help with identification

To start with here is the pic.

We've had this plant for a few years now. Never really bothered with it before, but I think it needs some attention. So I was trying to find out what it is using these plant identification sites but no luck. Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

 

It's a Maranta ... mine looks pretty ill at the moment but it does live in my outdoor living room and we have got a bit chilly of late ...

https://www.google.pt/search?q=Mara...hDYmDhQfNoIDoBw&ved=0CBkQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=636

 

I'm no houseplant expert but that might be a Dumb Cane, diffenbachia.

Until someone tells you different, keep it away from any children.

 

Panic over, i'd trust Vicky's id over mine in this case.

 

thanks both of you for replying and also for the quick response.

Zigs I just googled dieffenbachia, looks pretty similar that one.
But I'll go with Maranta after reading the descriptions. Its also known as prayer plant I just found out Now I need to see how to make it look a bit healthier. thanks again.

 

It's Maranta family, Calathea Warscewiczii

 

I rescued my Maranta from our local tip earlier this. The picture here is halfway through recovery. I stripped off all the dead leaves and repotted, surprisingly it picked up very quickly and soon sprouted new shoots. Yours could do with a larger pot and new soil which is probably why it's looking sorry for itself.

 

Nice foilage on yours.
Mines I think has been in the same pot for years and years and never had plant food either. Took it out of the pot this morning. Very root-bound.

So anyways, probs bad time of year to do this lol but I decided to repot and also split it into two plants. Managed to get fair bit of the old soil off. Feel a bit silly now for using broken pot lol nevermind though, will change it next year if things go well.
Thanks for the info everyone. Heres my pics now:

 

One more question lol. I was reading about propagation of these plants and I read that one way is by division, which I tried earlier. Another way apparently is to take a cutting from the growing tip. Which I cant do at the moment anyways, and the best time for that is probs spring time when the plants in growing mode naturally. But how would one actually do that? I've taken plenty cuttings from other plants but this cane type baffles me lol. If anyone has any links or pics etc of where to cut exactly would be great for future reference.

 

I've just taken this picture RBUK. I re-potted mine last week, for the second time in a few months as I had problems with fungus gnats in the previous soil. It looks fine which says to me they are pretty tough. I'll point out it's the first one I'ved owned, so I'm just drawing on my own general knowledge. It was almost dead when I brought it home and I trimmed off a lot of the dried out roots when I re-potted, in no time it was throwing up new shoots and I eventually cut away all the original plant and left the new shoots to grow on, which is what you can see here now.

There are a number of different types of Maranta as you can see with the difference between mine and yours.



I shouldn't worry about your pot too much, as you can see mine hasn't made it out of black plastic yet, it will eventually!

 

With an upright plant like yours, taking a cutting from the tip would spoil the look of the plant I think. I'd be inclined to let the plant recover and see if it puts up any new shoots, possibly spring next year and then seperate them at the base of the plant, by base I mean from the roots. If my thinking is right you should be able to seperate them fairly easily by teasing them apart.

On a more drastic side, I would cut one of the leaf stems off close to the plant, trim it down and leave it in water for several weeks and it might well produce roots. But not having tried it I have no guarantee. In fact I might just try that with my own plant to see what happens. You could do that now and leave it on a window cill to see what happens.

When it comes to cuttings of indoor plants I'm not too fussed about what time of year I take them. I've just taken cuttings from a Ficas Benjamina and put them in water. Don't be afraid to experiment with plants, it's surprising how much we learn this way. Good luck!

Oh, also, my indoor plants very rarely get fed and they seem to do okay.

 

Thanks for the input sheal. Your plant looks lovely in this last pic. I wont be cutting mines yet. Will wait and observe them for now. Was just trying to figure out how to take the cuttings for the future sometime. Saves me making another forum thread if I ask now LOL

Speaking of Ficus' I have a Benjemina and another one that looks similar but darker leaves. Anyways I took a few cuttings from them about a week or so ago. Basically I saw some braided Ficus tree pics and thought would try grow them. Not really relevant but thought I'd mention it

Anyways thanks for the help!

 

have your cuttings rooted yet sheal? how long do Benjamina cuttings take roughly? Have had mines in water about 3 weeks now roughly and no roots yet. I think i read somewhere they take about a month to root, but not sure really. Anyways cuttings look fine and dont look like theyre gonna die any time soon so just a case of waiting probably but thought i'd ask someone

 

I think they take four to six weeks RBUK, about the same time as Fuschia cuttings. It's some years since I took the last ones, but I've not had any fail yet. Hang in there!