Quite often, a very peaty potting mix will form hydrophobic pockets which shun moisture. Roots will die inside those pockets.

When you water your plant, it needs to either be soaked or drenched to insure that the entire volume of soil is saturated. Then, the drying process can begin again.

16% humidity is very low for both humans and plants. I suspect that your plant has come from an area of normal humidity and is showing signs of distress. I would also recommend that you make sure that you're watering properly.

Tiffany - yes I am removing it and watering it in the sink. and yes, it was all green and vibrant when I got it. It was an extremely cold day but it went directly into my car. I will try picking it up off the floor. Should I do anything to revive it?

Agreed, it was probably used to a lot more humidity at the grower, and at the store where the sheer number of plant material per cubic inch would create some humidity. The change would be taxing, and require some adjustment, even for a plant that doesn't usually have problems being inside the 'average' home during winter. Suddenly, the foliage needs more moisture supplied from the roots to compensate for the more dry air (but compensating by keeping the soil soggy would be a mistake, not saying to do that!)

Hopefully it will finish discarding leaves once it adjusts to its' new home.

Going out in the cold was probably quite a shock too. I try to not buy plants on really cold days, but can't deny doing it sometimes. If you try this again, ask for something to put over/around the plant, to shield it from the cold air as much as possible, (like a person putting on a coat to keep cold air off of skin.)

When growing normally, the oldest leaves will be discarded periodically as part of the process of the trunk lignifying (becoming woody,) but not in that quantity (as your pic.) At this point, if you remove the completely brown leaves and cut the brown tips off of the other leaves, you'll be able to see if it's progressing (and probably enjoy looking at it more.) Once a leaf goes brown, it can't turn green again.

Dracaenas are sensitive to tap water chemicals. Whenever possible, giving them rain, distilled, or condensate from a dehumidifier or A/C can help flush those out of the soil.

OK. I will cut all the brown leaves off. Should I continue misting the plant?

Don't bother misting it. You can't most enough to compensate for 16% humidity, and you might actually be increasing water loss in the same way our hands dry out badly in the winter if we do anything with water - evaporating water molecules On the surface adhere to water molecules in the tissues and draw them out. Im pretty sure it also happens in plants.

I have only my tiny phone screen to view this, but am I seeing some leaves that are brown at the base, or brown in the middle rather than just at the ends? Are the leaves turning yellow before they turn brown? It doesn't look like it to me. I also don't see any wilting, and the dying leaves aren't mostly at the bottom. If I'm seeing it correctly, there are areas of dead/dry/brown tissue all over the plant, but there are no yellow leaves and the plant isn't wilting.

To me, that makes a watering issue unlikely, too much water will turn leaves yellow and/or cause wilting. Too little water will cause wilting before leaves turn brown.

I know of only two or three things that cause tissue to die right in the center of long leaves while leaving the bases and ends of the leaves green (temporarily, anyway): freezing or sunburn, sometimes heat can do it. Are you certain there isn't any direct sun on it? The sun is low this time of year so the sun's rays reach farther into windows than when it's higher. Direct southern sun is currently coming over 20 feet into my apartment. In the summer it's only about 2 feet. Are you home often enough to know for sure it hasn't gotten scorched?

Are you sure it's out of the way of any heat source? Going completely dry twice in two weeks seems strange to me, but if you're humidity is only 16%, maybe that's not so odd (70% in my cool apartment in the gloomy Pacific NW).

Don't let it go completely dry. I hear people refer to completely dry often, and I'm not sure they really mean completely dry. If it is completely dry, then root hairs and whole root systems will die and the plant won't be able take up water when it is watered, and then it will rot, if you poke a pencil all the way to the bottom of the pot, there should be some evidence of moisture when you bring it back up - even just a cool sensation when you touch the pencil to your upper lip, but preferably a wee bit more than that. If you really have been letting it go bone dry, as another poster stated, hydrophobic growing media will be a problem, and those spots might be killing sections of root. Soak the whole pot in a bucket of 70-90 degree water for about 15 minutes or until the pot sinks and it no longer bubbles, then resume watering Normally but don't let it dry out so much between waterings.

You haven't fertilized it or anything, have you? Fertilizer burn will quickly cause brown tips in plants with no wilt or yellowing. Don't fertilize until it's actively growing in spring.

Last question: it wasn't near heat in the nursery or store, was it? A couple months ago my local Walmart had the overhead heating system on full blast in the semi-outdoor garden center...and they had dozens of plants just a couple of feet from red-hot heating elements. I couldn't hold my hand above the plants for over a few seconds without becoming uncomfortable. Of course, all those plants formed large dead areas within a few days, but I'm certain many unwary people brought them home first and couldn't figure out why their plants were drying suddenly just days after purchase.

kwie -

Your description of what the leaves look like is accurate. That is exactly what is happening. The plant is near a south facing window. There are many windows and the room gets a ton of light, but the sun does not ever directly hit the spot where the plant is located. I am almost certain of this, but I will keep an eye out this weekend when I am home during the daytime.

The plant is located around five feet from our heater (forced air, wall unit, it blows air up) but we hardly ever turn it on. It's always off during the daytime and during the nighttime. In the evenings/weekends, I'd say it's probably been on only 4 or 5 times since we've had the plant for only a few hours each time. Should I move it away from the heater when we do turn it on? When it's off, even on the coldest days, the lowest temperature the room has gotten is around 62 degrees, but typically it stays in the high 60s.

Tiffany mentioned it may be from freezing - it was an extremely cold day (around 15-20 degrees, probably) when I picked up the plant and it went directly into my car from the store, but it was outside for probably 10 minutes. Could this be the issue? If so, is there a way to salvage it?

I have not been letting it go bone dry, I should have clarified. By "completely dry out" I mean to what is appropriate for the plant. I've watered when the top half of the soil has dried out, which is what I have been told to do for this plant, hopefully that is correct? I have not fertilized.

I am not sure where it was in the store, but now I'm curious and am going to have to make a trip back to see.

Gah! I just want to save it!

So glad I coukd offer some insight.

People might argue with me, but I doubt that just ten minutes in 15-20 degrees would cause such damage. There are several small D. marginatas planted around my apartment that haven't gotten a single brown tip despite several nights in the 20s. Leaves touching metal or glass in sub-freezing temperatures would likely freeze, but probably not just from short exposure to cold air.

Whether burned or frozen, it will come back as long as the stem is okay, and it almost certainly is. The brown leaves will never be replaced, but as the top groas it will naturally discard the lower leaves and eventually you won't see the damage anymore.

Meanwhile, if it is getting scorched in that room, the damage will get worse until it's moved, so you might want to draw the shades until you know for sure.

I doubt that amount of heat is the issue, especially if it is blowing upward and not right on the plant, but there is a synergistic effect when you combine any combination of hot air, low humidity, dry soil, and direct sun. A well-watered plant will tolerate much more hot air and/or direct sun than a dry one.

I think you'll save it. That type of leaf damage indicates it isn't a systemic problem, and fixing the environment is pretty easy once you identify it. the room temperature is fine, so you only have a couple variables to sort out. My best guess is it's just getting more sun than you expected. I hope that's all it is. I hope you'll let us know what you find out.

Thank you! I will follow all suggestions and hopefully save this.

If your plant wilts while the soil is still damp/wet, you can be 99.9% sure you're over-watering - especially if the plant wilts during the day & then regains some of its normal turgidity as it starts into the dark phase.

Al

I don't see any evidence the plant is wilting though; do you, Al?