Dieffenbachia (Dumb Cane) Plant Care
Common Name: Dieffenbachia (Dumb Cane)
Scientific Name: Dieffenbachia Species
Lighting: Moderate to Low
Watering: Moderate to Heavy
The Dieffenbachia (Dumb Cane) is an extremely common houseplant. It is also one of the easiest to care for. The foliage entails elliptical shaped leaves however the colors can vary greatly between type. Some foliage may be all green, cream with green borders or a mix between the two.
Dieffenbachia requires moist soil, so water frequently. You may also place a tray under the pot with water in it to help in keeping the plants soil moist at all times. This houseplant also requires high humidity levels so misting daily will also help keep the Dumb Cane healthy.
This houseplant prefers to be within 5 to 8 feet of a window, but will survive lower light levels. However please caution against placing the plant anywhere near drafty areas. The Dieffenbachia also prefers temperatures above 60 F.
The Dieffenbachia contains a toxic sap thus giving the name Dumb Cane, so please keep out of reach of children or animals that may try and eat the plant. It is one of the many poisonous houseplants you may have in your home.
Common varieties of the Dieffenbachia include the Exotica Compacta, Australian, Tropic Marianne, Paradise, Camille and Tropic Snow.
Overall, Dieffenbachia is fairly simple to care for. Please view my top 10 easy to grow houseplants for other non-time consuming options.
Labels: bathroom houseplants, easy to grow houseplants, poisonous houseplants
posted by drayas @ 9:29 PM
54 Comments:
my boy friend bought two small plants about 12'' from a store last sept on clearance . his care was the total opposite from what any site suggests. full sun in a drafty plexy glass window of an old school next to a heater. anyway he brought them home and they looked good but were in ugly black pots so i decided to plant them both together in a big pot. cheap potting soil and have them in indirect sun i water them once a week . both plants have a lot of new shoots coming out the bottom and new green growth on the top but one plant is looking a lot of leaves from the bottom .im not good a plants so i thought since i used cheap soil i would fertilize i think it was helped abit plant looks greener any suggestions
What do you do with these plants once they grow too tall and start to fall over? Other than "splinting" them, are there other alternatives?
If they are growing to tall and falling over, are they reaching for light? Typically they will get fuller before taller.
Other than splitting them, I'm not sure how else you could shorten them.
Thanks,
drayas
I'm in Florida and I have a healthy deiffenbachia on my lanai but I am getting yellowed leaves on the bottom older leaves. Help!
My neighbor moved to an apt. in Manhattan and had no place for her dieffenbachia which she has had for 40 yrs. The leaves are 18" plus. It stands over 8 feet tall but I have a skylight to over 20 feet. At any rate, the original owner would water the plant every month to month & a half. The soil is dry but I continue to see new growth. These are tips that are totally not in line with the suggested care of this plant. The plant continues to grow and I have watered it once since late August 2008. Good luck.
I have a dieffenbachia that, in the past couple of weeks, has had a leaf turn yellow and dies, several times. Is there something wrong with my plant? And, also, how do I know when to re-pot my plant. My plant is about three feet tall. Nancy
Nancy,
Yellowing leaves are a fairly common symptom. It could mean the plant is not receiving enough light or water or the plant is simply shedding its older foliage.
Have you had the plant long? Have you changed anything in terms of watering or lighting?
Thanks,
drayas
What do I do with the pods that are growing out of my dieffenbachia? There are 3 of them. If I cut them off, will it damage the plant? Help
I don't know what kind of pods are on a Dieffenbachia. I have never seen them in all my years enjoying the plant
i even cut off a super tall plant that had fallen over and just stuck the top in water with rocks in the bottom. looks pretty cool to see the roots growing through the rocks.
my dad covered the 2 foot stem with no leaves and 3 or 4 completely new plants sprouted.
i also agree that drier soil than suggested works just fine.
i've had success in low and high sunlight.
hope this helps.
luckydog2,
Could you describe the "pods" you're witnessing? Like Barbara said, I have never seen pods on a Dumb Cane before.
Thanks,
drayas
I have a dieffenbachia that is almost 3 years old. It has not flowered (long white pods)since I first got it. Lately, most of the leaves have turned yellow and there is no sign of new growth. I water it once every two weeks and it is positioned about 3 feet from a window, which receives direct sunlight. Please help me resurrect my plant.
