Any advice welcome- dying Dracaena marginata
Brooke Agather
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
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Brooke Agather
7 years agoRelated Discussions
small dracaena marginatas dying?
Comments (1)It sounds like it may be more of a case of under-watering? Dracaena do not like to be sopping wet, but letting them dry out completely is not good either. The stems flopping over is also symptomatic of under-watering. I adopted a D. marginata "tricolour" that did the same thing. I would recommend picking up a moisture meter, mine has helped me out a lot. And here's another cool trick I've learned from this forum; D. marginata will have a dark spot on it's trunk when it's sufficiently watered. Sort of a natural moisture meter. :)...See MoreDracaena marginata dying!!!! HELP!!!!
Comments (6)Sorry that happened. All you can do at this point is let it dry well, don't sunburn it. Impossible to say from looking at that if it's going to live or not. Hope so, sending good vibes! It doesn't look very good, the top leaves should be pointing straight up. One thing that should help, when it is dry enough to need water again, would be to give it collected rain water, or distilled water. Dracaenas are known to be sensitive to the chemicals in tap water, like fluoride, that can't evaporate from letting water sit. Condensate from A/C or dehumidifier are also sources of water with no chemicals added....See MoreDying dracaena marginata. only a week old. help!
Comments (11)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....See MoreDracaena marginata is sick/dying, help please
Comments (4)Yes, mealy bug eggs, nymphs, and somewhere in those leaves the adults are hiding...I would spray also..The reason why your leaves are floppy is because you are not providing bright in-direct SUN light, like sun through sheers or greenhouse glass.....It will stay floppier than when you bought it but can still be very healthy... if your plant is in a well drawing mix, watering is right on, that means no letting it dry out since the leaves will turn yellow and fall off, no over watering since the top leaves and older ones will turn black at the tips, and the salts not from the tap and fertilizer not allowed to build up in your mix that will turn the leaves yellow on the tips by flushing your mix out once a month, it will be just fine) The stronger your plant is the less likely it will be attacked by any kind of pest looking for a weak and stressed host......See MoreBrooke Agather
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