Hello, hoping you can help me out. I have a two-year-old dracaena that's not doing very well. Its leaves at the bottom are brown on the ends, and every so often a bottom one dries up and is fairly easily plucked off. (see photo) I'm pretty sure I've been overwatering it as I've read some posts here that say they only need water every 2-3 weeks (I've been watering once a week) , so I'll start cutting down on that. But I'm wondering what, if anything, I can do about the leaves that are brown now? I don't think the plant is dead because as you can see, it has beautiful healthy leaves at the top. Can I trim the leaves? Pull them out? Or will they just be brown forever? Also I suppose I should be putting this into a larger pot...? As you can tell I'm not great with plants so any help you can offer would be very much appreciated! Thanks, Sherry
I just remove the dead leaves. Mine has been hanging around for about 25 years both at work and in the last 15 yrs at home. Every so often I cut it back when it is leggy (3 times so far) and a new shoot starts all over again. I water mine about once a month and it has a slow release fertilizer that I have not added to in several years. The dry off could be from a room that is too warm but they do shed leaves. Mine also gets a shower about twice a year to dust it off. This has been a very forgiving plant. Liz
Yes, mine also sheds leaves from the bottom -- they dry out, become brown and fall off, and I regard this as normal. I drench mine with water every 20 days and let it totally dry out before the next watering. I found that if I overwatered, lower leaf drop increased.
Yes Liz and mapledia are right. Slow down on the water and cut the brown leaves off if you wish and besides that, it looks pretty healthy to me... Ed
thanks so much everyone! Good to know that it's not a lost cause. One more question if you don't mind -- yes this might be a dumb question, but: should I just cut the leaves that are browning at the ends off right at their bottoms, at the stalk? or should I rip them off? just want to do what's best. thanks again! Sherry
Mine are usual so dry I can tugg them off. May be give it a try otherwise use some scissors and neatly trim off near stem. Liz