Hello,
I would try watering it more often. Dieffenbachia require heavy water levels. Try watering once a week instead of every two weeks and see if it improves. Keep us posted.
drayas
i have one of these plants. i have had it for about 6 months. recently i notices a bunch of my big leaves turning yellow. why is this. also how do u trim them off so u dont hurt the rest of the plant?
Hello,
Have you changed your watering routine? Typically yellowing means it may be overwatered. Also, you can remove the yellowed leaves without damaging the plant.
Thanks,
drayas
My plant also has been sprouting "pods". They sprout where the white "flowers" are, are green, look like a bean of some kind. One of them has also turned red and looks like a pistachio nut. I have had this plant for 8 years and the "pods" have only been sprouting in the last 3-4 months. I have repotted it once, and it needs repotted again.
hello, I have had a dieffenbachia since 1999. I only learned this year what type of plant it was. It fell over and curved then started growing back up years ago. A month ago, I came into my office and it had fell over again. All the years except three yellowed and fell off. I thought he was dieing!! Now it has started new leaves at the very top, has bumps on it and now a new growth is sprouting from the soil. What is going on and how can I amke sure my plant wont die? I have had him for ten long year! HELP Malissa
if you dieffenbachia leaves are turning yellow and dropping , ck the underside of your leaves for tiny red spots (spider mites) I had a problem recently I used dish detergent diluted with plenty water and srayed the undersides of all the leaves also try using a cotton swab moistened with the solution,this should be done like once a week untill you no longer see any small red spots on the leaves or stalk. good luck..
I need to know if my dieffenbachia can be replanted. It has 3 feet of thin stalk and 1 foot healthy leaves. I have to use 2 bamboo sticks to support it. Can I cut off the top foot and replant immediatly or does it need to be in water til it reroots itself. Can the stalk be cut up and either rerooted or planted directly. plant is 33 years old and we got it the 1st year we were married. Hate to lose it, if it dies do we.. HaHaHa!!!! just kidding. hope you have some suggestions.
I have had our Dumb Cane for 6 yrs now and it is close to 7' tall... and it leans and I do have it tied to the ceiling, how do I cut it and replant it?
I have been searching for the propper method everywhere and, No luck
Thanks
We have had our dum plant for 3 years. It was a broken piece of plant when we rec'ved it not its nearly 6ft tall. It is just growing straight up and my husband mentioned it should be bushier-3ft stalk with no leaves on it. Can anyone suggest how we make it bushier?
Hello, I need help with rescuing my plant. Background info: I have had it in a window and watered it with my other plants every other week and use some fertilizer. Also I have re potted twice in the last 20mo. My plant is four stalks, each with three leaves at the top all the others have turned yellow and died months ago, and it is only about 12in tall. I could see I don't know what I am doing. So I Googled and found this site -awesome. How do you suggest I save the poor thing. I would really appreciate more defining of MEDIUM LIGHT which is what the tag states it needs. My windows don't have rays of sunshine coming in so that is why I thought it needed to be in the window.
When I married my husband, his plants were in need of some TLC. One is a deiffenbachia which has 8 stalks, each are about 4 feet of stalk and about 2 feet of leaves. It lays all over the floor. Should I cut it down-will it make new leaves or do I have to help it stand up? Please help
Cut the fallen plant and put it in water until the roots sprout. Then plant it in potting soil, its practically fool proof.
I have a dieffenbachia that I got about a month ago, and have watered about once a week. In the past few days, the leaves have started to droop and fall over, but they aren't turning yellow or anything. It gets a bit of sunlight, but not a whole lot. And the temperature in my room gets down to about 50 degrees at times (i live in a really crappy dorm) but it's usually fairly warm. Any suggestions?
I have a dieffenbachia and when I bought it it had beautiful green leaves with white centers. Now, it only has green leaves, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to get the white centers back or if the plant will be green forever? Thanks!
