i've had this plant for a while, i believe it's a dieffenbachia, but as of late have forgotten to water it and all of its lovely gorgeous leaves have fallen off leaving it leggy and bare! i'm now not sure what to do with him – whether to cut him back and let him regrow or just let him be as is and see what happens?? what do yous think is the best course of action to get him looking sexy again? will be keeping him in good light and taking care of him better asap 😅
by partiallyunconscious
9 Comments
If it was me, I would cut it back.
it looks like it could have a scale problem to me
I 2nd cutting it back. Maybe don’t do all the way back to the soil though. Cut them back a little more than half way keep the same pot but only if you verify the soil is good.
Try getting some Recharge tea mix. It’s great for any plants that are struggling.
Also are you using distilled water? If not I would try that while it’s recovering. Just do it at home, use regular water but let it sit uncovered for 24hrs then use it
Look at all those tan spots. It looks like something is eating away at it… the leaves might have fallen off due to a pest!
Uhm, this big light brown spots on the plant? Look closer, the, look like tiny turtle backs – that’s scale. Quite a bad infestation as well. 🙈
Personally I’d either look for pest free nodes to start over or throw out the whole thing. But that’s just me.
Cut it back almost all the way in between the nodes and water. You can cut up the plant stems or put them in a tall vase of water and it will come back. Or trim it down to a size you want and put in water. It will root and can be replanted
I had similar issue with my dumb cane. What helped is bottom watering and lots of sun. Good luck!
https://preview.redd.it/tbzdbn5bg5pf1.jpeg?width=6080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0712c22e5e74ad0b459ad84aac8f2bb69962f6c8
It might be an Aglaonema esp since it looks smaller than most Dieffenbachia (normally u can tell by the veining–Ags 5-8, Dieffs 20-30, but since you’re leafless…)
I just rescued an Aglaonema Tigress (I’m pretty sure) that my neighbor ditched & neglected for months in the stairwell. It was so leggy & infested w/ mealies it was NASTY. I cleaned off all the stems, unpotted them, chopped all the stems up into about 3″ pieces and made a bunch of pottings w/ the cuttings a month ago. You can see the progress in one of the pottings in the btm pic (new shoots emerging from the nodes’ sides). This is really the only way to re-establish the plant. U can use the stem tips for faster growth but the entire stem length can be chopped up & propped.