Botanical Identify: Manettia inflata
A vigorous climber, you may 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 the way to develop this South American native as a houseplant. You will quickly uncover how a lot gentle this flowering vine desires, when and how one can repot, and why you will need to reduce it again.
Shut-up of the colourful Manettia inflata flower. Picture ©Mario KrpanYou may additionally plant this lovely, tropical vine in a dangling basket — in case you like — the place it’ll path so long as you permit it to.
Sweet Corn Plant will shortly get huge if left to develop. How huge 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 need to reduce the vines again in spring to maintain them compact and bushy.
Pruning Tip: Minimize the stems again by half in spring, when new progress begins. Watch out to not take away flower buds. Pruning will promote new progress and maintain it in form. Use sharp pruners to keep away from tearing the stems.
Sweet Corn Plant has turn out to be a novelty merchandise in late summer time 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 ideas. The flowers are almost an inch (2.5 cm) lengthy and come up from the leaf axils on brief stalks.
Give Sweet Corn Plant the intense gentle it desires, and you may take pleasure in a pleasant present of blooms from summer time 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 possibly can transfer it open air for the summer time in case you like, however be sure you deliver it again indoors when the temperature drops in fall. It is a frost-tender plant. In reality, this tropical native would not like chilly temperatures in any respect.
When and Learn how to Repot Sweet Corn Plant
Repot in spring while you see roots rising out of the drainage holes of the pot.
Transfer up just one pot dimension (1- to 2-inches bigger) as a result of this flowering vine blooms greatest when it’s barely pot-bound. You’ll want 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 internal pot above the drainage water.
Use a lightweight, ethereal combine (See “Soil” under) as a result of this tropical vine likes a free, aerated combine for quick drainage. The quickest strategy to kill this tropical vine is to go away it in soggy potting medium, which results in root rot.
Don’t fret 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 generally known as Manettia luteorubra and is typically bought underneath that identify. This uncommon vine can be recognized by just a few different frequent names: Firecracker Vine, Sweet Corn Vine and Brazilian Firecracker. Another crops share these names, so search for the botanical identify to make certain you are getting this plant.
Sweet Corn Plant Care
Gentle: Shiny gentle to full solar from a South- or West-facing window. Transferring your plant open air for the spring and summer time will give it the sunshine it must develop and bloom.
Water: Preserve the soil evenly moist spring by fall. Water sparingly in winter when progress is slower.
Humidity: Use a cool-mist room humidifier if needed, to maintain relative humidity above 45%. It is a good suggestion to make use of a humidity gauge close to your houseplant, relatively than guess. Indoor air can turn out to be extraordinarily dry, particularly throughout the winter months, with out our noticing it. Brown leaf ideas are a symptom of dry air.
Temperature: Common room temperatures (65-75°F/18-24°C). Should you transfer your plant open air for the summer time, don’t fret — it could actually take the warmth. It will not, nevertheless, tolerate chilly temperatures (under 55°F/13°C). Manettia inflata is hardy in US Zones September 11.
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 time and root in moist soil.