Hello! I am very new to gardening and have a few questions about my new Dracaena Marginata. When I first got this plant the leaves were erect and now (a few weeks later) they're drooping. Also some of the tips are turning brown, and some have breakage (which I have been pruning). I read the breakage can be due to lack of moisture in the air. I live in a small NYC apartment, and sometimes I have a box fan in the window which blows on the leaves. I just bought a spray bottle to help keep it moist. I think I may also have been watering it incorrectly- I read they do not need a lot of water but when I water it I give it the equivalent of a large water bottle- I think it may need more water when it does get water? Unfortunately, as it is NYC summer, there is chlorine and fluoride in the water. Also it is by a sunny window, and I have read mixed things about Dracaena's sun needs. The leaves on the side that got sun turned paler so I rotated the plant. Lastly, I noticed some white spots under the leaves, which I originally thought may be bugs. However, when I wiped them the towel was very dirty so I think it may have been just dirt. Can you all please tell me if I am on the right track? What should I do about drooping leaves and breakages? What is the correct water cycle? Or am I just being anxious and it is still acclimating to it's new environment? Thank you!!
Welcome to the forums. I'll start by saying the plant looks healthy and does not appear to be stressed. But if the leaves are wilting that is often a good indicator of too little or too much water. It should be apparent which it is by digging into the soil several inches down. There's some drying of leaf tips but it does not appear to be severe and leaf margins appear to be fine. I'm not convinced that it's due to fluoride. Photo 3261 shows some damage to the leaves but it appears to be by physical means so not much can be done about that. The fan blowing on the leaves would have a drying effect (which might explain the dry leaf tips) so I would point it away from the the plant. Misting of leaves would have minimal effect in raising the humidity so I wouldn't bother. Generally speaking, plants should be watered until it starts to drain from the bottom then allowed to dry to some degree before watering again. At this point pick up the container and get a feel for its weight when it is freshly watered. You can then use the relative weight of the container to let you know how much moisture there is in the container. If you're worried about the chlorine in your water you could fill some open containers (e.g. milk jugs, buckets) with water and leave them to air for a day before using it. Documents which may be of interest: UF > IFAS > MREC > Apopka - Dracaena Production Guide Fluoride toxicity in plants irrigated with city water
Something else to keep in mind is that newly purchased plants have to get used to growing in (usually) less-than-optimal conditions compared to the ideal greenhouse conditions where they have lived their lives previously. A period of adjustment is to be expected.
