
    Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 3:21 pm

    I had just repotted it when I snapped the picture, could that be the reason its not doing so well? I have it by a window that gets sun. Thank you for your reply :)

    imafan26
    Mod
    Posts: 13962
    Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
    Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

    Dumb cane is forgiving but it does not need a lot of water. The leaves are looking smaller because the top was cut off and the side shoots are on smaller stems. You can separate those stems and pot them up separately and just leave one shoot.
    The loss of the leaf color is probably because it is not getting a lot of light. The leaves will be green in less light and be almost white in full sun or bright light. Remember the more variegated a plant is the more light it requires. Whe you put a variegated plant in low light most of them will revert. Green leaves can do more photosynthesis than white ones.



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