Hi folks. Brand new here and needing some houseplant help, so you might be seeing a lot of me for a bit. :)
First set of questions is about this plant I inherited from an officemate who left the job last week. It is about 45cm / 18in high, in the container it is in. It has lived quite happily in nothing but water in a cut-off waterbottle for at least several months now (don't now how long she's had the plant for).
There are three stalks, 2 of which have approx 10-12 leaves coming off them. The third has a kind of bent stalk, with fewer leaves coming off it. The leaves grow out of the stem in a sort of overlapping pattern. I've attached pictures of the plant from several angles, including the roots.
I browsed back through this thread about 6 months worht and didn't see anything like it. Can someone identify this plant, and give me care advice? It seems to be thriving, and I'd like very much to keep it that way!
I am pretty new at this houseplant thing, but trying very hard to become better - i love seeing a house full of happy green houseplants. I could use any advice this forum could give -- I am an american expat living in Budapest, and not nearly capable enough in Hungarian to find a nursery and get appropriate help. :)
Thanks in advance!
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[B][I]gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo [/I] [/B]
(dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.)
Hi! I'm pretty sure that's a Dieffenbachia (Dumb Cane). I would guess that the person who worked in your office had cut the stems from a big plant, and was rooting them to propagate new ones. I used to have one while I was in Vancouver... they grow quickly, and they don't really have any special care requirements. Umm... they don't like full sun, though. I would say that the ones you have there are definitely ready to be planted, because they have lots of roots. Just a note you should be aware of - Dieffenbachia are poisonous, so they aren't great to have around really little kids or pets that might decide to take a nibble!
Hi there .. Dusdal is right it is a Dumbcane .. ( Dieffenbachia) .. and they r poisonous to animals and kids... hence the name Dumbcane ...it will make your mouth swell up and if enough is ingested it is to the point they cant breathe . but animals are pretty smart about staying away from this kinda stuff ..
one thing i noticed about these plants is that they r kinda picky about the water .. if u notice some leaves starting to turn yellow then let your water sit out over night then water it .. and they are a tropical plant they like humidity so u can mist them all the time .. and when you go to plant it in dirt make sure u bang the pot so the dirt gets all around the roots after u put in all the dirt ..ya dont want to air pockets around the roots . it might have a lil bit of a hard transition goin from the water for so long to dirt ... i know my mother in laws tongue did. I had it sittin in water for a very long time .. but it lived ..plant will usually grow diff kinds of roots for liveing in water and dirt .. but i think your plant will b ok .. just mist it after u get it in dirt .. and good luck with it .. it is a really pretty plant ..
Thanks very much for your replies! (I am just seeing them now because for some reason i didn't get the email notification about replies like i thought i was going to).
I still haven't gotten around to repotting them, but that's the task for this weekend. I'm totally new at this, so if anyone could answer a couple more questions, it would help.
1 - I can plant them all in one pot, right? they won't be too crowded? what size pot would you suggest?
2 - also, how far above the roots should I cover with soil?
Thanks a million.
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[B][I]gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo [/I] [/B]
(dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.)
UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Burnaby, BC
Posts: 6,929
Re: plantID- green-&-white leaves
Quote:
Originally Posted by ny3bp
Thanks very much for your replies! (I am just seeing them now because for some reason i didn't get the email notification about replies like i thought i was going to).
I'm replying now just to check to see if it is working again - there were some issues over the past few weeks with the server which prevented emails from being sent out, but these are all fixed now.
Hi There ...
yes u can plant them all in one pot .. and to just above the top of the roots as long as it is sturdy and they dont fall over ..or plant it deeper .. it wont hurt it at all ..
I would get about a 6 or 8 inch wide but tall pot if u can find one .. u dont want it to b to wide of a pot .. but make sure it is deep enough for it .. you really dont want wondering roots ..
if you have any more questions feel free to ask ..
