Find Your Ask the Expert: DO I HAVE MYSELF A CORN PLANT?
Cornplant
I BOUGHT THIS TROPICAL TREE AT HOME DEPOT, SINCE BUYING IT THE LEAVES ARE DRYING UP AND TURING BROWN, THE INSTRUCTIONS SAID NO DIRECT SUNLIGHT AND TO KEEP THE SOIL MOIST. WHY ARE THE LEAVES DYING ANY TIPS OR ADVICE WOULD BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. Stephanie
Reply:
Stephanie,
It does appear to be a Corn Plant (Dracaena fragrans massangeana). This houseplant can tolerate low light levels and drier moisture during the winter. If the sunlight from the sliding glass down is hitting the leaves directly, it could cause a burning issue with the leaves. However if that isn’t the case, we need determine the moisture content of the plant. The tricky thing is we need to know what the the moisture was couple weeks ago and what it is now. If the roots were too soggy or too dry a couple weeks ago, the leaves would brown at the tips. If the plant is moist but not soggy right now, you may have corrected the problem. If the plant is soggy or extremely dry, the moisture level needs to be corrected. It usually take a little while for damage to show and even longer for the plant to recover. Correct your moisture, be patient and the damage should stop. Watch for new leaves. The new leaves should be fine. Good Luck and keep me posted.
My boss has a Corn Plant and it has slowly but surely lost every leaf it ever had. I bought him anew one since we all thought it had died but while I was transplanting the new one in to the container I noticed the roots are very much alive and there is even new stalks shooting off the root ball, i feel it may have been root bound since it a big plant. I currenlty have it in a bowl with some water and it is about 70 degrees in there but currently very low light. Can I save this by replanting it in a bigger pot? what do I need to do or is it just toast and I need to throw him away?
Cornfused,
It could have been root bound but another environmental stress issue probably caused the died back. The new shoots indicate that the plant is alive and will thrive with proper care. First get it out of the water. Since the roots were seemingly healthy and intact, leaving it in water will cause root rot. Re-pot this plant keep the soil level the same as it was before. Then follow the care instruction for corn plant listed in the link above (you will have to scroll down the page a little to see them). The important thing for this plant, as well as the new one, is to keep the root ball evenly moist and mist it occasionally. Good luck and keep me posted.
With Dracena I would suspect overwatering to be the most likely cause for major leaf drop or browning. Dracena are fairly tolerant of bright areas as well as the dark holes that they are commonly used in. Stephanie, if you have had this plant for less than 6 weeks or so id blame HD for probably over stressing the plant if you have had it longer its probably just the normal cycling of leaves because the plant looks overall healthy.
Cornfused,
My guess would be that the original had just been there for too long with no long term maintance. Repotting and or dividing would probably benifit this plant. I would cut any leafless trunks back to a managable size (2-3′ at most) this will quite possibly break the dormancy on some growing points along those exhisting stems causing new leaves to grow from there.