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What's wrong with my Dracaena?

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I have had this plant for about a year. I have moved it to different spots of the flat, repotted it this spring. I have tried watering less, then more... After I repotted it it started growing again but in a weird way and then it stopped. I just don't know what is wrong with it. I would appreciate any advice. Thx.


On plant Dracaena marginata (Dragon tree)


Answers

 

Some plants don't like moving! These Dracaena are petulant houseplants. Stand on a tray of wet pebbles and let the compost dry out a bit between waterings. Feed with a nitrogen fertiliser - not too strong (maybe half strength) throughout spr/sum/aut. See if it picks up.

13 Aug, 2007

 

This happens to some plants if they are kept indoors for long periods. Try keeping it in the natural environment for fresh air, dew and sunshine.

19 Aug, 2007

 

Hi there,

As hoya says, dracaena can be a bit tetchy, I have two at the mo, one of which is still complaining about being moved after two months! It liked it on top of my telly apparently, and hasn't taken kindly to the increase on light and slight drop in temp that has resulted from the move! lol Even my ficus benjamina can be better behaved that the dracaena, and that's saying something! lol

From the look of those burned leaf tips, I would say that it may have been overfertilised? is that possible? They also do not like to sit with wet feet, as hoya says, let her dry out a bit between waterings.

The slow growing may be a result of the repotting, they like to be a little pot bound before they are potted up, the slow in growth is caused by the plant growing more roots that foliage, she should perk up growth once she's found the edges of the pot and got herself snug. bear in mind that dracaenas don't grow all that fast indoors anyway, maybe a few inches a year depending on the light available.
The other thought that occurs to me is soil PH, although most houseplants can tolerate a good PH range, you might find that something has gotten the soil in this pot a bit out of whack, chlorine springs instantly to mind, try watering it with tepid water that has been left out in a bucket or similar overnight, this allows the chlorine in the tap water to evaporate and stabilises the PH.
If you can, test the PH of the soil, it should sit between 6 and 8 depending on the type of soil you are using, if it's out of this range then a soil flush with purified water might do the trick, or maybe correcting the balance with a flush of fert solution of suitable PH. Without knowing exactly what soil you have, what watering regimen you are using and what ferts you have used, that's about a specific as I can be. Just bear in mind that one single PH point is a tenfold increase/decrease in acidity/alkalinity factor, ie. ph5 is ten times more acidic than ph6, it can make all the difference!

4 Sep, 2007

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