How often to water dumb cane

The interval

Dumb cane is watered about every 7 days in the growing season and about every 14 days in winter. Growing season means the warm, bright months from spring to early autumn, roughly March to September in the northern hemisphere and September to March in the southern. Winter is the cold, short-day part of your own year. The Royal Horticultural Society asks for moderate watering while it grows and sparing water in winter, and the gap doubles because a plant in a short grey day drinks little.

Check the top 3 cm of compost with a finger. When it is dry at that depth, water, and when it is damp, wait. The RHS advises checking the pot rather than watering on a routine, and says a drier pot feels lighter than a wet one. Weight is a poorer guide for a tall dumb cane, though, because the plant sits in a heavy pot to stop it toppling and the difference between wet and dry is small, so lean on the finger for this plant.

Water from the top and let it drain fully. Give it enough that water runs from the drainage holes, wait ten minutes and empty the saucer. The compost should end up lightly moist and never soaked. Humidity is medium for this plant. The Missouri Botanical Garden says it tolerates dry air but prefers humidity, and a light misting about every 4 days suits a heated room.

Too much water shows at the base. Several lower leaves yellow at once while the compost is damp, and the cane can go soft. The RHS links yellowing leaves that drop with overwatering, and wilting or dropping foliage with dry compost. A dumb cane that has dried right out also drops its lower leaves, so look at the compost before you decide which mistake you made.

What is particular to this plant is that dropping a few lower leaves is normal. It makes its cane by shedding from the bottom as it grows, so one old leaf going now and then is no cause to change the watering. Several at once is the signal.

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