By Mrsbill
Devon,
United Kingdom 
Hello all,
Following some very good advice on here, I chopped the trunk of my "dead" looking cordyline down to about 6". It has put out about 10 new shoots, so I am very pleased and grateful. (To be honest, we really thought there was no hope.)
Mr Bill has been very bold and cut 2 of them off when they got to around 1 ft tall (he cut them below soil level) and although they didn't seem to have any roots of their own he potted them up. One or two of the very outside leaves have gone a bit brown, but other than that they seem ok.
Did he do the right thing and short of taking them out of the pots, how can we tell if they are doing ok? Also what (if anything) should we do about the remaining new shoots? The original cordyline and it's babies are in a large pot.
Many thanks in advance.
26 Jul, 2011
Answers
For your best chances of the shoots rooting, cut off the oldest 1/2 of the leaves, and use a strong root stimulator. You will know that it is working if new leaves start expanding from the center. I would still consider it a bad bet, though.
27 Jul, 2011
Previous question
Leave the new shoots to grow on into large cordyline branches - if you don't want so many branches, cut some off, but they make very attractive plants with so many clumps of branches. Unfortunately, it is unlikely the ones your husband removed will grow - you can transplant baby ones, but only if you get a good piece of root attached to each one, and often, the new shoots arise from the base of the old stem, not directly from the root ball.
26 Jul, 2011