Grow HUGE + Healthy Dumb Cane 🌱 Dieffenbachia Care Tips, Propagation + Common Problems SOLVED

Diffenbacchia, commonly known as dumb cane, one that I haven't spoken about before. This one's known for being very easy to care for and on the whole yes it is, however it can be very quick to go downhill if it does take a turn for the worse. So today I'm going to take you through everything you need to know in order to keep your Diffenbacchia plant happy, what to do if things start to go a little bit wrong and I'm also going to chop one of mine up to show you how to propagate it. But first if you're new here hi my name's Claire and this is Yoli. I make videos all about house plant care, sharing tips and tricks I've learned over the years to help keep your plants happy and healthy and Diffenbacchia was one of the first house plants I ever owned and I feel like I've learned a lot about it over the years so I hope you find this video useful and I hope you enjoy it. Let's get into it. Just as I've set up to film this video it has clouded over and it's incredibly dismal outside so I do hope it's not too dark to see me but the first important thing to talk about with Diffenbacchia is the fact that this plant is actually very very toxic and it's not just poisonous if you ingest it, it can also be very irritating to your skin if you get the sap on your skin or in your eyes so I would highly recommend wearing gloves when you prune this plant and it goes without saying if you've got small children or pets or anything like that, keep the plant raised up out of the way of them. But I mentioned at the beginning of this video that this plant is commonly referred to as dumb cane and that does actually feed into, the toxicity of the plant does actually feed into that common name and it's got quite a dark history to it actually. Back in the day this plant was fed to slaves and it would essentially render them dumb, it would mean that their throats swelled up, their vocal cords couldn't come together and yeah that's that is how it gets its name so a lot of people, myself included, in the plant community tend to refer to it by its scientific name Diffenbacchia as opposed to dumb cane nowadays. But the other common name for this plant is actually Chinese evergreen and I mentioned this purely for the fact that there is another genus of plant as well that is also referred to as Chinese evergreen and that is the aglaonema. This is just one again of many many different species of aglaonema and they look very similar and they actually grow in quite a similar way as well so if you're wanting to find out whether or not you've got a Diffenbacchia or an aglaonema there are a couple of things to look for and the most obvious one is that Diffenbacchia commonly has its variegation very close to the main vein on the leaf. Again if you look at this one you can tell even though it's a different species it's got that similar variegation close towards the middle whereas aglaonema tends to be a little bit further out. I'll put some clips on the screen so that you can see what I mean when looking at aglaonema. But also the Diffenbacchia has a much bigger kind of more tree-like structure and is actually capable of growing to be pretty huge and you can tell this one here which is one of my most recent aglaonemas. I've only had this one for about a month and a half now but this one is ginormous and there are about 50 different species of Diffenbacchia and to kind of simplify things a little bit what I have found with this plant is that there are two main kind of textures to the leaf and this one again I'll put in some clips so that you can see a little bit better but this one is very waxy in its texture and this one it's hard to know how to describe it but it's almost a little bit more fabric-y like it doesn't feel quite as uh like it's been waxed that's the only way I can think of putting it and actually I do personally find the ones that have more of this kind of weird fabric-y texture I find them to be a little bit more difficult and less resilient than the waxy types of Diffenbacchia that is just in my personal experience I also find that they can be a little bit more susceptible to pests but strangely enough I do find that the waxy variety of Diffenbacchia is more susceptible to things like mealybugs and spider mites and these ones are more susceptible to thrips and I'm not quite sure why that is I'm guessing it does just come down to the texture of the leaf but the first thing to think about with this plant is obviously lighting and this is a plant that's very well known for being able to cope and survive in a variety of lighting conditions and although this one can absolutely be grown in lower levels of light in fact this one is actually living currently just behind me here which is in kind of like I would say like medium to low light and this one's growing absolutely fine what you will probably notice if you are growing your plant in lower levels of light is that the rate of its growth slows right down and the growth it produces is not as big so if you want to really really bring out the best in this plant I would personally recommend growing it in bright indirect light and I know I just said I'd only had this one for about a month and a half this is the third leaf it is giving me so it's not a slow growing plant when you do keep it in good light and I've got this one right next to my south facing window and it does seem incredibly happy also as with many variegated plants the higher the variegation the more light your plant is probably going to receive and the variegation is the the lighter patches that you see on the leaves and basically that's just because they don't have as much green in them and therefore they don't produce chlorophyll in the same way and in order for your plants to be able to grow it will therefore need slightly more light so if you've got a Diffenbachia that is almost white for example and you do get some beautiful beautiful ones like that that is one immediately that looking at it you'd be like ah this one needs much higher light than one that is almost completely green for example and just taking that as an example this one here I was actually sold as a Diffenbachia sparkles and I included this one in my house plant tour video that I made about seven and a half months ago and I will put a clip on the screen of what it looks like then because as you'll probably be able to see it was it was a very different looking plant back then and I decided to chop that one back and essentially reset it because it did get thrips very badly and when it regrew it regrew like this and it's essentially pretty much reverted the level of variegation it's got now compared to what it had before is very very different and I do honestly think that that's because the prop box the propagation box that I had this one in wasn't getting