That last picture has a badly damaged leaf so you can either keep it or cut it off. It will grow more leaves.

I got rid of my giant BOP as it was a pain to move and would never bloom in a house. In nature, they would get 15 foot or more to bloom. I also got rid of my Norfolk Island pine(s) and tree ferns as they took up too much space and were a pain to keep looking good. Not really suitable as "house plants".

I kept this one for a few years. I kept cutting off the ratty looking leaves from the year before to be replaced with fresh new leaves and repeat.

I had to use a hand truck to move the weight of the glazed pot and plant in and out every year. It just became too much to handle.

How it looks in Hawaii. That is my daughter in the red dress ahead of us.

The plants in front of the giant BOP is the regular BOP much more suitable as a houseplant (Strelitzia reginae).

did you know.. that corn.. in high heat and drought.. rolls its leaves up ... presenting the underside of the leaf to the blistering sun ... to protect itself ...

while pondering that.. im wondering if grow light from below is useful .. i simply dont know ... keep us posted on how it all works out.. long term ...

the last leaf pic.. looks like its entirely what is called mechanical damage ... rather than disease or bug issues ... its getting beat up somehow .. the leaf wont recover that damage.. take it off ...

probably the same with the other leaves with very minor damage ... ignore it ..

keep in mind.. as long as a leaf has any green.. its converting light into energy .. so though you might want to get rid of the all the uglies.... dont go lopping off every slightly damaged leaf all at once .... because you dont want to look at them ... take them off in stages.. if you insist ...

btw .. what kind of bulb do you have in the can???

welcome to the forums ...

ken

in other words.. as per you title.. i dont think its actually light damage ... perhaps more from you moving it around to install the light ...

ken

I also don’t believe its damage due to the light. I also would light the plant from above, not below.

I see mechanical injury (similar to bruising in animals) and symptoms of a physiological disorder called oedema (aka edema). I don't see anything that looks like photo-oxidation (sunburn), which is a chemical reaction to an excessive photo (light) load. See a short piece re oedema below.

Oedema is a physiological disorder that can affect all plants. It occurs when the plant takes up more water than it can rid itself of via the process of transpiration. The word itself means 'swelling', which is usually the first symptom, and comes in the form of pale blisters or water-filled bumps on foliage. Under a variety of circumstances/cultural conditions, a plant's internal water pressure (turgidity) can become so high that some leaf cells rupture and leak their contents into inter-cellular spaces in leaf tissue, creating wet or weepy areas. Symptoms vary by plant, but as the malady progresses, areas of the leaf turn yellow, brown, brown with reddish overtones or even black, with older damage appearing as corky/ scaly/ ridged patches, or wart/gall-like bumpy growth. Symptoms are seen more frequently in plants that are fleshy, are usually more pronounced on the underside of leaves, and older/lower leaves are more likely to be affected than younger/upper leaves.

Oedema is most common in houseplants during the winter/early spring months, is driven primarily by excessive water retention in the soil, and can be intensified via several additional cultural influences. Cool temperatures, high humidity levels, low light conditions, or partial defoliation can individually or collectively act to intensify the problem, as can anything else that slows transpiration. Nutritional deficiencies of Ca and Mg are also known contributors to the malady.

Some things that can help you prevent oedema:

* Increase light levels and temperature

* Monitor water needs carefully – avoid over-watering. I'd heartily recommend a soil with drainage so sharp (fast) that when you to water to beyond the saturation point you needn't worry about prolonged periods of soil saturation wrecking root health/function. Your soil choice should be a key that unlocks the solutions to many potential problems.

* Avoid misting or getting water on foliage. It slows transpiration and increases turgidity.

* Water as soon as you get up in the AM. When stomata close in preparation for the dark cycle, turgidity builds. If you water early in the day, it gives the plant an opportunity to remove (for its own needs) some of the excess water in the soil.

* Put a fan in the room or otherwise increase air flow/circulation. Avoid over-crowding your plants.

Not that it's important, but I tend to disagree with the idea that corn leaves roll up as a protection from the sun. Reason: Beneath the leaf's cuticle/ epidermis is a layer of cells called the palisade mesophyll, and below that is the spongy mesophyll. The lions share of the organelles in which photosynthesis occurs are immediately below the epidermis (think top of the leaf's skin). While there are some chloroplasts in the spongy mesophyll, the density of chloroplasts there is only a fraction of what it is in the palisade layer, meaning the superior surface (top) of the leaf does a much, much more efficient job of carrying on photosynthesis.

The pigment chlorophyll is often referred to as sunscreen for plants, as it absorbs harmful rays that would otherwise damage the plant (through photo-oxidation). Since there is far more chlorophyll in the upper palisade mesophyll than in the inferior (lower) spongy mesophyll, the upper leaf surface is capable of functioning normally in much brighter light than the lower leaf surface. So, if a corn plant's leaf were to fold such that the lower surface was exposed to a direct photo load, it would experience photo-oxidation (sunburn) long before leaves with only their upper surface exposed.

It's not uncommon, however, for leaves to chance shape so the leaf margins are wavy when leaves approach photo-saturation. This mechanism protects the leaf from sun by changing the angle of incidence. That is to say, a photon stream 90* to a leaf's surface provides twice as much energy as a photon stream striking a leaf surface at a 45* angle; think of how much force a billiard ball striking a rail/bumper at 90* compared to one that glances off the bumper at a 45* angle and you understand how changing the angle of incidence at which light or another force strikes an object. Like being in a vehicle that's t-boned as opposed to sideswiped.

Have you been fertilizing regularly? With what?

Al

It's really nothing to worry about. Definitely not from a grow light. They are very picky plants outside of California and Florida. They should have higher light but will survive with less.

Just a note on the blooms. It's not about the age or height of the plant. It's really the hours of sun and heat it gets. I have seen 3-4 foot plants flower beautifully around Southern California.

That plant was either $2.75 or $275!?