Dieffenbachia
Dieffenbachia seguine (and hybrids)
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Water more frequently and wipe the broad leaves so they can actually photosynthesize.
🍂 Fall
Ease off feeding and let the soil dry a touch deeper between waterings.
❄️ Winter
Rest it: water less, skip fertilizer, and keep it clear of cold windows and heater blasts.
🌱 Spring
Repot or top-dress, resume feeding, and behead leggy canes now. They regrow fastest in spring.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Medium to bright indirect; variegation fades in gloom, leaves scorch in direct sun
- Ideal PPFD
- 100–250 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 18–24 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Top-water until it drains when the top 1–2 in dry. It telegraphs thirst with a slight droop and bounces right back.
- Fertilizer
- Balanced feed at ½ strength, monthly in spring–summer.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Airy, well-draining houseplant mix with perlite; pH 6.1–6.5
- Humidity
- Average–High (50–60%)
- Temperature
- 65–80 °F; leaf damage below 55 °F
- Mature size
- 3–5 ft tall indoors
- Repotting
- Every 1–2 yrs in spring as canes thicken
- Propagation
- Stem-tip cuttings in water, or cane sections laid sideways on moist mix; wear gloves, as the sap irritates skin.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Yellowing lower leaves, soft mushy canes, wet lingering soil
- Underwatering signs
- Dramatic all-over droop, curling leaves, brown crispy edges
- Common pests
- Spider mites, mealybugs, aphids
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Dieffenbachia 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.
Yellowing lower leaves
Likely cause
Overwatering, or normal aging at the base as it grows tall.
What to do
Let the top inch dry between waterings; remove old leaves at the stem.
Brown, crispy edges
Likely cause
Dry air or tap-water salts.
What to do
Raise humidity and switch to filtered water.
Tall bare cane with leaves only on top
Likely cause
Natural habit made worse by low light.
What to do
Move it brighter, and cut the cane back in spring — it resprouts from below the cut.
More like this 🌿
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