I noticed that a few people mentioned "pods". I just resently bought a plant about a month ago. And immediatly repotted the plant the same day. I now have four new leaves already and as of a few days ago noticed two "pods" and possibly a third coming up. Every place I looked and everyone I have asked never heard or seen of this. I am just trying to find out if it will stay a pod - does it flower? Will it fall off? Kinda curious to know more about this plant.
hi i just bought a Dieffenbachia it was in bad condetion i thought i may save that poor plant from that bad handling. i thought if i just take care of it ,it will turn good but i discovred latly that it has tiny flying insects around its soil and the lower leaves are begining to become yellow one after another .its originaly was with brown cuts at its edges and brown notches on the leaves , i dont know what to do to save that poor plant :(
my plants leafs are getting tears in them and some of them have even for better lack of words been completely torn in half with no sign of the other half. i have sprayed it with a pest control recommended from lowes but still notice the tearing, but I am also getting alot of new growth now more than i have in the past.Are the pests what caused the tearing and do they appear to be eliminated with new healthy growth?
I have a Diefenbachia plant about 5' high, leaves on top, am about to take a clever to it, chop it up and put it in H2O...I'll report in a couple months to let yous know how she's doing.
my plant has gotten tears in the leaves and some have completely been torn in half. i have sprayed for pests and done all other recommendations. my new leafs come in strong and look fine. are these just old leafs that are getting ready to fall off, is it under watered, over watered, lack of fertilization, or pests causing these problems to my plant. please help so my dieffencachia can look as beautiful as the plant itself is.
Hello everyone,
Sorry for the delay. As a mom of now 2 (3 year old and 4 month old) things have been a little hectic and I've fallen a bit behind. Below are answers to I believe everyone's questions. If I missed something, just comment and I'll try my best to provide some houseplant advice.
Wendy, Artosie
Yes, you can cut off the tops of dieffenbachia. I would root in water before planting in the dirt, at least that's what I've always done. By cutting the tops off not only do you get new plants, you also will help the plant become more bushier by trimming it up.
Wendy - Congrats on 33 years. If you've made it that long, I think you'll be just fine even if your dumb cane doesn't!
Yellowing of the foliage can have multiple causes, it takes trial and error to find out which. Keep your dieffenbachia between 5 and 8 feet from a window that recieves some sun. Try and keep it out of direct sunlight. Another cause of yellowing could be watering. For watering, give it a good watering with proper drainage. Then do not water again until the top inch of soil is dry.
Stephanie - Usually it means the plant is lacking something. How much light does it receive? Aim to keep it between 5 and 8 feet from a window that receives some sun.
Pods are a type of blooming for this houseplant from what I've found. Mine has not done this, however others have said they eventually sprout into white flowers. Any pics anyone could send would be great. I'd post it on the site here. If anyone has any information on the pods, please share!!
Rosa - I would repot your dieffenbachia into new soil. Clean the pot you have it in with hot water before repotting to prevent any bugs from being carried over into the new soil.
Nub - It may because of low humidity levels. Do you mist the plant at all? Are you providing it with enough water? I don't know of any pests that would cause the tearing. Any of my readers help us out??
Thanks for reading,
drayas
Help! I have broken my Dumb Cane as i was transplating to a bigger pot and it broke in two! I have part of it in water for now and the other part in the new pot, so what to do now? Please Help me!!!
Carolyn,
Put the broken sections in water to try and root. Typically rooting in water works better than soil, at least from what I've tried.
They should reroot and you're plant should recover fine.
Keep us posted.
Thanks,
drayas
I got a dum plant and it is blooming
In answer to blooms on Dieffenbachia, I found a site, "plantsarethe strangestpeople.blogspot.com/2008/11/random-plant-event-special.html/". Many pics and much info.
I have a my Dumb Cane plant for about 5 months now. it was doing fine til recently one day i had to move it outdoors for my young sons birthday pary. however, i kinda forgot about it for a couple of days. when i brought it back indoors the leaves turn very yellow and very lifeless. there are remaining leaves that are intact with new growth. How can save the dying?
My dum has brown patches and is wilting.I have followed all the directions listed but,sadly, my plant is DYING! please try to help me!
I’m looking for a plant for my bathroom. Mine doesn’t have a window, and would provide only sporadic artificial light. Would this plant be a good choice?
My dum has brown patches on the tips of the leaves and a few of the leaves have tuned yellow and fallen off. Is this normal and should I just snip the brown tips off. I have the plant sitting in between two floor to ceiling windows on a file cabinet, so it does not sit in direct sun light. I also mist my plant once every week. The foliage is small however the plant is growing upwards. Any help is appreciated.
