Tall Dracaena Massangeana (Corn Plant) Needs Help
HomeGardenInVA
11 years ago
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
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no clue what Im doing Dracaena Fragrans (Corn Plant) Care
Comments (1)bump....See MoreHelp save my Dracaena Corn plant!
Comments (8)Jess. your poor Dracaena! It's been through a lot. Tap water is fine. You don't need Spring or any other bottled water. Also, it's not sunburn. One thing you should have been doing the last 5-years is rotating your Dracaena 1/4 turn once a week. I think your Corn Plant has/d a 'Dehydration' problem. How long did it go without being watered? You didn't mention time spent away from home. You also stated the pot doesn't have drainage. Do you know the container size? Was it watered before you left? Let's say soil dried completely and was w/o water for a good amount of time. Then you returned and gave it heavy drink..Possibly too much?? Even though there are rocks on the bottom of pot, if you added too much water, the roots could have been sitting in water all this time. Do you check soil between waterings? Not only the top, but halfway or further down? Your container looks large, 'by the picture.' If the top soil dries, it doesnt' mean the bottom soil is dry too. It needs to be checked..A thin stake is sufficient. Insert the stake as deep as possible. If the stake comes out wet, the bottom soil is still wet. And visa versa. Lifting a pot is another way to check. Lift after watering. Wait a week, two, etc, and relift. If the pot is light, most likely the soil is either drying out or dry. Only you can determine its weight and use judgement whether or not it needs a drink. Why did you start watering twice a month instead of once? It's possible its roots aren't absorbing water, 'if it's beens sitting in muddy soil.' Short periods of drought won't cause much harm, but heavy periods can cause permanent damage, preventing the plant from breathing. This happens frequently. Soil dries too much, then the plant ends up over-watered. Especially if the pot is w/o drainage. If your plant was in a pot with drainage, the first thing that should have been done is, soaking in a bucket of water, until top of soil is moist. Soaking can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes. Possibly more depending on pot size and amount of soil. What type of soil was used when you last repotted? Have you repotted in the last 5-years? Do you fertilize? It's going to require some work, but you love your plant so it's well worth it. Unpot the plant. Toss out old soil. Add fresh, semi-well-draining soil. Although your pot is very pretty, instead of potting directly in the container, pot in a plastic pot w/drainage. Pot size should be determined by the root-ball. 1-3 sizes larger is fine. After your plant is potted, it can be placed in your pretty blue pot. BUT, it's important you place something inside the pot so when you water, roots don't sit in water. I use styrofoam sheets. Break a piece or two to fit inside ccontainer, 'depending on thickness,' in the blue pot, then set the plastic pot on top of the styrofoam. Water well...enough all parts of the rootball are moistened. Remove dead leaves, or trim brown edges of leaves. Is the air in your house dry? If so, start misting. Or, if your plant isn't too heavy, give it a shower. Rain water is the best medicine, but if it's cold or not raining, that's out. lol. Instead, spray each leaf. After your Dracanea settles in, renews growth, give it a half-dossage of an All Purpose Fertilizer. In the future, rotate, once a week, so the entire plant gets balanced light. an unobstructed, south window is usually harsh for Dracaneas, in summer, when sun is blazing, but since your Corn Plant has been in that window the last 5 yrs, it probably adapted. Sunburn would be obvious. I wish you luck..It's going to take some work, but you love your plant, so get to it. BTW, check its roots. Corn Plants are pretty forgiving. Toni...See MoreCorn Plant/ Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana' :) Lighting!))
Comments (4)Yeah, I water mine in the shower, which seems to work well enough to keep my tips and margins healthy. One thing to be kind of careful about -- if water that's especially hard or heavy in fertilizer gets into the growing tip of plants like Dracaena and Cordyline, sometimes -- not always, but sometimes -- it will kill the growing tip. The plant will grow a new one most of the time, usually fairly quickly, but it'll leave a dead space where there are no leaves. You can: 1) just try not to spray the top of the plant, 2) spray the top but shake the water out of the growing tip before putting it back, 3) spray the top but stick a paper towel in the top to suck out the water before putting the plant up, 4) spray the top and take your chances, or 5) modify your shower so it only sprays distilled or reverse-osmosis water. (I personally do a combination of #2 and #4. #5 is extremely impractical and is meant as a joke.) I've seen it happen with D. fragrans 'Massangeana,' D. deremensis 'Warneckei,' and D. deremensis 'Art,' but so far only those three. Aside from that one thing to watch out for, shower-watering has worked fine for me. And it keeps them dusted....See Morepropagate dracaena massangeana...
Comments (4)Hi Woollady, A tip cutting would be where instead of cutting the notch in the stem of the plant in the air layering process, you cut through the entire stem. Then you would take the entire top of the plant and root it in a potting medium. I have never had good luck with this system for woody plants such as a draceana. Good luck. I hope this helps. Larry...See Moreken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoHomeGardenInVA
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoshear_stupidity
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoshear_stupidity
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoshear_stupidity
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoshear_stupidity
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoshear_stupidity
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoshear_stupidity
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoshear_stupidity
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoHomeGardenInVA
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agotete_a_tete
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agotete_a_tete
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agotete_a_tete
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agotete_a_tete
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years agoGeorge Bernard
8 years ago
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