So I went ahead and removed the top layer of soil, thus ridding all visible signs of the fungus. YES, it seems I was over-watering, because the soil was moist under the little wood chips on top. Do I need to re-pot?

To whomever replies...THANK YOU!

I'd say cut back on the water - let about the top quarter to half inch of the soil dry out before you water. You might also want to repot the canes into fresh potting mix to get rid of the fungus. That's probably the easiest way to do it. I'm not sure about the Culligan water; I'd better let someone else answer that one. :) You do see dracenas growing in water (it's what they call "Lucky Bamboo") but it's a little deceiving; when they're growing in potting mix they like to dry out a bit between waterings.(I made the same mistake with one, but I caught it in time to save it.)

For the mealies, the best way to get rid of them is to take a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol and just wipe them off the plant. You'll probably have to do this a few times over the course of a couple of weeks to get all of them. Bug sprays won't touch them because that fuzzy white coating protects them, but the alcohol dissolves it and kills them. (I just had to treat a plant of mine for the first time for mealy bugs - never had a problem with anything like that before.)

Don't get discouraged - you'll be a green thumb before you know it. :)

I would actually be inclined to let a Dracaena massangeana (or D. fragrans, or whatever -- we're talking about a corn plant, right?) get even drier than pageysgirl suggests. Something more like, when the pot is dry halfway down. Not only is it 1) easy to rot a Dracaena if you're not careful, but 2) there's often nothing left of it to save by the time you notice, and 3) nothing in my plant-raising experience smells as unpleasant as a Dracaena cane that has rotted and then been cut or peeled open. It's this awful, sharp, ammonia smell with an undernote of, I don't know, like, dead feet soaked in sour milk. It's indescribably terrible, and worth going to some lengths to avoid.

But I see I've digressed. Ahem.

Removing the fungus is good, and removing the top layer of soil entirely is better, though it may or may not make the fungus stop coming up. That's not really your main concern now, the fungus.

Neither are the mealybugs, though something probably does need to be done about them. I would suggest first physically removing as many of them as possible with rubbing alcohol -- probably, given the size of the plant, a paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol, though a cotton ball might be easier to use. Then, after an hour or so, I would take the plant outside, cover the soil in something water-repellent and flexible (maybe saran wrap, or aluminum foil?), lay it down, and try to spray off the leaf and stem surfaces as much as possible.

(The saran wrap / foil is to keep this from adding water to soil which is probably already too wet; I make no promises about how well that might work out, but it seemed better to try something than not to.)

You do want to be careful about how strong the stream of water you're using is. Too little, and you're just giving the mealybugs a bath. Too much, and you'll blast holes through the plant. Think in the neighborhood of a bathroom shower that has decent but not amazing water pressure. If you can get some soap in there, too, that's a plus, but it's not really the main point of the spray.

The idea there is that you'll be able to physically remove some bugs that are in crevices between leaves and stuff, that you couldn't reach with the rubbing alcohol.

Then, after a day or two of letting the plant rest, I would hit it with some kind of over the counter insecticide. I don't personally have a favorite, so you're basically left with whatever people recommend to you at your garden center or box store or wherever you go. I'd make sure that the label specifies that it kills mealybugs (all poisons are not equal), but beyond that, go with whatever you like.

And then repeat as much as seems appropriate to you. Like pageysgirl said, you're going to have to do the alcohol treatment, at least, several times, and a 4-cane Dracaena is going to have a lot of spots for bugs to hide in, so you're going to have to be pretty vigilant, and do it often for a while, whether you see bugs or not. You can also repeat the insecticide (which should be more effective right after the alcohol) according to the label directions. I would *not* repeat the garden hose bit, because of the likelihood of making the plant wetter.

I don't imagine that Culligan water is any better or worse than any other water. I don't personally worry about fluoride, though I understand it's a biggish deal with spider plants.

East-facing window is also probably fine.

Thank you both. I'm going to get to work at it with the alcohol for now. Tomorrow I will alcohol again and then try to get it outside to hose it as you had suggested! I have a lot of work to do considering I have a broken left arm!

Okay, my husband is laughing at me. I have a broken arm, and rubbing down every leaf is taking awhile, and I can't separate the leaves well. I did get quite a few, but like you said, there's a lot of tight spaces. This thing is to the ceiling, too! He thinks I should put the rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle. I don't think that will work, right?

How about pruning the drooping growth? Yes, it's also called the "corn" plant. Do I put wax on it after I cut it?

Thanks for all your help!

Ow. Sorry to hear about your arm. Hope it heals up quickly!

Come to think of it, a spray bottle should work - I somehow had it in my head this was a small plant, not a giant. :). I probably should have thought of that when I was battling mealies on my huge piggyback plant - basically a tangled mass of foliage about two feet around. I think I finally got them all, though.

BTW, Ortho Home Defense doesn't kill mealies - I had already sprayed that particular plant rather heavily after a bunch of yellowjackets decided to set up home in the pot. (It was on the back porch.) Took care of the yellowjackets, but not the mealy bugs...

If I had a broken arm and I was trying to do what you are doing I believe I would try the spray bottle idea.

Spray bottle is doable. You'll want to be sure to get all the leaves, top and bottom, and possibly use a little extra so that the tight spots get soaked well. It's still better, I think, to physically rub down what you can, but you can only do what you can do, so certainly a good spraying from a bottle is better than nothing.

If the stem is mushy or soft, then yes, get rid of it. Rubbing alcohol will help here too -- use it to sterilize the knife before you make the cut. I don't know about using wax; I don't know that it'd be bad for the plant, but it's also probably not necessary (?). In any case, cutting off the rotten part sooner rather than later is good.

If the stem is solid, though, I'd wait to see what it's going to do. Rotten stems feel like a loose covering over a solid core -- the outside is moveable. Non-rotten stems feel solid throughout; you can't feel any structure within the stem, just a solid cane.

After using paper towels to wipe most the leaves with rubbing alcohol, I used a cotton ball to get down into the new growth areas (tight spots). That removed a great deal of those mealybugs. Then, used Garden Safe houseplant & garden insect spray to drench the leaves. It has pyrethrins and canola oil in it. This morning, I noticed a couple mealybuggers, DEAD! It seems to have worked on them. I will inspect more during my lunch hour. The leaves look nice and shiny from the spray.

Thank you, all! I'll prune the one bad one during lunch.
I'll keep you updated on the plant's progress!

If only the upper part of the cane/stem is rotted, it might put out side shoots from the undamaged portion. It could be a couple of months before it does, though.

See? You're going to have a green thumb yet!