Dieffenbachia

Obviously!!

CactusBoss,
I believe its Dieffenbachia picta 'Camilla.' If you look at photos online, you'll see that it can develop leaves that have more white than green on them (the white encompasses most of the leaf). Not sure if this is due to lighting and/or maturity (I used to own one, but apparently me and Diffs don't get along). Not sure about it's height, but I believe if not given the proper care (not sure what that is either, again, I killed mine), they will become leggy over time and it's not uncommon to have to air layer to give them that bushy look again.

Planto

plantomaniac08, I've seen these plants show up on easy plant lists all the time, I heard they're pretty tolerant. I think becoming leggy may have to do with the amount of light they receive and i think that lots of people place these in low light situations thinking that it'll do and their plants end up leggy. It just makes sense based on what happens to some other plants in low light( cacti especially). I think the only downfall to this plant(based on recent research) is probably the toxicity. I also found some interesting information about electromagnetic radiation and dieffenbachia. This guy on youtube explains it more. It may be why you can't grow them. He also did an experiment where he had a dieffenbachia standing in water for 6 weeks to see what happened. The plant actually grew like normal, so it kinda supports the theory that many problems associated with this plant have to do with electromagnetic radiation. plus i think this plant may actually naturally get leggy as it gets older.

Here is a link that might be useful: Steven Magee

This post was edited by CactusBoss on Fri, Aug 16, 13 at 2:15

That theory has been mentioned before.

That's a fantastic Dief! I've always wanted one with big leaves like that but not enough to spend $20 on it.

CactusBoss,
Well, they might be easy plants, but I've been known to kill some easy plants (and be able to grow more difficult ones while I can't grow the easy ones). *shrugs* I probably wasn't giving mine the best lighting, now that you mention that.

Planto

I'm with you Planto.

A friend gave me one to "save" because it was withering. It isn't completely gone yet but man this stuff just seems to dwindle!

Well I just hope it doesn't get too big.

CactusBoss,
I think by the time you will have to worry about it's size, you will have graduated college, gotten married, and have little CactusBosses running around. Unless of course you give it plant steroids, in which case, it'll be next week. ;) In other words, I don't think they grow like weeds, you have some time.

Planto

I think the dieffenbachia you have is the kind that was made to be on the smaller size cause some of them can get huge and people wanted a more compact type. I hardly ever see the old fashion huge dieffenbachias for sale anywhere and I wanted one so badly, I finally found a lady that gave me a big cutting of hers that's been passed around her family by cuttings for over thirty years. Heres a pic of one of the leaves with my hand for comparison, right now its about four feet tall with 8 very big leaves, nowhere leggy yet.

Is a little bit of direct sun okay for this plant. It receives lowish-medium light for a lot of the day and then from about 4:30 to about 6:00 it receives a little bit of direct sun. It's in a west facing window. regarding humidity, how does this plant do regarding humidity? About 15%-20% at the lowest. will it die? I already have it on a pebble tray grouped with other plants, and it gets misted twice a day really well. I can keep a spider plant healthy with nothing more than brown tips. i can deal with brown tips but I don't want the whole leaf to brown on my dieffenbachia.

This post was edited by CactusBoss on Sun, Aug 18, 13 at 13:20