Corn Plant

It's been almost a year since my corn plant flowered. I was really surprised at the vigor of the flowering. The flower "bracts" (clusters of flowers) were quite large and the flowering went on...or, at least, they lasted for six or seven weeks. The fragrance of the flowers was just terrific and I have to say that although I didn't appreciate the complete halt to leaf growth, I enjoyed the fragrance from the flowers, which filled the ground floor of our house for weeks and weeks.
Anyway, the flowering did, of course, eventually end and I cut the stems of the flowers off the plant. It seemed to remain dormant for a few months and then new vegetative shoots appeared at about the same places where the flowers had been and now the plants growth has resumed. There have been no signs of flowers this time of year, so far. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's aspect which affords the plant good light and a good watering regime would help foster flowering. The plant's so tall now that the new gtowth on top of the plant is above the window-line so I'm not sure if that would prevent flowering again.

This one's now about seven feet tall and doesn't need anything to support it. By now, it's about six or seven years old. It is very strong and the last time it flowered, three "branches" (I don't know what else to call them) had flowers on them. So far I only see the one that's in the photo, but I suspect there will soon be more. By the way, this is the very beginning of the flowering that you see in the photo. It continues to grow and branch out...I'll post more photos as it continues to bloom.

This corn plant is in a corner with two perpendicular windows facing south so it gets good sun exposure. I think that it's very important to have it an amply-sized pot so that the roots have soil to grow in rather than be at all pot-bound and grow around and around the inside wall of the flower pot it's planted in. Also, while I don't believe it needs constant moisture (we have central air-conditioning and electric heat so it's fairly dry) it does need to be watered regularly, I think, to flower.

I actually have another beautiful corn plant that's gotten huge with very dark and robust, lush leaves but it hasn't yet flowered. It gets sligtly less sunlight so I don't know if that's why it hasn't flowered. But, I can see that it does, like the other one, benefit from being watered regularly. By that, I mean I water it every 7-10 days but only to the point that I can see a very little bit of water come through the pot into the pot-tray beneath it. That way I know there's just enough water for it to use up before I water again.

If you can, try to duplicate what I've done and I'd think you'd get some flowering. Once you've smelled the aroma of the flowers I think you will look forward to it.