Help! I have had these Diffenbachias (decendents/offshoots) for 57 years. My Aunt Betty gave the original plant to my mom when I was born. It has been alive for my entire life. Now, all of the sudden they are ALL BLOOMING. I have never seen this before. I have this weird thing that I have to keep them alive or I shall die along with the plant. I know it's irrational, but I heard that once they bloom, the plant will die. Please tell me this isn't true?!

No, its not true. Mine bloom all the time, and have never died

Hi Maryos107, to garden.org

Your beautiful Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia seguine) looks like a very happy, healthy plant and blooming is normal; your plant will not die due to the blooming process.

Some plants are monocarpic, meaning that they bloom once and then die. Many Bromeliads are monocarpic; they will produce blooms and then slowly begin dying. During the dying process (which can take many months) the mother plant will produce pups, or baby plants at the base of the dying mother plant and the cycle continues. Dieffenbachia are not monocarpic plants so keep doing what you've been doing; you don't have to worry about losing your pretty plant.

Or your life LOL. That is amazing that you have had this plant for so long. A testament to great growing skills!

Hi & welcome! What a lovely plant and awesome surprise bloom! Congrats!

If all that exists of this plant at this time is all in your single pot, you might have an interest in propagating your plant to make more and giving them to family, friends. Then if something ever happens to your mama plant, you can find one of those people and ask them to please, "break me offa a piece of that."

Cut stems are known to take root so easily in water.

purpleinopp said:Hi & welcome! What a lovely plant and awesome surprise bloom! Congrats!

If all that exists of this plant at this time is all in your single pot, you might have an interest in propagating your plant to make more and giving them to family, friends. Then if something ever happens to your mama plant, you can find one of those people and ask them to please, "break me offa a piece of that."

Cut stems are known to take root so easily in water.

• Dumbcane (Dieffenbachia 'Panther')
• Uploaded by purpleinopp

Yes they do!! I have had hundreds of clippings. As we speak I have probably 4 of my husbands beer glasses full of stalks that have rooted. I just pop them in the water and boom! Only thing I learned is that when it's winter here in MI I can't overwater. They hate it and it rots them out.

Gina1960 said:No, its not true. Mine bloom all the time, and have never died

Thank the good Lord above, ha ha. It's crazy, but they are all blooming at the same time!?

plantladylin said:Hi Maryos107, to garden.org

Your beautiful Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia seguine) looks like a very happy, healthy plant and blooming is normal; your plant will not die due to the blooming process.

Some plants are monocarpic, meaning that they bloom once and then die. Many Bromeliads are monocarpic; they will produce blooms and then slowly begin dying. During the dying process (which can take many months) the mother plant will produce pups, or baby plants at the base of the dying mother plant and the cycle continues. Dieffenbachia are not monocarpic plants so keep doing what you've been doing; you don't have to worry about losing your pretty plant.

Thank you SOOOO much for the info. How in the world can all 10 be blooming at the same time though? This is crazy!!! Is this a pup?

I can't thank you all enough. I fancy myself an outdoor gardener, and I have at least 10 plants in pots and probably 4 of my husbands beer glasses with stalks that are rooting. I have kept propagating them for all my adult life. I have one that is 12 feet tall. But what I cannot fathom is that ALL of them have bloomed at the exact same time!! I was missing my mom who passed one day and asked if she was still here with us in spirit. All I can think of is that it's her doing. I must sound like a lunatic, ha ha. But I just cant imagine them all blooming at the same time. For instance, I have one that has 3 separate stalks in one pot. All 3 stalks have bloomed! I have never seen a single one bloom in all my life and all the sudden BOOM. Given my ridiculous belief that I will expire when they do, you can imagine my terror, ha ha. Thanks again for all the help. You have no idea, maybe I can sleep tonight. But if anyone knows why they would all bloom at once, let me know!!!

Gina1960 said:No, its not true. Mine bloom all the time, and have never died

Bless your heart for that, really. If nothing else, it has been a lot of work keeping them all going. Repotting, rooting etc. I googled it and it said it was so rare to get one to bloom and then they die right after. Maybe I can sleep tonight!

Sadly, bad info seems to be much more popular and repeated much more often, about everything, not just plants. I am so glad you joined and asked about this because you definitely found some fake news. Just because something is printed on the internet does not make it true at all.

For plants with fatter stems like Deif., I prefer a jar with a bigger opening than a beer bottle. I have the same collection of bottles that you described! A great cheat that helps me save a lot of plants over winter vs. having to water so many pots so often.

The stem coming up from the roots is great! Personally, I wouldn't call it a pup or a baby, just a new stem. These are clump-forming entities. But if you want to call it either, please do, it's your plant.

Maryos107 said:

Bless your heart for that, really. If nothing else, it has been a lot of work keeping them all going. Repotting, rooting etc. I googled it and it said it was so rare to get one to bloom and then they die right after. Maybe I can sleep tonight!

I think I have some in bloom now I will see if I can get a photo for you

Wow, what a beautiful, happy plant!

Looks like you're doing an excellent job caring for it.

purpleinopp said:Sadly, bad info seems to be much more popular and repeated much more often, about everything, not just plants. I am so glad you joined and asked about this because you definitely found some fake news. Just because something is printed on the internet does not make it true at all.

For plants with fatter stems like Deif., I prefer a jar with a bigger opening than a beer bottle. I have the same collection of bottles that you described! A great cheat that helps me save a lot of plants over winter vs. having to water so many pots so often.

The stem coming up from the roots is great! Personally, I wouldn't call it a pup or a baby, just a new stem. These are clump-forming entities. But if you want to call it either, please do, it's your plant.

Thank you SO much for that. I was literally terrified that I was going to lose every single plant. They are in beer glasses (see attached). He is looking forward to the day he can actually have a beer in one of them, ha ha. I am so very grateful for the info and infinitely glad that I joined this forum. The information you are sharing is invaluable!

Macrocentra said:Wow, what a beautiful, happy plant!

Looks like you're doing an excellent job caring for it.

Thank you! I have been doing so for all of my adult life and my mother before that. I have had hundreds of offshoots which produce offshoots too. I can't believe that all 10 of the current ones I have bloomed at once! And I'm also glad I nor my plants are going to expire anytime soon, ha ha.

Love the beer glass.! For some reason when I read that, I thought bottle. That's a perfect size and nice, large opening for a nice, fat Dief cutting.

Fancy, mine are in jars from sauces, jelly, or pickles. I have no choice, there's not glass recycling here, so all must be re-used at least until they are scarred with limescale. It's my civic duty to propagate more plants - I mean re-use glass jars. ; )

This is one of mine starting to bloom


My Aglaonemas bloom a lot too