Have some more bad news... today i pick up some new dirt called miracle gro moisture control which says it protects from over watering and under watering from home depot herd its better than the regular stuff that i used. I also bought a moister stick to check if its wet or not, Soon as i poke it in it went right to wet... Even after about 4 or 5 days of the last time i water them.. So i went to depot them and get rid of the old dirt and put this stuff in it, The stem one i planted is pretty much gone..

But i cut most of the roots off and just pop it in water sense what do i have to loose now sense the bark was loose too...

But here what sucks.. The one that has a good stem and also have alot of green leaves also showed wet and when taking it out of dirt alot of roots was soft to the point when squeeze they would just leak stuff out.. Now they ain't black or anything but they not the same white and firmness when i repot them... So i cut them the best i can and also rinse it under water to get the old dirt off.

Right now i got it siting on the table with a lamp over it to dry it. The good thing the stem is still nice and hard so i guess its not really bad yet. i left the roots that are still somewhat white and while the outer of the roots feels like paper the inside is still has hardness and also is white inside they just feel a little soft on the outside.

Are those roots still good? I don't want to cut all of them off if they still living. and should i leave it out of the dirt for a day to dry or should i put it right in the new dirt?

Here's some pics as you can see it still looks lively but.. the roots which i cut alot off cause they felt like nothing was inside of them.. im not sure whats left is good or not..

Really when i see root rot with my other plants the roots was black and slimey which in this case there was none.. and with these roots they still whitish and they are hard to cut even the ones i cut off was. But if you look were i cut you can see the inside which it looks like the skin around them is to big...

The canes themselves look good. I've heard these are easy to root as long as you don't over water. Do you have perlite available to you? You will want to mix about half perlite and half of the new stuff you just bought.

is this the stuff? http://t.homedepot.com/p/Miracle-Gro-8-qt-Perlite-Mix-74278430/204502291. ony thing im not sure if i can go get some today sense i just came back from home depot.. will it survive out of the dirt for day if i keep misting it? or can i put it in water till i can get the perlite?

how does the roots look? or are they not save able? when looking above the roots i do see bumps which i herd is root bumps?

It's hard for me to say without a) knowing what they are supposed to look like or b) being able to feel them and see them in person.

I don't think your plant is in any danger, just be patient and don't do anything drastic. You can even leave the roots out to dry to see what's healthy and what isnt. Don't let them dry too long though lol.

Yea its even hard for me to tell and im right in front of it lol usely root rot is slimy and black and would just break off.. These are still hard to cut and feel dry and also seem to suck up the water still when i mist them cause about a min or 2 after they dry.

Im going to be going to pickup perlite in about 45mins from Walmart so will mix that up 50/50 in the dirt.

I wonder if i should just plant it as is? Than if i see any bad changes in couple days i just pull it out and cut into the stem to reroot it. I don't want to really do that now in-case these roots still can recover and it also has root bumps also. They did get harder from leaving it out of dirt than every couple hours i been misting the roots.

Now when i do plant it with the dirt and perlite do i give it water? or should i wait a few days or a week to do so?

Im sorry if im asking all these questions but pretty much im new to this even tho i had all these plants for years but when something goes wrong with them im lost lol

Me, personally, I would leave the roots out to air dry. Whatever is still good will be firm and dry and the bad stuff will present itself upon closer inspection.

I wouldn't pot them up yet. I would let them dry out first to avoid infection/blight.

ok will leave it out longer:) How long will everything survive with out being in dirt? And should i mist them every once awhile so they wont get really dry?

Thanks:)

They can get really dry without any real harm to them. No misting. Drying.

ok thanks:) So would it be ok to leave them out to say a day or 2? I already got the perlite so going to mix that up 50/50 in the mean time so its ready to go in.

Ok so i mixed in the perlite and i did 2 pots cause i think i put to much in the first pot so i made another incase. Here's some pics the black pot is the first stuff i mixed which might be to much and the 2nd light color pot is the 2nd batch.

what do you think i should use? they both have close or 50/50 i don't think none of them have more than 50 perlite tho.

After i did them i was reading perlite contains fluoride and dragon trees and dracenas doesn't like to much? And herd its best to rinse perlite first.. wish i would've knew that first before i mix both of them...

I wonder if it will hurt? Cause even rinsing it pretty much it would take couple more days for it to dry which i don't think this dragon tree will be any good by than siting in nothing lol

Now for the tree so far its still doing good the canes look good and feels solid leaves are still green, And the roots still look the same as the first pic just a bit more dryer no black or mushy slimy roots. Now the roots inside are still not full inside the skin. Will they recover over time?

When i put it in the dirt do i give it water or not for couple days or week?

Just want to make sure im doing this right this time so it has a chance to survive lol

Thanks:)

If you pot them up, you should wait a few days to let any possible wounds in the roots heal.

I recommend getting stuff to hold them up while their roots take hold, there's not enough root ball there to really keep it in the pot, but you can bury it super deep (the very bottom of the bot if you really want) and the cane will put out roots hopefully also making it a stronger plant.

Don't be so quick to water. That's what got us where we are now :)

Do you mean let it sit out of the dirt like it is for a few more days more or did you mean don't water it for a few days when i put it in the pot. I just don't want it to dry to much cause i herd its bad for them also lol.

