PlantFiles: Ribbon Plant, Corn Plant
Dracaena fragrans

I have this plant in my office it has direct light approximately 15 hours a day, I water the plant every other week it has grown taller than I expected. I love this plant because of the low maintenance. I rarely have to cut the leafs off because of disease or bugs actually it does not have any bugs that I see.

However, at this point I'm not sure what to do with since it's thriving very nicely without any help from me it sits on top of a credenza and it has reached the ceiling.

I have 9 of these plants. All were gift while I've been in and out the hospital. They are so easy to take care of and I love to see them grow. Not only that, they are gorgeous decorations in my house in the different and colorful decorative ceramic containers. I have one of them in soil and water in a tall vase, and the rest in ceramic containers with rocks and water. They all seem to do very very well either way. When I change the water in the ones with rocks, I change the water every month or so, and just add water when needed in between. I don't take the rocks out (because I noticed this disturbed the roots and actually hurt the plants), but what I do is pour filtered water into the container and let the water pour out the sides. Then tip the container to the side and let the water drain out (I do it twice) then fill it up so that the water is alittle over the rocks. Add a drop of Green-Green Lucky Bamboo Fertilizer for each container and sit them on the southern facing windowsill for a day every 3 weeks to make them grow faster and make sure they keep their green color without sunburning the leaves. This way they stay healthy and very beautiful. I uploaded my pictures of all of them on the side with all the other pictures of this type of plant.

I bought one of these in a tiny, three-inch ceramic pot from Walgreens several years ago. It has since outgrown that pot and has recently sent up a number of new shoots. Even though my cats and I abuse it horribly, it still flourishes. A very hardy little houseplant. I have it rooted in gravel, not soil, and keep the pot filled to just below the surface of the gravel with water (any higher and I get mosquitos!), and it is growing in a north-facing window. The tips of the leaves have been yellowing, so I have given it some nitrogen in the hopes that will fix the problem. The only thing I dislike about this plant is that it doesn't grow in Oregon.

My husband was sold this plant as an aquarium plant. When I couldn't find it in my encyclopedia of aquarium plants, I looked online. Apparently, it is fairly common to sell terrestrial plants to naive aquarium owners. I will remove the plants and try growing them as house plants!

I love this plant, I have 3 stems at home, I turn the pot just a wee bit everyday, so it keeps its spiral look, I particularly like the way yours looks just like a basket, very very nice, thanks for sharing.

I grow this in my outdoor garden year round in Sebring, Florida ...although if we get a freeze it dies back somewhat, therefore I gave it a zone 10 hardiness rather than zone 9b. I have been able to root both stem tip cuttings (about 6 inches or so of stem) and sections of stems (6 to 10) inches long, and rooting worked either in water or soil. If you root these in water, be patient, as it can take 2 months or more before you see signs of new growth from tiny axillary buds (strip off the sheathing bases of the old leaves when rooting cuttings) at the upper one or two nodes of the stem section. The results are a nice variegated 'lucky bamboo' that can be maintained as a houseplant in water, or planted in soil for either an indoor plant or in a subtropical to tropical moist shady garden area.

This plant should be kept warm, between 72 and 82F. Sanderina does best in bright indirect or curtain-filtered sunlight. Keep soil moist at all times BUT do not let pots stand in water. Feed monthly with 20-20-20.