Before pruning your corn plant, gather the necessary tools such as pruning shears or scissors, rubbing alcohol, and a clean cloth or paper towel. This is an optional step, but it is essential for maintaining the health of your corn plant.
To prune a corn plant, start by using clean garden shears or scissors to prevent spreading disease. Remove any dead leaves by gently pulling them at the base. Next, cut back existing leaves so they are about 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) long. Finally, cut the pruned parts.
The best time to prune is when the plant is actively growing in spring and summer. To prune, simply cut a stalk with a sterile and sharp knife. The corn plant, known for its long, arching leaves and cane-like stems, benefits from pruning to maintain its shape and encourage healthy growth. Optimal pruning should occur from early winter to late winter when the plant is dormant.
You can also prune your corn plant to have one short, single trunk. The cornstalk plant does not require pruning, but the best time to prune is early spring when the plant is exiting dormancy and can recover quickly from the pruning process. Before the first frost, you can take a stem cutting or cut off the plant top, propagate it indoors during winter, and plant it again in spring or early summer.
Pruning the plant back in spring or early summer allows you to control its growth and remove lower leaves that naturally yellow and die over time.
📹 Prune this: Pruning a “Corn Plant” Dracaena Massangeana
Http://www.botanicus.com Prune this episode #2: Kathryn demonstrates how to prune a common house plant known as Dracaena …
📹 Propagating Dracaena – How to Prune and Propagate a “Corn Plant”
In this video, we’ll go over the steps to prune and propagate a dracaena. My dracaena (corn plant) hasn’t been pruned in two …
Dear god thank you for this article. I watched about 4-5 other articles on the subject and I couldn’t sit through. Some people just ramble too much! Your article is straight to the point! Ok now to the plant! I’m so glad it can be propagated so easily. My mom had one of these for well over 20 years now. She passed away in Nov 2016 and we had to sell her house which meant everything in it had to go! The plant sat in her house for over a year and a half. I tried to water when I could. After we emptied the house it was neglected for a while because I had no other reason to go to the house. Finally the house closed a few days ago and I was able to take it. As I was stuffing it in my car a stem broke in half! I’m happy to see that not all is lost!
I have mine since over 30 years. Its just about to hit the ceiling again so soon its time to make new babies again. Mine doesnt have yellow stripes tho but I have leaves from bottom to the top. I find the bits I cut off root even better if I let the cut off pieces dry for 2 days. I have several, all from the very first plant. Love it!! :)) Thanks for the great article – now I know what they r called
I bought one as a house plant, now it’s outside. Last year frogs moved into the center of the leaves, which made a great home. A droopy branch began growing in the middle, the frogs moved out. Eventually the branch produced bunches of tiny white flowers, I was amazed. Not long after, the flowers matured the branch looked a mess, I cut it off. Now (months later) there’s a new center growing. Hopefully the frogs will be back, now the rainy season is almost here. Thanks for the propagation tips.
Thanks for this! I came here to say, our “corn plant” does not have the thick cane part. It grows from two THIN ones; about 7 feet tall. The root ball is tiny, it’s always amazed me that it can stand up at all. My question is, is my plant actually a different variety? (The foliage is exactly the same, just no thick trunk) – and how can I prune it to promote a bushier growth? It’s just two, tall and skinny stems now. Thanks!
Thanks for the article, but I’m a little bit confused. When you say “trim,” do you mean, cut off the whole head at 3-4 inches away from the top of the cane? Also, my Corn Plant’s leaves faded this winter, so I brought the plant indoors. It seems to be getting worse, in terms of brown leaves now. Any suggestions? Thanks again!
My stalks lost all leaves over winter. I maintained the stalks and this spring I was happy to see new sprouts, a LOT of new sprouts. Should I leave them all be or trim some back. My 3 ft stalk has 10+ sprouts all the way down the stalk. The 2 ft and 1 ft plants are just as abundant. I have never seen so many sprouts and was wondering what to do?
PLEASE HELP!! I love my corn plant but it was outside in a series of storms and got way overwatered and all the leaves turned brown and died off, so I stripped them away. The plant is now inside and recovering beautifully, however, it is only sprouting new leaves from the very top, and otherwise I have 2 tall leggy shoots coming off the woody stem with no leaves except for the new stuff coming out the top. Can I cut the tops off completely (taking off ALL the remaining leafage), or basically cut the leggy stems way down and encourage leafing further down the plant? I have lost all the leaves except for at the very top and it is very tall and just looks horrible now. Please advise!
Great article! My corn plants are smooshing themselves against the ceiling now, so it’s time again! 😉 Thank you for telling the actual name of the plant, I’ve always wondered which one it was. In the past, I’ve always sealed the cut trunk with wax to keep it from drying out, which it seems to work well, but is that the good thing to do? Thanks!
Is it ok to trim the tree if it has no foliage? I have a 4 foot stem that had its top knocked off during moving, so its just a stick now. It has already strated regrowing about a 1inch bud in the last week. Can i chop the 4 foot stem into two pieces and try sticking it into the soil if it has no foliage?
My Dracaena got overwatered by my gf, and so the branches started to rot and fell over, i had to cut them and i planted them in a cup full of water. Last time that worked. However, the root has rotted and the bark fell off the stalk and after cleaning the plant i’m left with the naked stalk and no root. The stalk hasn’t rotted yet, it’s firm, but it smells bad, like fish. The question is, can i save the stalk somehow?