Question
I have two Corn Plants in a 9" pot.  One is 3" tall with 7 heads & the other is 1' tall with one head.  All the leaves on 3 of the heads on the large tree have died as well as the small plant.  They turned brown at the point they connected to the head branch and slowly withered up.  They also got very soft and lost their firmness.  The remaining leaves appear healthy.

I moved the pot from a sliding glass door facing east in my home where it was for about 5 years to my office about 2 months ago.  My wife took care of it at home & now I do at the office.  It is now about 12 feet away from 2 very large windows facing east sitting on the floor just outside my office door.  I water it with a soluble Miracle Grow, house plant fertilizer weekly, in about 10 oz water.

My wife said it was beginning to lose leaves when it was at home for about 6 months before I took it, but not as bad as now.  Will leaves grow back out of the branches that are now bare?  How do I save the rest of the plant?

Thank you for your help.
Norm Benke

Answer
Hi Norm,

There are two things that will cause the corn plant stems to turn brown and die where the stems attach to the canes - inadequate light and/or soil that is kept too moist.

Twelve feet away from even the brightest window is too far and if the windows are on the other side of the office door from where the plant is located, then that is virtually no light at all.

Corn plants do best when the top half to one-third of the soil dries out in between waterings. For your plant, weekly is probably too often.

Fertilizer is not medicine and is intended for healthy plants that are growing vigorously. So stop fertilizing altogether.

Two months is a very long time for a plant to not receive enough light. Without a photo that includes the pot, I cannot say if your corn plant will recover. If you squeeze the lower portion of the canes and the bark feels loose and papery, then you can be sure that cane will not recover.

Please let me know if any of this is unclear or if you have any additional questions. If you would like to e-mail some photos to my address below, I may be able to provide some additional insights.

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Regards,
Will Creed, Interior Landscaper
Horticultural Help, NYC

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