Corn Plant
Dracaena fragrans
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Steady growth. Water when the top 2 in dry, feed monthly, and keep it out of scorching sun.
🍂 Fall
Stretch watering intervals as growth slows and stop feeding by late fall.
❄️ Winter
Water sparingly, hold fertilizer, and keep it above 60 °F away from cold windows and heat vents.
🌱 Spring
Refresh the top inch of soil or repot, resume light feeding, and prune leggy canes. They resprout below the cut.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Low to bright indirect; variegated types want brighter light; no hot direct sun
- Ideal PPFD
- 100–250 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 18–30 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Water thoroughly when the top 2 in are dry, using distilled or rainwater if you can. It's notoriously fluoride-sensitive, and tap water shows up as brown leaf tips.
- Fertilizer
- Balanced feed at ½ strength, monthly in spring–summer; it's a light feeder.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Loose, well-draining houseplant mix with perlite; pH 6.0–6.5
- Humidity
- Average (40–50%)
- Temperature
- 60–80 °F; leaves suffer below 55 °F
- Mature size
- 4–6+ ft indoors on woody canes
- Repotting
- Every 2–3 yrs; happy slightly root-bound
- Propagation
- Cane cuttings: chop a stem into sections and root them upright in moist mix; tip cuttings in water.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Yellowing lower leaves, soft canes, rotting smell at the base
- Underwatering signs
- Brown crispy tips and edges, drooping, dry curling leaves
- Common pests
- Spider mites, mealybugs, scale, thrips
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Corn Plant looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Brown tips with a yellow halo
Likely cause
Fluoride in tap water — the classic dracaena complaint.
What to do
Switch to filtered or rainwater and avoid fertilizers containing superphosphate.
Yellowing lower leaves
Likely cause
Normal shedding as the cane grows, unless it is widespread.
What to do
Remove old leaves. If many go at once, check you are not overwatering.
Drooping, dropping leaves
Likely cause
Cold damage or soggy soil.
What to do
Keep it above 60°F and let the top 2 inches dry between waterings.
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