i was given this plant from a neighbor. trying to revive the poor thing. i know it needs potassium ammoungst other things. Any advise would be appriciated! would like to know what type of plant it is to help it better. Thank you!
Well, we can certainly see why your neighbor gave it away! This looks like Dracaena fragrans, commonly known as corn plant, though it is not related to corn. Here is a reference for the cultivar with yellow variegation: Dracaena fragrans ‘Massangeana’ | Dracaena I can't see from the photo what the growing tip is like, if it still looks like it's functioning. If it looks dead at the top, I would not bother trying to do anything with it. If it looks ok, I would cut it off at the top, leaving about 30 cm of the stalk in total and plant that, just push it into the soil. Pull off the brown leaf. Find out from your neighbour how old the soil is. If she hasn't changed it in many years, I would suggest getting a new pot and new soil, or at least new soil. You can also take some more cuttings from the green part of the stalk without leaves, about 20 cm, keep track of which way is up, and push them into the soil (6 cm?). And you could cut off the remainder of the stalk at about 15 cm and see if anything starts growing from that. If it does, then I would repot that if it hasn't been repotted for a long time. None of this is guaranteed to work, but if it does, it's more likely to get you something worth having than just keeping this alive in its current state. These plants are ok in low light or good light, but if you are going to move them to better light, wait until you see some new growth. It could take a few weeks.
