By Citygardener
Tyne And Wear,
United Kingdom 
I have a fairly established Cordyline in a four foot tall pot so plenty of room to grow. However, although I wrapped it over the winter, it seems to have suffered. The centre stem, rather than being tall and thick is not far from the crown and is yellow in colour. It seems to have stopped growing. I know yellowing is a sign of too much water but there is good drainage in the pot. I’m hoping that leaving it alone will allow it to grow but I’m seeking advice as I’d hate to lose it. It would cost a fortune to replace and its a main feature in my small city garden.
2 May, 2018
Answers
Thanks, I’ve updated the post with pictures that show the weak centre.
2 May, 2018
give it a good feed and then I am afraid its a case of wait and see.
2 May, 2018
In retrospect, as you have a city/sheltered garden, then your cordyline shouldn't have had to have been wrapped during the winter as wrapping encourages molds. Red varieties are less hardy though. The main problem with Cordyline is that it wants to become a tree that can grow to 20 feet plus but growing in a container will often give problems with watering and feeding. So, I would consider that, if possible, you can replant it in the ground. If not, then as Bamboo suggests, buy another as a replacement to give some more years as a container subject.
2 May, 2018
I'm not really seeing a 'weak centre' - the plant looks pretty healthy considering its come through a winter wrapped up, so feed it as Seaburngirl says. I assume its in such a large pot because you want the height of the leaves higher up at the top of a long stem- if the pot is four feet tall, it should do okay for another year or two, maybe longer.
2 May, 2018
If you kept it wrapped all winter, it will look awful, and may or may not recover, depends whether the growing tip at the top is damaged. If it is, you may find it shoots from the base or somewhere down the trunk. If the whole trunk it yellow and soft, that doesn't sound good, and it may be better to cut the whole thing down and wait to see if there's any regrowth off the roots, but hard to say without seeing the plant. Hopefully it wasn't cold enough (below zero day AND night for over a week) for the soil in the pot to freeze, because that will kill a plant by destroying the roots.
If it does recover, bear in mind that plants which are wrapped against bad weather shouldn't be left all winter like it - the wrappings should be removed when the weather is not so cold to allow airflow round the plant, and then wrapped again if really bad weather arrives again.
In the meantime, you could just buy another one that hasn't yet got a main stem (these will be available in most garden centres relatively cheaply, if not now, then very shortly), pot it on into something larger and let it grow - they form trunks fairly quickly, and when it does, you can transfer it to your large pot if the one you have does not recover.
2 May, 2018