# Riparium Plant: Dieffenbachia



## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Last week I picked up a houseplant that looks like a good riparium candidate, a _Dieffenbachia_ cultivar. 










The plant did not have any kind of label, so I don't know which specific variety it is. It has attractive leaves anyway. 

I imagine that it will respond well to riparium culture. I remember seeing a stand of of large _Dieffenbachia_ in a real wet location out in the rainforest. They look like plants that would grow well in swampy conditions. This plant will probably get bigger, but I hope that I will be able to control its size by trimming leaves. 

I potted this one up in a Small Hanging Planter and situated it in my newly updated 20-gallon setup.










Like many of the most popular tropical foliage plants, _Dieffenbachia_ are aroids, members of Family Araceae.

I wrote a few additional observations on this plant into a post on my blog.

http://hydrophytesblog.com/?p=150

I'll try to remember to return to this thread with a report on how well it grows.


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## shrimpo (Aug 2, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> I'll try to remember to return to this thread with a report on how well it grows.


I hope it will grow fine...
the green/white color of the leaves is great.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I think that it will grow pretty well in there. 

This could be a good plant for that setup of yours shrimpo. DO you still have any of those planters left? I have often seen _Diffenbachia_ like this one and similar among the houseplants in grocery stores or at Home Depot or wherever. They are common houseplants.


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## shrimpo (Aug 2, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> I think that it will grow pretty well in there.
> 
> This could be a good plant for that setup of yours shrimpo. DO you still have any of those planters left? I have often seen _Diffenbachia_ like this one and similar among the houseplants in grocery stores or at Home Depot or wherever. They are common houseplants.


I still have one left..how large the leaves can get? do you think the light that i have right now is enough?( just 2 x 15 watts tubes) the same light that came with the tank when i bought it.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I think that this plant will get somewhat bigger, but I imagine that the size can be controlled somewhat by trimming the largest leaves. 

Are your other plants growing in that light? I understand that _Diffenbachia_ only need moderate light, so if your other stuff is growing then it will probably be sufficient. However, 30 watts is pretty dim, and I imagine that the fixture probably has T12s. Is that right?

You might try looking around for one of these where you see houseplants for sale.


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## shrimpo (Aug 2, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> Are your other plants growing in that light? I understand that _Diffenbachia_ only need moderate light, so if your other stuff is growing then it will probably be sufficient. However, 30 watts is pretty dim, and I imagine that the fixture probably has T12s. Is that right?
> You might try looking around for one of these where you see houseplants for sale.


The emersed plants are doing fine so far exept the foreground plants due to duckweed plant start to cover the surface.(and possibly not enough light for them to start with)
I don't see any letters on the tube showing what type it is..so i am not sure if it's T12.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Well if the duckweed is growing then it's probably enough light for your other plants too.

The T12s are the real fat ones. They are maybe 1" or so in diameter.


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## shrimpo (Aug 2, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> Well if the duckweed is growing then it's probably enough light for your other plants too.
> 
> The T12s are the real fat ones. They are maybe 1" or so in diameter.


That's the same diameter i found.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Well it sounds as though it is enough light anyway.

Hey for planting plants like this one and others that might not necessarily do well with oxygen-poor substrates here is a good method.

For this _Spathiphyllum_ peace lily I filled the bottom 2/3 of the cup with expanded clay pebbles as I planted the plant, then capped with a layer of finer gravel, which helped to hold the lightweight clay pebbles inside.


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## N1CK (Oct 3, 2009)

I had one of these grow well in a frog tank a while ago, got quite big even under the 15watts of T8 light :icon_roll it started off about 3/4" tall and ended up over 15" hehe


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Was it pretty media where you had it?

Hey what time is it right now in New Zealand?


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## N1CK (Oct 3, 2009)

I had it in potting mix then a layer of the little round peebles

it's currently 9:20pm here in NZ  so all the fishies are asleep


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey I think that I see a cultivar that is about as close in appearance as any.

Check out 'Camilla', on the page linked here.

http://www.wschowa.com/abrimaal/araceum/dieffenbachia/camilla.htm

That description indicates that the leaves grow to 18cm, which isn't so much bigger than on my plant already. That's good to hear.





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## N1CK (Oct 3, 2009)

Mine did look more like the pic with the less green leaves, but it was nowhere near as bushy


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

that guy has a pretty cool site with pictures of lots of different aroids. The forward and back buttons are down at the lower right of that page. I guess that that guy is from Poland.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I see a lot of Dieffenbachia in the houseplant sections at various stores, but most of them are very large, which is desirable for houseplants, but not for us. Right now none of the stores seems to have houseplants, since most of them keep them in an unheated area, and it is just too cold at night now for any to survive. My Home Depot does have a few tiny pots of various plants spread around the store at times, but none have interested me yet. Every day is a day closer to Spring!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That's funny. It seems that it is still busy season for houseplants here.

I wonder if potted plants are more likely to be enjoyed as patio foliage in your neck of the woods(?).

Hey Hoppy did I ever mention the blog Plants are the Strangest People to you? It is worth checking it out. It is one of only a few very good sites dedicated to houseplants. Here is the link...

http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/

As one would expect Asiatica currently offers several new and/or unusual _Dieffenbachia_. This one is described as being much smaller than most.

http://www.asiaticanursery.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=1416





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