Botanical Title: Manettia inflata
A vigorous climber, you’ll be able to practice Sweet Corn Plant on a trellis. Its densely leaf-covered twining stems look much more lush when gathered round a help.
On this information, you will learn how to develop this South American native as a houseplant. You will quickly uncover how a lot gentle this flowering vine needs, when and easy methods to repot, and why you will wish to lower it again.
Shut-up of the colourful Manettia inflata flower. Picture ©Mario KrpanYou can additionally plant this stunning, tropical vine in a dangling basket — in case you like — the place it would path so long as you permit it to.
Sweet Corn Plant will shortly get large if left to develop. How large will it get? Its stems will attain about 6 ft (1.8 m) or extra, if not pruned again.
It is naturally branching, however you will wish to lower the vines again in spring to maintain them compact and bushy.
Pruning Tip: Reduce the stems again by half in spring, when new development begins. Watch out to not take away flower buds. Pruning will promote new development and preserve it in form. Use sharp pruners to keep away from tearing the stems.
Sweet Corn Plant has turn into a novelty merchandise in late summer season and autumn (when it is in bloom) due to its resemblance to the favored harvest-time sweet of the identical identify.
In regards to the Flowers
The bizarre, furry, tubular flowers are reddish-orange with yellow suggestions. The flowers are practically an inch (2.5 cm) lengthy and come up from the leaf axils on brief stalks.
Give Sweet Corn Plant the brilliant gentle it needs, and you will take pleasure in a pleasant present of blooms from summer season by late fall. This tropical flowering vine blooms in abundance for a number of months. Even younger crops are wanting to bloom.
Few flowers? Your Sweet Corn plant is not getting sufficient gentle. If you do not have a sunny window, use an indoor develop gentle. Feed it with bloom-boosting fertilizer to offer it additional oomph.
You’ll be able to transfer it outside for the summer season in case you like, however remember to convey it again indoors when the temperature drops in fall. It is a frost-tender plant. In truth, this tropical native does not like chilly temperatures in any respect.
When and The way to Repot Sweet Corn Plant
Repot in spring whenever you see roots rising out of the drainage holes of the pot.
Transfer up only one pot measurement (1- to 2-inches bigger) as a result of this flowering vine blooms finest when it’s barely pot-bound. Remember to use a pot with a drainage gap within the backside. If you wish to use an ornamental container with out a drainage gap, use it as a cachepot. Merely slip the plain nursery pot into the cachepot. I put small rocks within the backside to maintain the inside pot above the drainage water.
Use a light-weight, ethereal combine (See “Soil” beneath) as a result of this tropical vine likes a unfastened, aerated combine for quick drainage. The quickest technique to kill this tropical vine is to depart it in soggy potting medium, which ends up in root rot.
Don’t be concerned about pruning and repotting on the similar time. This vigorous, vining plant can take it.
Do you know…
Sweet Corn Plant is within the Rubiaceae household. Though there is no such thing as a resemblance, it shares this household tree with espresso crops and gardenias.
Manettia inflata is previously often called Manettia luteorubra and is typically offered below that identify. This uncommon vine can also be identified by a couple of different frequent names: Firecracker Vine, Sweet Corn Vine and Brazilian Firecracker. Another crops share these names, so search for the botanical identify to make sure you are getting this plant.
Sweet Corn Plant Care
Mild: Shiny gentle to full solar from a South- or West-facing window. Transferring your plant outside for the spring and summer season will give it the sunshine it must develop and bloom.
Water: Hold the soil evenly moist spring by fall. Water sparingly in winter when development is slower.
Humidity: Use a cool-mist room humidifier if essential, to maintain relative humidity above 45%. It is a good suggestion to make use of a humidity gauge close to your houseplant, moderately than guess. Indoor air can turn into extraordinarily dry, particularly throughout the winter months, with out our noticing it. Brown leaf suggestions are a symptom of dry air.
Temperature: Common room temperatures (65-75°F/18-24°C). Should you transfer your plant outside for the summer season, don’t be concerned — it may take the warmth. It will not, nevertheless, tolerate chilly temperatures (beneath 55°F/13°C). Manettia inflata is hardy in US Zones 11th of September.
Soil: Sweet Corn vine prefers a well-aerated potting combination for good drainage. Use equal components good-quality, all-purpose potting combine, perlite, and peat moss.
Fertilizer: Feed each 2 weeks spring by fall with a high-phosphorus fertilizer diluted by half.
Propagation: Take non-flowering stem tip cuttings in spring or early summer season and root in moist soil.