Thank you! I will give it a try!

Kristi, were there drainage holes in the pot already? When you repotted it, what was the condition of the roots? Also, you referred to the medium you potted it in as 'dirt'. What kind of potting soil did you use? Heavy dirt-type soil or one of the lighter peat-based mixes?

Russ

Hi Russ,

No, I have to admit there were no drainage holes in the pot. And I always use regular potting soil for me plants (guess I shouldn't call it 'dirt' :-)

Since posting this, the plant just seemed to droop more and more - all of the leaves! It just looked sick. So, instead of having the whole plant suffer and die, I decided to give it an overhaul. I cut the 3 old stems off the candelabra base, so now I have the candelara bent stems, and I am hoping to see some sprouts. I took the old stems with the leaves and have stuck them in a vermiculite/soil medium in hope they sprout some roots. I also one more time removed the entire original plant from the large pot it was in and downsized the pot - making sure the pot has drainage this time and double checked to be sure there weren't any air pockets in the soil around the roots, since the roots grew around that large rock. I guess the roots looked ok, the plant wasn't root bound since the pot was pretty big. The roots had maybe two or three thicker stronger roots, but most where very long and thin stringy roots. How would I know if the roots were having issues? I don't know what root rot would look like.

It's been about a week, and I am not seeing anything yet, but I will be so thrilled to see a sprout from the old cut back plant or roots start from the cuttings! If it doesn't work, I will take it as a lesson learned that I have to be better about having good drainage.

Thanks Russ!

Kristi

Kristi, potting down to a smaller pot that fits the size of the roots is a good idea.

By 'regular' potting soil I'm assuming you used one of the lighter peat-based mixes, which is far better than the heavy, dirt-type soils. I would have recommended you mix some perlite with it before potting, but let's see how it goes.

Regarding the 3 tip cuttings, they're too dry and need to be rehydrated. They also have too many leaves which demand more moisture than the cut stem can take up. You should take most of the drooping leaves off, leaving 4 to 6 or so at the top, and put all the cuttings into water for a day to rehydrate. To 'hedge your bets', I would leave 1 in water and put the other two back into the vermiculite/soil medium. Or vice versa. If leaves of the ones in soil droop again after rehydrating, put the pot into a plastic bag or invert a glass or bottle over it to retain extra humidity. If the bottom of the stem of the cutting in water appears to be rotting, cut it back to good tissue and change the water.

The main plant is also seriously dry, and all those leaves will continue to lose the moisture left in the stems and trunk. So I would cut most of those leaves off, as with the cuttings.

If the long, stringy roots came apart in fragments and didn't hold together during the handling of the repot, they were rotted. It's hard to tell 'healthy' from the color, but rotted roots would be dark brown and might have an unpleasant odor. There should have been at least some larger roots that were fleshy and light colored if they were healthy, did you see any of these?

Please squeeze the stems of the main plant at various places. If they are spongey and not hard and firm, rot has moved up the stem to that point. Good tissue can also be determined by lightly scraping the surface of stems, rotted tissue will be dark and the outside bark will come away easily, healthy will be light colored and firm.

Let me know what you find.

Russ

Yeah, I used regular potting soil to repot, I thought it would be okay - I am still learning :-) When I took the cuttings, I did read I should take most of the leaves off and I did, so I am good there. Of the 5 cuttings 3 look very healthy and perky, and the one branch I didn't cut off the main plant is super healthy looking and has new growth coming out of the top. This one also has many leaves down the shaft of the branch, the others usually only had a tuft of leave at the top of the branch.

When I repotted, the longer stringy roots were strong, didn't break off easily, I did test that. And it did have a few strong larger fleshy roots. I tested the mother plant branches and they are strong, not spongy. and the bark is tight. It looks like one of the branches where I cut the tip off is starting to have a few little white 'starts' or something coming out of the cut tip - so I am keeping my eye on them. I don't want to pull out my cuttings yet, so I don't disturb and tender root growth if there is any, but like I said, 3 of the cuttings are looking good - so there is hope!

Thanks Russ, I will let you know what happens!

Kristi

It all sounds like it's a better situation than I thought, Kristy. Taking off those leaves was good, dracaena's are tough so it will most likely be fine. Let me know of any difficulties.

Russ