And i would say it would be a pot up for it, Its the same pot the light color one but there was 3 canes in it 1 didn't make it and i think the 2nd one is gone too have it in water at the moment which i had some luck bringing other plants back to life from almost dead .

Thanks:)

So they are all dead? Even the one with roots and you have that in water?

no the one in the pic with roots is still laying like in the pic i posted before. leaves and cane is still like it was in the pic i posted.

The one which was a stem that i took a pic of in the first link to the other forum also had good roots was dieing in the first pot of dirt and the cane bark started to get loose not mushy tho. Pulling that out of the dirt the roots was completely hollow so instead of throwing that out i figure i give it a chance in water but the chances are low on that one.

But yea the one with good leaves solid cane is still siting out as it was for about 2 days. which is what the new pot of dirt is for.

this is the pics from the other forum i posted when i potted them in their own pots. Both of them had solid white roots with no problems. i had to cut some of the cane on one cause it was soft on top. the 2nd pic is what was left.

than i notice it getting papery bark and was moving. thats when i depotted them to find out they was still wet.. from watering them like a week before.. and that's when i notice the hollow root problem.

The good looking one showed no signs of problems till i looked at the roots which i had to cut alot of them off to were it is now, the roots are still not normal as they were but hopefully they recover or re root new ones from the root bumps.

have a update so i put the dragon back in dirt with perlite and i haven't water it for like a week and just been misting the leaves and cane about 2 times a day. And i wonder if it needs water now? cause the leaves do look like they drooping a bit as you can see from the pics and the canes look little bit dry too. But pretty much im afraid to water lol I also have a moister detector and it shows pretty much on dry now as you can see by the photo.

What do you think i should do? And how should i give water should i make the whole pot soaked or should i just pour some in the middle were the roots are? as you can see by my old photo showing the roots there was not much there so not sure if it best just to put some in the middle or what.

While looking wrinkle canes it says this Under watering - bright yellow lower leaves, droopy heads, wrinkled stalks what i see is in mine is the last 2, don't see any bright yellow lower leaves tho.

You say it's been in this pot, in this new substrate, dry, for 6 days?

Yes, water it. Give it a big enough drink that water drains out the bottom. Since you have it in a pot that is a good deal larger than the root mass, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to water less around the edges. Water it, then leave it alone... no misting, but give it more light if you can.

Yea i didn't water it for that long because the dirt was still moist from the store cause the moist reader was reading in the middle for days.

And yea the pot is a bit big for it.. so what i did before i water it about 15min ago is put it in another smaller pot than i gave it water till it drain out of the bottom than i put it were there is more light. couldn't find a smaller pot before when i needed it but today i found one in the corner lol

Here's a pic in the smaller pot than i have a ball thing on the side to make it stay were its at cause its a bit top heavy even tho i have it in the dirt a good bit down.

I guess its wait and see if it makes it... How long will it stay wet with this new dirt which is prevent over and under watering, And i also have perlite in it 50/50 could be 40/50 but its close. Are those moister monitors accurate? Like when it goes down to dry is it time to water it again?

These dragon trees are really picky about water than my other plants they usely suck the water up in a few days and then the dirt is dry. Hopefully the dirt drys out good with this dirt and perlite. I do notice as soon as i dump water in the dirt it went right down instead of siting on the top for a few secs. So i guess it has good drainage.

Hmm it wasn't a mistake going down a pot was it? Would think it would dry out much faster threw waterings.

What makes a pot dry out too fast is a complex root system drinking up the water in the pot. It appears that your plant didn't have any roots to speak of so I don't think you have to worry about it getting too dry.

You especially need to be careful not to OVERwater at this point, because it will rot the stem and you'll have to cut that part off and try again.

It still has roots like the other pic i posted, one of the roots was much harder than it was in the last pic. And the other ones did look a bit better than last time also.

From looking around it seems like drooping and wrinkling of the stem is a under water problem.

And i was told to water it so i did. It haven't had water for like 6 days and it started to droop more and the stem was getting wrinkles.

Pretty much i guess i wait and see cause i am tried everything to get this plant back on track.. So i guess if it dies this time its a goner and probably will just buy another one. Hope it makes it tho.

Right now i have it in another room which is a bit warmer and i also have the light towards it more.

I think it'll be good right now. They can be kept on the dry side.

If it was all dry and hard, you should be okay. Did you wet the whole pot and let all of the extra water flow out? I've never rooted one of these in such a big pot lol.

yep everything was dry and the roots was in alot better shape and the hardness they can get and one was pretty hard i guess that root got fully recovered. i cant bend none of them easy tho so they did get better.

And for the pot that's the smallest one which is in the last pic i can fit it in cause the roots was almost touching the sides and they are pretty hard to bend which i didn't want to break them.

Pretty much i would say its a snug fit. The root mass doesn't look that big on the pic but they are almost touching the sides of the pot when i put it in. Now the pot i had it in the dry dirt before was pretty big for it.

I gave it about a half a cup till i started to see water flowing out of the bottom and i held it up in the air till all the extra ran out. I also used water that sat over 24hours.

A half cup sounds like a very very small amount of water. You sure that's right?

I say it was like half of 16.9 oz bottle water. when i poured it in it started to sink than nothing came out the bottom. Than i added a bit more and it started to run out of the bottom out of all the 4 holes.

Than i put in the moister detector and it showed wet in all 4 comers so im assume that would be enough. I was afraid to over do it .