repot: First off, repot. At the least, get new soil. Remove the plant and rake off the soil using a chopstick or a plastic fork. Soil: For soil.... we will assume that you do have a ficus. I would go to home depot and get a bag of schultz 'profile' or 'aquatic planting medium' it will be called either and not all home depots carry it. You will probably have to ask for it and then describe what it is ( 10 pound bag of fired clay to plant aquatic plants in, in the pond section or in the soil section). Ok, so you got that now, plant your plant back into the same pot using 100% profile. You could add some bark into the soil mix but I would not bother with it. YouÂre a beginner, so we will keep it simple. water: Now, water it using tap water, rainwater, aquarium water, if it is a ficus, the water quality really doesnÂt matter. Ok, so now you watered it, do it again. Now water when the soil is dry about 1/2 way down. Or put a chopstick in the soil and keep it there. TO check to see if it needs watering, pull the stick, if its damp, it does not need water. Put the chopstick back in the soil. Placement: Ok, put the plant A) outside if the chance of frost of freezing is gone, but put it in the shade till it gets used to being outside. Say about 1 week, then get it in some direct sun. B) In indirect window light, inside if the chance of frost or freezing has not past. Move to step A when the chance of frost of freezing has past. Write back here when the plants get bigger and well tell you how to prune... Better yet, If you really think you are going to get into this hobby, buy some books or go to your local libray ( or the next town over, I dont care if its local ). Just to make sure itÂs a ficus, does it have oval leafs with No serrated edges? That is the edges are smooth? When you break off a leaf does it oouzzz out a white milky sap? Are the leafs alternate? If you said yes to these then I will guess itÂs a ficus.

Looking at the third pic I can tell you right away that the stem in the middle is a goner. The one on the right looks healthiest and the one on the left....negligible. The first thing you'll want to do is take the plant out of the pot and knock as much dirt off of the root ball as possible. Toss out that black cane and examine the roots of the other two. Healthy dracaena roots are usually yellow or orange-ish. If any are dead or mushy, trim them off. Hopefully there should be a decent amount of rootage left. Judging from the pic, it looks like the plant might be in a pot that is a bit too large. I would them re-pot the remaining plant in fresh soil in a pot at least one size smaller. Dracaena like to be a bit pot-bound. This also helps discourage an anaerobic zone which leads to root rot. If you're using store bought potting soil I would also amend it with some perlite and/or horticultural charcoal. Next, place the plant in an area that will receive at least medium light. Nothing too bright, at least until it recovers and never direct sun. When watering, wait until at least the top two inches or so of soil are dry. Also check deeper down to make sure it's not sopping wet around the root ball (shouldn't be if you're using a well-draining mix). Let us know how it goes and if you have any further questions.

well it turns out i WILL NOT be getting a mothers day order this year... we have bills to pay and decided that the $40 i would have gotten to spend on plants is need more to pay bills.... so i guess maybe next year i can get the plants ive been waiting to get... :(

Well slept on the couch last night ( what a joy) after yet another arguement about S.D. with my wife. This last week has been filled with the same crap different day. So heres the scenerio. My wife and I work differing shifts most of the time, so I end up spending most of the time with my S.d. After school and evenings, my wife works mainly 4 - midnight shifts. Last week was more of just the same, my s.d talking to me anyway she feels like it ( totally no respect ) and a week of mainly all out battles between us. Yesterday, i argued with her for 4 hours trying to get her to clean her room, when i can't see the floor and there are dirty dishes in there, its time for her to clean it, finally i just gave up told her to do whatever she wants, live like a pig, i'm beyond caring, and i stopped talking to her for the day. Now over the week she had lost her computer time, phone time and tv time for lying to us about her school homework ( telling us it was all done, after parent teacher confrence we found out she had not been doing any of it ) she ended up grounded. Anyways, wife comes home, s.d comes out of room, talking as sweet as ever, Oh hi daddy blah blah blah, i just said uh huh. after an hour, i went in the computer room, there my wife on her computer and my s.d on my computer. I said um excuse me your not allowed on the computer and after a day like we had, dont' expect to be on there for a long time. Well that was a mistake, wife turns around says she's doing her homework, and I just laughed, shook my head and walked out. next thing i know my wife is yelling at me cause i'm not allowing s.d. to do her homework, and i told her what kind of day we had and it didn't matter. I told her once again that she has NO idea wht i put up with on a daily basis, my son 16 years old pipes up, ummm ( wifes name ) she talks to dad with totally no respect when your not here, wife tells son to shut up that he treats s.d with no respect either, to which i replied, well when she learns to talk to people with respect, maybe she'd get some back. Suddenly wife yells she has had enough and her and the s.d are leaving ( moving out ) So i decided to sleep on the couch. So now what??? Been thinking about it most of the night, personally i think it might be a relief to all concerend it it happened. Much as I love my wife, and I know she loves me, we can't continue like this. I know i will never accept anyone talking to me like my s.d does, and if my son was talking to my wife that way, well lets just say son would be very bored for the next two months. My wife says, well your the adult, my s.d says you can't do anything to me cause mom will just move out. HELPPPPPPPPPPPP. I'm so tired of being stressed, i think everyone is, is there any solutuiont o this, or am I just wasting my time in something that is never going to change.