Hello again, I was walking by a neighboring cube when I saw a plant in pretty rough shape. I took off all of the brown leaves at the bottom (and there were many), and trimmed off the browned ends of the leaves. I looked through some pictures of common houseplants but I did not see this one. Thanks in advance!! :o)
I was reading that the stalks can be used for propogation, or I can do an air cutting. This would be my first attempt at an air cutting. Is the dracaena difficult to propagate through this method? If so, I might just try the stem cuttings.
Edleigy, you mean nomenclature. Taxonomy is not the same at all. The Canadian Junglekeeper has it exactly correct!!! :-)) Trimming the dead leaves is a good start. You don't need to take cuttings. You now need to remove all the old stale soil and repot it anew.
Steve I'm not into all that jazz, though I like to try and keep up to date with it all. I am more into the actual "plants" : ) Ed
Haha, I thought so, but then I just shook my head because it seems that I will never learn all of the lingo! ;) My plan is to repot the drac in a bigger pot with good draining potting mix. I'm assuming that the lower branches will not regrow leaves so I might go ahead and cut one of the stems to promote lower growth. I saw another post where someone was rooting the top of the stem cutting in a jar. Should I use a perlite mix instead? I'm assuming that would be more like nature's 'rooting tendency'.
Hi star, This is just my way of doing “rescues” and I’ve rescued quite a few plants. I would concentrate on just trying to get the plant back to a healthy condition first before you start making drastic cuts to it. Definitely check the soil its in and repot if necessary a lot of times these poor plants go down hill just because of not watering them (some people seem to think that plants can go forever with out water ) also since its in an office its probably starving for sun. Here’s a pic of my Dracaena (variegated variety) I’m sure someone here can give you the exact name of it. Mine currently grows outside in full sunlight. So I would suggest you try and give it as much sun as you can inside if that is where you plan to keep it. As far as soil goes something that’s well draining. I am a simple grower this plant is currently growing in a medium priced potting soil I’ve experimented with different brands till I found the one that works best for me. Sometimes I think too much of an issue is made over soil, to me all that matters is that the plant is happy. This one seems to be pretty drought tolerant I water it 2 to 3 times a week depending on how hot and dried out it gets. WARNING: Any and all advice written from this author should be taken at your own risk as I am neither a Botanist or Plant specialist in any form.
Thanks Ed …It’s been a rough week here seems like I’ve been having to cover my but in every direction…LOL You try to do good but then it gets thrown back in your face.
The following documents may be useful to the discussion: Dracaena Production Guide Cultural Guidelines for Commercial Production of Interiorscape Dracaena
