Help please my Dracaena is dying with symptoms I've seen before in my elephant's bush

I should have posted earlier but I thought I could handle it. I think now it is too late. I have 3 Dracaenas. Two of them by the window started growing very pale leaves. I didn’t know what to do since pale leaves indicate they need more light. I can’t give them more light. They are by the window for the last 6 years and were doing just fine until now. Then the tips started drying considerably, and I guess that means they needed more water but I did not change my water routine.

Then, the one of them started dropping healthy leaves, which indicates over watering but still I haven’t changed my watering routine for the last 6 years and the soil is not soaked or super moist. And now 3 days ago the bark at the very top (you know where the new leaves grow from) started getting soft and shrivel causing healthy leaves to drop ofcourse.

I have seen these symptoms before in my elephant bush 2 years ago. I posted pictures and asked for help here as well back then. People gave me all sorts of good advice. I did my best to save the plant, (including repotting and checking for root rot which it didn’t have) but no matter … it died. I took cuttings to try and save some babies but the same thing happened to them before they had time to root.

Now this Dracaena seems pretty gone as well. I don’t think there is hope for it but I still don’t like to give up on it just yet.

If I cut off the tops will it grow new leaves again? If yes how should I cut it and how much? And do you think it is some kind of disease? In that case I would like to at least prevent the same thing happening to the other one who seems to be doing ok. It still looks sad and many leaves are yellow and it still grows very pale leaves but it is not dying like the other one, this one’s bark seems fine. Any suggestions? Please?!

Here I uploaded 6 pictures of the very sick Dracaena and 3 picture of the other one who seems ok but still grows pale leaves.

 

Re: Help please my Dracaena is dying with symptoms I've seen before in my elephant's

The sickly cane may not make it, as it looks like it has succumbed to a fungal demise...you may infect the healthy cane...or it may be too late... if there are segments of firm stalks in your dying cane, cut them, allow the root base to dry/heal and pot them..it may root, but I fear that it also has chronic issues.... it is worth a try... the soil should also be replaced.

 

Re: Help please my Dracaena is dying with symptoms I've seen before in my elephant's

You know pale leaves can be a results of too much light as well, what way does the window they are by face? Has it been particularly sunny recentely?

The brown tips could be too much water or too little humidity, did you reduce your watering regime as the leaves fell? The less foliage a plant has, generally the less water it needs so even if the soil wasn't that wet without many leaves that still may have been too wet for it.

Could possibly be a humidity thing, that can cause leaf fall but its probably unlikely. Have there been any changes in how long your heating is on or is the air dryer than normal at all?

Don't lose hope....they seem to be quite resilient, a dracaena in this thread http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=47130 looks like it had very similar problems to yours, and hers started growing again below the shrivelled up part of the stem.

I'd repot it in completely fresh soil, get as much as you can off the old roots and don't water it at all until its perked up a bit. K Baron could be right as well it could have a disease, in which case there might not be much you can do.....i hope thats not what it is!

Good luck and let us know how it does:)

 

Re: Help please my Dracaena is dying with symptoms I've seen before in my elephant's

Pale leaves are often a sign of under-nourishment. Repot or feed and it should help.

 

Re: Help please my Dracaena is dying with symptoms I've seen before in my elephant's

Ok, lat night already I took it out of its pot and softly cleaned the soil around the roots. I was expecting root-rot but to my surprise, no! 0_0 The roots are perfectly healthy!! Actually, they looked just fine!!! Long and healthy and strong. And I didn’t see any worms or weird discoloration. So there was nothing visible to heal from, as KBaron suggested. If it is a fungus it is a sneaky one (or I am in denial) I hope it isn’t. I repotted it anyway to a new pot with fresh soil. (I didn’t have much regular soil so I used the soil I have for my cacti. I will change it today. (or is it ok you think?)

JenRi I have thought of all you said. About the light, no, it is out of the question for too much light. I live in Sweden and the winters are long and dark. So, definitely it is not too much light. But, this winter wasn’t darker than any other winter, why would both of them (dracaenas) decide it is too dark and go pale leaves on me?

About the watering, I didn’t change my routine at all. Except for once, when it felt moist so I delayed the watering a bit. Maybe you are right though, maybe I should have checked deeper in the soil.

About the humidity … hmmm I don’t know. I have 2 other plants in the same room and they don’t have any issues.

As for what Therion said about nourishment, this is also something I wanted to ask. Since I thought too that this might be the case, (some time before the bark started shriveling) I did gave it some fertilizer.

Now, remember when I said I have seen this symptoms before on my “elephant’s bush†Well this is exactly what happened then as well. I thought, oh well maybe it needs some food, so I gave it food and after a week or so its bark started shriveling.

To cut a long story short. Could it be that a fertilizer can be causing this whole thing? Because it is the same fertilizer I used on my “E.B.†and I haven’t used it since. I have been using another brand and now I bought this one again.
To cut another looooooong question short:
Could it be that a particular fertilizer is bad for your plant? Or could it be that I should use even less than I do? ( I use fertilizer only in spring and a little less in summer time but “the book†says to let it be in the fall and winter)

Now, as I said I repotted and cut off the tops. Should I cut more? I have no idea what to do next -_- I am terrible when it comes to cutting plants >_<
It looks horrendous like this. It looks as if it is upside-down :/
A stick sticking out a pot … :(

 

Re: Help please my Dracaena is dying with symptoms I've seen before in my elephant's

I looked at the pictures more closely, and I have to tell you, I'm not sure what's going on. My initial post about under-nourishment was based on your "yellowing leaves" comment, but that usually starts from the bottom, as the dracaena gets barer and barer. Yours seems to have rotted away from the top. I think at this point either too much water or a fungus is to blame. If you cut the tops off, don't fertilize for a while, and maybe reduce water. In the winter time plants often need less water, because they are not growing as much. Get a feel for the weight of the pot when you watered and when it is dry, and water only when the pot feels light.

Are the roots OK?

 

Re: Help please my Dracaena is dying with symptoms I've seen before in my elephant's

Yes Therion the roots are in perfect condition!!! It is the weirdest thing isn't it?

 

Re: Help please my Dracaena is dying with symptoms I've seen before in my elephant's

It does depend on the plant...dracs definitely like to be misted (explained all the brown tips on my so-called yucca!) but that was a long shot, if you've never misted before there's no reason to expect it to suddenly have a hissy fit because the air is slightly drier than it would like....and that doesn't explain the rotting/drying from the top down either.

Glad the roots are okay:)