as good light as the spot that I had the plant in before so as I say if you want to encourage good variegation good growth big growth higher light is best just on the note of that as well though and I know this might sound like I'm completely over complicating things but if you do live in a very hot tropical climate just be aware that direct sun can actually scorch the leaves of your plants so any lighting change that your plant goes through just make sure you acclimate it very very slowly you kind of gradually ease it into life in its new spot so that you can monitor if anything goes a little bit wrong apart from that on the note of lighting though the only other thing that I'll say is just make sure you're keeping its leaves really really clean and free from dust and dirt even though sometimes a plant might look really clean and healthy dust does just build up in the same way as it does like in the corners of your room and if you don't regularly wipe over its leaves it's just going to mean that your plant isn't able to effectively photosynthesize it's not going to be able to absorb all of the light it's getting and it also means that it is going to be much more susceptible to pests and as I say I have had many different bacchia over the years brought down by pests because they're not always immediately obvious I will go into more detail about this as we get through the video for now I'm just going to focus on the main care requirements of the plant but the next one to think about is watering and it is a pretty relaxed plant in many ways when it comes to the amount that you give it because it is quite drought tolerant the one thing I will say is that it is a plant that can be quite susceptible to the issues caused by over watering and I bang on about this so much of the time in so many of my plant care videos because a lot of the time people think that by giving their plants lots of water it's going to be really really happy and actually over watering is the biggest killer in indoor plants so typically what I will do I keep pretty much all of my different bacchia in their nursery pots like that and then I just put them inside pretty pots to disguise it every time I water them I will take them out of their pretty pots and I will let them completely drain through so they can discard any excess water that they don't need and I will only water them when they're about half dry so I stick my finger down into the soil and when I take it out so actually I can see at the moment that is quite dry the soil is kind of falling away from my finger so this one probably is due for a water but if I stick my finger down into the other one just here this one had a water a little bit more recently and you can see the soil is kind of quite damp and really clinging to my finger so this one probably won't need a water for I don't know I'll monitor it but probably for at least another week or so and I do say it all the time but if you're in any doubt as to whether or not your plant is ready for a drink personally I wouldn't risk it I would wait a few days I would check back and then wait until you're sure before going ahead and watering because as I say over watering or should I say over watering is actually probably not the right word to use that over watering suggests that you're giving your plant way too much in one go and that's not what it means it basically just means watering too frequently when your plant isn't ready for it it can't absorb any more water so yeah I will typically wait a little bit too long as opposed to watering too early but then fertilizing with this plant I personally fertilize both my different back years every single time I water them so long as they're actively growing and all actively growing means is so long as they are giving you new growth and I can see that both of mine currently are putting out new leaves and so long as they're doing that I assume that they will need also additional nutrients in order to help support that growth and encourage that growth so yeah I personally fertilize every single time I water no matter what time of year it is I've also said it before as well but if you've got a plant that you've had for a while and you've never fertilized it before personally I would suggest starting with a little bit less than it on the on the bottle on the instructions of your fertilizer and just kind of ease your plant into it gradually because sometimes if your plant isn't used to a high level of nutrients then it can actually cause it to go into shock if you don't take things very very slowly so proceed with caution is what I always say and I've spoken about the fertilizer that I personally like to use before I will link it down in the description box below you don't have to use this one it's just the one that I like to use but then when it comes to temperature this is an area that for some house plants doesn't matter that much whereas Diffenbachia is one that I find can be quite susceptible to the drops in temperature I try my best because I've got a lot of tropical plants I try my best to keep the temperature of my flat around between 20 and 25 degrees at all times and that keeps these plants really really happy but in the past I haven't always been able to do that and I have lived in some places over the years where my Diffenbachia plants have had to be right by like a drafty window for example and they do not like that at all they are so susceptible to cold drafts and I have also noticed that if as I say if the temperature is kind of going up and down a lot like you've got the radiators blasting for a half hour period and then you turn them off for five hours and you know what I mean they are not happy at all they really do not like that so if you're able to achieve a steady temperature in your home all of your plants are going to be much happier but these ones sensitive ones particularly and then when it comes to humidity again I do find the ones that are more kind of I know I'm using the word fabric-y in texture that aren't quite as waxy is what I'm saying I do find these ones to be a little bit more susceptible to lower to issues caused by lower humidity levels so I personally try to keep the humidity in this room 50% or more at all times I do run a humidifier but it also helps that I've got 300 plants in this room and as plants transpire they essentially produce humidity and act as a humidifier for each other so yeah if you do notice things like browning tips and crispy edges and stuff like that on your Diffenbachia then chances are it could very well be down to a lack of humidity so for example introducing something like a pebble tray or a humidifier might be a really really good idea they are a plant as well that are never going to complain if the humidity is too high so yeah you can you can crank it up to 100% and they will 100% be happy and before I get on to