Now is the time to turn your plant into one with a single trunk, if that's what you want. As it is now, it bifurcates (branches into a 'Y') too low to either be called a single trunk or for the branch on the right (in the picture) to look good as a branch as the plant matures. The word 'pinching' can be misleading. It can mean literally pinching out all or some of the plant's apices (growing branch tips), or lopping off large segments of branches in order to change the shape of the plant and its growth habit from long and lank to short and shrubby. How significant the response you get to pinching depends on the plant, when you pinch (where the plant is in its growth cycle - time of year), how healthy the plant is (how much reserve energy the plant has), and what the rate of current photosynthate (food) production is. If you're looking to the future and want to maximize ramification (branch and leaf density), note the picture: Pinch the left branch above the first pair of leaves. Two new buds will be activated in the axils (crotches) of the 2 leaves you left. In the circle, make sure there are only 2 branches forming a 'Y' inside the circle. It looks like there are at least 3, maybe more, emerging from close to the same point. This will create an ugly swelling and reverse taper in the trunk that will immediately catch the eye because it looks out of place; so, 2 branches at that point and prune those 2 branches back to 1 pair of leaves on each branch. If you are more interested in building a specimen with an interesting trunk line, you probably need to do away with the entire right half of the 'Y' formed by the first 2 branches. If you have interest in chasing this a little further, or have questions about how the plant is programmed to respond and how to control the response ....... Al

Hi! These are not terribly picky plants, things should go well, assuming both are in a pot with a hole in the bottom, and not inappropriately dense/soggy/muddy soil. :+) The one picky aspect of Dracaenas is being sensitive to tap water chemicals. Whenever possible, give that rain water, distilled, or condensate from a dehumidifier or A/C. Sounds like it might be too big to move for watering. A turkey baster will help you remove excess water from a drip saucer. First, the fun. Both of these plants have a "strange people" article. If you like to find the humor in things, plants have some too: http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2009/11/fall-guy-dracaena-marginata.html http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2008/07/stoner-zamioculcas-zamiifolia.html "should I have removed all of the old soil from the roots?" Yes, that's repotting. What you described doing is merely potting up. Repotting is preferred because variation in soil type/texture makes it difficult for moisture to move from one to the other. "should I have placed some pebbles or perlite or something in the bottom" No, that doesn't help with drainage/aeration, it's just an old wives' tale. Many previous discussions about this if you feel like searching/reading more. I'm also a huge fan of the great info here: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1490818/good-growing-practices-an-overview-for If you are able to share a pic of your plants, please do. Everyone loves plant porn!

Oh I just thought of something else! There is a restaurant near me that has a very large and lovely ZZ plant. The stalks always seem so upright. I noticed that they placed a ring of fist-sized rocks around the perimeter of the pot surrounding the plant. It seemed to hold up the stalks a bit. Hope that helps!

The white material on the soil surface is the solids, formerly dissolved in the soil solution, left behind as the soil solution evaporated from the top of the soil. Think of the mineral deposits that occur in tea kettles or anywhere where tapwater or fertilizer solutions are allowed to evaporate. Usually it doesn't occur when you make sure to apply irrigation water evenly to the top of the soil when you water, and you make sure you're applying at leads 20% more water than it requires to rewet the entire soil column. The purpose of applying more water than it takes to wet the entire soil column is it flushes any accumulating dissolved solids (think 'salts') from the soil, thereby ensuring they cannot accumulate to the point where they inhibit water uptake. Salts can accumulate to the degree they prevent water uptake or even reverse the osmotic flow of water into cells, instead, pulling water OUT of cells by the same mechanism curing salt pulls water out of meat cells (bacon/ ham/ sausage, ....). The tendency of grow media is to break down over time due to the activity of biotic soil life cleaving the hydrocarbon chains that make up the medium's organic ingredients. The white dissolved solids are not an indication the medium is 'breaking down' as they will become conspicuous whenever a planting is not watered with focus on preventing a build-up of dissolved solids. It's not clear if the pot has a drain hole. If it doesn't that can be the source of issues related to over-watering and an accumulation of dissolved solids in the soil. Your pot should have a drain hole unless A) you're an experienced grower familiar with monitoring soil moisture levels B) you're watering with some form of deionized water (rain water, water from a r/o filtration system, dehumidifier/ air conditioner condensate) and C) your nutritional supplementation program consists of using organic soil amendments as a nutrient source - not easy to get to a place where you can depend on delivery of nutrients via organic sources in containers. Since you haven't been fertilizing regularly, there is a very high probability the chlorotic appearance is due to a deficiency of nitrogen and likely other nutrients considered to be mobile in the plant (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, sulfur). "Mobile", means the plant is able to 'borrow' nutrients from other plant parts (like older foliage) to provide the building blocks (nutrients) plants need for new growth. Care basics: the plant wants to be treated as you would a succulent. Wait until the soil is nearly but not entirely dry before watering and plenty of bright light bet not direct sun. A very good fertilizer source would be Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. It's a 1-stop (complete) nutritional program from a single source. Let me know if you want help putting an effective fertilizing regimen in place. No one can tell you how to fertilize w/o some knowledge of your grow medium's physical characteristics and your watering habits. Thoughts or questions? Al