Hello and HELP please, I have a large Dracaena, (not sure exactly which kind), that is dying and I am desperate for help. I have had the plant for about 8 years with no problems at all. It's been healthy and happy despite living in a harsh climate. I am above the arctic circle so we have times of the year with no sunlight and times with 24hr sunlight and it is very dry air. It was doing fine. This past November I was doing home renovations and had to move it. It is quite large as you can see and I believe the roots got damaged in the move. I could tell something was up as a few of the leaves started turning yellow a few weeks after I had moved it. I didn't know how damaged they were until about a month later when it fell over during the night. It ripped up from it's roots and tipped over. Picture a blown over tree from a storm. That morning when I found it, I replanted it in new soil and added a bit of water hoping it would help it. The roots were obviously damaged, but I did not trim them when I replanted it because I could not tell fully which roots were still good. (Should I have trimmed it down significantly?) It is now back in it's normal space, receiving the regular amount of water/light, but the leaves are still turning and dropping. It makes me so sad. It's been happy for 8 years and I was actually planning on cutting off the top this summer and replanting that portion in hopes of propagating it and having 2 of theses plants. The leaves are turning quickly, I've lost at least 6-7 full leaves so far (within 6 weeks) with 2 more clearly ready to go, and it's spreading along the plant in an upwards way. Can anyone help me?! What should I do? Is it a lost cause? I've attached pictures.
I would suggest cutting a couple of feet off the top, removing the bottom leaves of the cutting, and putting it into a new pot. I don't know what I would do with the bottom - probably cut it down to a foot or so and wait to see what it does. It's Dracaena massangeana.
People have different ideas on that. I never have. You could use a rooting hormone. For sure, don't grow water roots first. It's not a 100% chance of success, particularly considering that the plant was suffering from something, but they do generally root easily. The leaves would probably droop at first.