propagation and chopping up one of my Diffenbachia plants I just want to talk a little bit more about the other issues that can commonly be found with this plant because as I say I've been growing Diffenbachia for on and off probably about seven years now and I do really like it as a genus of plant and once you figure it out it is genuinely so low maintenance and so easy but as I said already this one can just it can it can go downhill quite quickly so as I've just said the browning on the tips of the leaves commonly caused by lack of humidity if the humidity levels in your home are really really good then I would probably and I would say this with a lot of issues actually I would probably check the roots of your plant I'm wondering actually if I can without getting myself covered in soil oh take this one out and show you what healthy roots should look like ah okay you know what in the name of the video I'm just going to get soily uh so yeah if you have a look at those roots they are full they are pale they are healthy that is what healthy Diffenbachia roots should look like and so much of the time issues with a plant will start with roots and I've already spoken about over watering if there is something sinister going on and for example the roots have started to rot you do need to act very very quickly in order to rectify these problems I've made very in-depth videos talking about this before so I will link some useful things down below but that is often where things start going wrong before you can actually see them and you just see signs on the foliage again another common issue is that and you can see it very clearly here the plant will lose leaves and it will just become very very bare again this can be down to issues with the roots so again I would check the roots it can also be down to lack of light so if you've got your plants in a very low light spot try increasing its light a little bit or increasing even its hours of light a little bit if you've got a grow light or something like that and see if that helps the other thing that can cause this is inconsistent or incorrect watering and again as I say make sure you're monitoring the soil of your plants and not just guessing when they need a water feel the soil get used to feeling physically how it feels when your plant is ready for a drink and then you will over time get to know your plants very well mine is looking like this because as I say I did completely chop it up I decided to reset it when it got thrips and I've got lots of sections at the bottom here that are growing back that weren't previously there and this was the main big section where I removed loads and loads and loads of leaves and yeah now I'm left with this very long stem and although I don't hate the look of it I just think it could be doing a little bit better so what I would ideally like to do is I'd like to make a cut I'd like to propagate the top section so I can pot it back up with this plant and in the long run just make it much fuller and healthier so really you should be using a pair of pruning shears for this however I'm always getting told off about this on my channel I'm going to use scissors because I don't know where my pruning shears are make sure your scissors are really really clean and then in fact I'm just gonna take a cut pretty much anywhere because I've got so much stem that I'm working with pretty much anywhere but I'll take it and then I'll show you so I've got my cut I'm being very careful not to get the sap on my skin because as I say it's very irritating you'll notice these rings on the main stem and these are actually where the leaves grow from and they're what's known as nodes and that is also where the roots of your plants are going to grow from so so long as you've got a node or two or in my case many here you will be able to propagate this plant very easily and what I'm going to do is I'm just going to leave this plant out in the open air for about 12 hours or so just so that it can callus and it's not quite so uh you can see at the moment it's very wet I just want it to callus over a little bit so that it's not as susceptible to rotting because that is a risk you take when you propagate and then you can technically root this in many many ways but my go-to for this type of plant is either water or sphagnum moss and basically you'll just get a container like this personally I don't use drainage obviously if you're using water then you would just fill it up with water once it's calloused over so probably tomorrow you just pop it in there and in the next kind of three or four weeks you should see roots start to form for me personally I like using sphagnum moss I just find that my success rate is much higher so that is probably what I'm gonna do but yeah as I say then I can pot it up with the rest of the plant and the plant will then appear much fuller and healthier and also it will start putting out growth at the point that I've just chopped there as well and the only thing that I think I have missed in this video is the soil mix that I use for this plant and you can grow this plant in a variety of ways you don't even have to use soil you can use semi-hydro and I'm going to use this aglaonema I know it's not technically a different back here but I'm going to use this as an example because I've got this one growing in semi-hydro which looks like that and it basically just means you create a water reservoir at the bottom and your plant is always sat in water so the opposite of what I said for soil growing and drainage but that's a really low maintenance really easy way of doing things and it does keep this plant very happy however personally for me I typically grow my different back here in just a really well draining chunky mix and the mix that I like to use I'm not super specific about my measurements but I use the company I love to use it's called Soil Ninja by the way but I use Soil Ninja's base mix which is just soil and perlite and then I mix through some worm castings horticultural charcoal and some bark and that just helps to keep the plant really really happy it's nothing fancy but yeah and as I say just regularly checking for pests as well they often appear on the undersides of the leaves first so every time I water my plants I'll just give them a little check thrips and spider mites are typically the worst ones with this plant so yeah if you can't tick your issues off the list in any other department if the roots look fine if the conditions are fine my bet would probably be pests so give your plant a good look over but yes I hope you found this video useful and if you've got any questions please drop them down below and I'll do my best to cover them at some point but if you did enjoy this video please make sure to give it a thumbs up subscribe to my channel have a lovely day and I will see you in the next video stay sexy plant lovers