I've had my dumb cane for over two years.It alwyas seemed to do well . I kept it near a window over the last year, but I think the coldair had a negative impact--so I moved it. It dropped all of its leaves off of both stalks, then started to grow leaves fromone of the stalks. but the good stalk got yellowish-orange at the bottom. This morning I just broke it off and put the toppart in water. Will that be ok? The other stalk is still in soil but no leeaves. Please advise.
Thank You,
Robert
I have only had this planbt one month,why are some of the leave tips turning brown and some are yellowing??It told me to only water it once a week,I did that,its in front of a side window and gets light but no direct sun as we live in N>Carolina and its too hot whats wrong??
worried
Our family has passed around "babies" from our dieffenbachia plant for 40 years. Cutting it down every other year or so and repotting it. This is the second time I have had one that bloomed. However the first time, it died within the year after blooming. I have photos but I was not able to post them on this site.
I have what i beleve is an exoica compacta it has the same shape leaves as the dumb cane but smaller and many stalks it is a very bushy plant my girlfriend brought it home frome work because it was needing to be repotted and they neglected it badly frome trial and error we and almost killing it we found out that it loves sun and wet soil we just resently found out that it was a variety of dumb cane and iwas woundering if some one knew where i could find photos of the exotica compacta so i can be sure that is what it is
HI! I have a Dieffenbachia plant. It was beautiful in the office. 8 feet from window lots of indirect sunlight. I move it to my apt 10 feet from window it have direct sunlight 20 min a day and very poor very low indirect sunlight. On top of that I repotted terribly. I took all the packed earth from roots in order to divide it in different pots. New pot is too big for office, reason why I move the plant and I put the plant next to the window yesterday, but on winter I have to move it back to 10 feet. The plant had like 40 leaves and now it's like half of them. I keep cutting out yellow leaves to try to save it, but I don't know what else to do. Please help.
My plant is about 6ft tall and in the middle of the stem it is cracking and dry?? The plant looks healthy everywhere else?? What is happening?? Not enough humidity??? I need help..
My plant died so I held it by the stalks and shook out the excess soil before I threw it away. The stalks were still very moist and almost immediately my hands started to itch and burn. Three days later they are still very irritated. I did no other gardening that day or touched any other chemicals. Please be sure to wear gloves when handling this plant.
To the person whose plant keeps falling over: Cut the top off leaving enough room to bury to the bottom of a new pot, and leaving about 6 inches between the leaves and the pot edge. Press the soil well and water like any mature houseplant. It will take awhile, but a new root system will develop. Leave the stumps in the other pot and water those as usual too. It will take much longer , but you will soon have a new plant,(plants) . When it has 4-5 leaves, cut the stumps down to below soil level and add more soil if needed. You will end up with two new plants. I like to keep two plants in a larger pot, as they add support to each other, and if leaves fall off , the other plant fills it out! GOOD LUCK! I have also taken the leafless stumps and buried them in the soil , leaving a little stump exposed , and watered and gotten plants after a time too!!Trust me it works-but new good potting soil is a must!!
hi, i just bought my first houseplant (dieffenbachia). Ive potted it and watered it, but it has a few dry brown spots on the leaves. Is this something i should be worried about? I also found some small balls in the soil that are liquid inside..is this the sap? Or is it something that was already in my potting soil?
Can somebody, please tell me why my perfectly healthy Dieffenbachia is dripping clear liquid off the tips of the leaves,and is getting the liquid on you just as dangerous as eating the leaves. I have kids and a cat who walk bye this plant. thanks Mike
very poisons.indian use for the plant for kill the indian with the poison.very dangerous.Do not play with the plant.
Please Help? I have followed the care instructions carefully and the leaves keep turn yellow and dry out.. My Dieffenbachia is dying...
to the person in Florida...move the plant further away from the window and the leaves will get green again. I live in SoCal and mine started to get yellow and burned when I moved to to the kitchen window sill...it's on the island now and went back to being nice and dark green!
My dieffenbachia was very small when I got it. The plant seemed healthy and it grew pretty fast. Every week I could see new leaf coming out. Suddenly, all leafs started having yellow spots and eventually died. I thougt that maybe I watered it too much (one a week) and I started watering every two weeks. However, the plant continue on dying. Also, I noticed littel flies around the plant. I thought that those flies (gnots?) damaged my plant so I repoted it. While repotting it, I noticed that the root is all white, rotten. Why did that happen? What did I do wrong? What should I do now? Please help!
Thank you for assistance.
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