Hi all! So I am not someone who has ever been considered to have a "green-thumb" and historically have had bad luck when it comes to growing plants. I'd been given a Lucky Bamboo plant a couple years back as a gift, and so far it has survived me but after a major move and a stop over at a family's house where the plant unfortunately was left outside and snacked on a little by cats, i became concerned about its health. I had always kept it in water and even though the leaves were chewed and there was yellowing in parts of the leaves and new stalks were looking dead, the little guy seemed to continue to power through. Well now it's been about a year and I had decided, after reading a little about the plant, to replant it in soil - I would really love to allow it to grow bigger and better. Now I have read pros and cons about this and with my history with plants I know I'm taking a risk, but my thought process here is, what's life without risk?... anyway, after replanting the Bamboo and trimming off the bad parts, I noticed that a couple of the leaves look more wilted - though not yellowing or anything. It's been exactly 1 week since I've replanted and am monitoring the soil moisture (about half a cup to a full cup of water the first day of replanting and a half cup today) and I did add a couple fertilizer spikes to the soil as well. Of course I keep it out of direct sunlight and away from vents. Can anyone give me any feed back on whether my plant is dying, or if there's hope for keeping it alive? I appreciate any feedback! Thank u!
As I understand it, those water roots that this had are not the same as the roots the plant needs in soil, so this is essentially a planting of brand new cuttings, and you're going to have to tough it out while they grow some soil roots. Fortunately, Dracaena are generally pretty good at doing that. I think it looks surprisingly good. I would suggest removing the fertilizer spikes - they may be too much for your baby roots to handle. Your problem is going to be to supply enough water without giving it so much that the roots don't get enough air and drown. You need to figure out how light the pot should get before it needs water - it definitely should be noticeably lighter than after you have watered it. There are holes in the bottom of the pot right? You can give it plenty of water when it needs water, enough that it takes a bit of time for the water to run out the bottom, but when you are finished, make sure there is no water remaining in the tray at the bottom. Feel how heavy that is. Make sure it is much lighter and is dry for an inch or so at the top before you water it again, then give it plenty of water each time, just not more often than it needs it. It's going to look kind of wilt-y at first, so it will be hard to judge. Wilt-y is ok; yellow is bad.
