Can someone please help? We got this houseplant in February, and can't seem to find any information on it. I was told to water it infrequently and keep it "just moist", and after a few months of caring for it that way, it doesn't seem to be doing so well. Many of the leaves have fallen off, and some of them are brown at the tips. I'm attaching pictures of when we first got it, and pictures of how it looks now, can someone please tell me what it is, and how to properly care for it? Thank you!!
It looks like a Draceana ..(sp) they dont like to be kept moist .. let it dry out and keep in a somewhat shaded area .. they dont like direct sunlight .. good luck Marion
i agree with the dracaena id. marn is also correct about they don't like to be kept moist or be in direct light. normal growth pattern for dracs is that they lose the lower leaves as new leaves appear at the top, so, some of the leaf loss is just the normal thing for them. i would recommend repotting in better soil. use a mix of cactus soil or orchid bark and some regular potting soil and some perlite. you want to provide good drainage and just enough 'meaty' stuff to hold a bit of moisture. i usually do 40% soil, 40% bark or cactus mix and 10% perlite. it may need a bigger container, too. once you unpot it, you'll be able to look at the size of the rootball - the container should be large enough so that you have an inch or two between the root ball and the sides of the container. also take a look at the roots - if there are any that are brown/black or mushy, that's rot and you'll need to remove them. a sharp knife that's been sterilized (either heated in a flame and then cooled off or use rubbing alcohol) will do the trick there. if all the roots are bad (which may be likely if you've been keeping the soil too moist and the bottom part of the trunk may be mushy as well), then you can cut off all the bad stuff and re-root the plant. they root pretty easily. in fact, as it gets too tall, you can top it off and then plant to top piece and the original trunk will sprout new growth and you end up with 2 plants. they can be grown in full-light conditions...not what is usually done though. they do better in bright indirect light. if you want to have it in a full-light situation, you'll need to ease it into it - putting from a lower light area straight into a full-light area will cause burning and lots of stress to the plant... one other thing about browning tips, using water straight out of the tap can cause that (as well as too much or too little watering). always allow the water to sit overnight so the excess chlorine can dissapate and so it can come to room temp. i keep gallon jugs filled with water all the time so that i always have something ready to use when it's needed.
