{"product_id":"corn-plant-dracaena-fragrans-massangeana","title":"Corn Plant - Dracaena fragrans Massangeana","description":"\u003cp\u003eMost Australians call this one the happy plant. Its long, soft, broad leaves, each with a wide lime yellow band down the middle, look like the leaves on a stalk of corn, hence the common name, and they spray out from the tops of thick bare canes, usually two or three canes of different heights planted together. The canes give it height without width, so even a large plant fits beside a sofa, behind a desk or in the corner of a lounge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is one of the more forgiving broad leaved plants for an ordinary room, coping with lower light and irregular watering better than most. The trade off is the stripe. That yellow band is what you are choosing it for, and it needs light to hold. In a dim hallway each new leaf unfurls greener and narrower than the one before, and over a year or two the plant loses the contrast that made it worth having.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eLight that keeps the stripe\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIndoors, set it within a couple of metres of a bright window but out of hot direct sun through the glass, which bleaches and burns the wide blades in summer. Gentle morning sun is fine. Outdoors it suits frost free gardens in south east Queensland and further north, and sheltered coastal courtyards in northern New South Wales, in bright shade under trees or on a covered verandah. Cold does more damage than heat: leaves mark and yellow when nights sit below about ten degrees for long, so in Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra it is strictly an indoor plant. Ducted heating and air conditioning blowing across it dry out the leaf tips.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWater, brown tips and a scent at night\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWait until the top third of the pot has dried out, then water until it runs out of the base and tip out the saucer. If the bottom leaves turn limp and yellow and the pot smells sour, the roots are sitting wet, so water less often and check the drainage holes are clear. Dry brown leaf ends are a different fault, caused by fluoride in town water and leftover fertiliser salts; every few months, pour a full can of rainwater through the pot to rinse them out. Feed lightly in spring and summer only. Dust settles fast on leaves this wide and dulls the stripe, so wipe them every month or so, and look under the leaves and into the crown for mealybug and spider mite. Losing one old leaf at the bottom now and then is simply the cane lengthening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOlder plants sometimes flower, even indoors: a long spray of small white flowers that opens in the evening with a strong, sweet scent, the source of the species name fragrans. Some people love it; others find it heavy in a bedroom, and the flowers drip sticky nectar onto the floor below. Cutting the stalk off as it appears does no harm. A cane that reaches the ceiling can be sawn through at whatever height suits, and it sprouts again a little under the cut. Dracaenas contain saponins, which upset a cat's or dog's stomach if the leaves are chewed, so in a house with a pet that chews, stand it in a room the animal does not use.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eChoosing between the corn plants\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor a darker room, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/janet-craig-dracaena-dracaena-deremensis-janet-craig\"\u003eJanet Craig Dracaena\u003c\/a\u003e has solid deep green leaves with no stripe to lose, and copes with less light than this one. The \u003ca href=\"\/products\/sculptured-corn-plant-dracaena-fragrans-massangeana-sculptured\"\u003eSculptured Corn Plant\u003c\/a\u003e has the same striped leaf on a shaped framework of canes, a plant to stand on its own where its outline shows. The straight caned Corn Plant remains the simpler choice when you want height and a tropical look for the least effort; if it is one of several plants for a room, \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/indoor-plants\"\u003eIndoor Plants\u003c\/a\u003e has others that take the same light.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 300mm up to 500mm, priced from $189.00 to $529.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/low-water-gardens-australia\"\u003elow water gardens\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67670722511217,"sku":null,"price":189.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":67670722576753,"sku":null,"price":459.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false},{"title":"500mm","offer_id":67670722609521,"sku":null,"price":529.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/corn-plant-dracaena-fragrans-massangeana.jpg?v=1791514816","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/corn-plant-dracaena-fragrans-massangeana","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}