Thank you Lily! I usually water a little less than once a week, something like every 10 days. I'll definitely try letting it dry out until I can easily tip it, hopefully nothing is rotting in there that makes it unsalvageable.

I used to water the draecena once a week until water ran out the bottom, I noticed my other plants staying wet longer so I started waiting a little longer than once a week ~2 months ago.

I would recommend cutting off the yellowed stems too. No point in the plant wasting energy on those. Leave all the green though.

Good advice - do you mean the brown parts of each leaf, only leaves that look totally brown, or the whole little stem that looks completely dead? If I cut off all the leaves that have brown tips it will look pretty sad, but maybe that's the focus it needs!

My dracaena marginata likes drying out completely between watering. I use a sharpened dowel (a wooden skewer or disposable chopstick works too), push it all the way through the soil to the bottom of the pot, and I don't water until it feels dry when it comes out. Never water according to a schedule; that's what has killed roots, making it impossible for the plant to take up enough water to support its leaves, leading to yellowing, then browning, then shedding leaves. This applies to pretty much all houseplants, though there are a few that need special mixes that provide moist aerated soil all the time.

Here's something I wrote a while ago to explain why this is true; sorry for being lazy, but, well, that's just how I am....

Watering when the plant needs it (and not before) is one of the biggest things you can do to keep any plant healthy. Like most plants, aerated soil is as critical to a ficus's health as sunshine. That's why we check soil moisture.

A sharpened dowel is a simple, fast, and accurate tool for this (5/8" or 1/4" seems best), but any thin piece of unfinished wood, like a wooden skewer or even a cheap chopstick, works fine too.

Stick the dowel through the soil to the very bottom of the pot, leave it for two seconds, and withhold water until the whole dowel comes out completely dry (don't worry, at that point there's still water within the soil particles that the roots can access but we can't feel). Then water slowly but thoroughly, wetting the entire surface of the soil, until water drains freely from the pot, making sure the pot doesn't sit in the drained water.**

To get excess water out of the pot so the soil at the bottom doesn't stay completely saturated, prop it up so it's tilted at 45 degrees for 10-15 minutes. If there are drain holes around the edges of the bottom you're done (that's why I love my cheap plastic pots); if the holes or holes aren't at the edges you'll leave the pot upright for 5-10 minutes to let the excess water drain out.

This practice ensures the roots get substantial periods in moist, not wet, soil, when they can get oxygen from the air between soil particles and grow into a healthy system that takes up water and nutrients stores water for dry periods. Watering until water drains freely from the pot prevents the buildup of mineral and fertilizer deposits that can damage the plant and retard growth.

Plants use more water when they're growing and in low humidity, and use less in the winter, so check the moisture every day until you know how your plants behave . If you don't have a pencil sharpener, just scrape off the dirt stains from the last time you checked with a utility or pocket knife or even a razor blade.

A soil too moist will cause necrosis in leaf tips and margins, but so does a high level of fertility. Dracaena is also very sensitive to fluoride, which is accumulative in tissues. For this reason, good control of your watering regimen and using water sources low in or absent fluoride will prove extremely helpful.

Al

I would remove only the completely yellow leaves right now and see where you are at. Removing dead leaves on a plant allows the plant to focus its energy towards growing well. Keep a balance.

Hi, Lily. The fact that a leaf dies changes how energy flows in the plant to a very limited degree, but has no real impact on energy loss/gain by virtue of the fact there is only one degree of dead, and dead leaves are completely and literally 'walled off' from the rest of the plant. Removing dead leaves doesn't help the plant in any way, unless you count the fact that a dead leaf can block some sun from getting inside of the plant's silhouette, or that dead leaf litter can provide hiding places for insect marauders or fungaluglies. In essence, removing dead leaves is almost entirely an effort undertaken on behalf of aesthetics.

When it comes to removing leaves, the plant is actually the best judge of when that should be done. When leaves are no longer net producers of energy and have turned into a liability, chemical messengers will tell the plant it's time to shed the leaf. The shedding process includes the plant removing all reusable/mobile nutrients and biocompounds from the leaf, and building an abscission layer at the base of each leaf, which is what I was referring to when I said dead leaves are 'walled off' from the living organism.

Al

Al, I disagree. A plant spending energy on leaves that are dead or almost dead is a waste of energy. If the leaves are removed when completely yellow or brown, it gives the plant itself a chance to produce better/new leaves. I’ve done it enough times to see that it works.

Lily, I think the process that Al refers to as "walling off" is probably the plant healing the leaf scar, which would happen whether you remove the leaf or not. I tend to remove ugly leaves just because they're ugly but I doubt that it has any measuarble effect on the overall health of the plant, it makes me feel better tho....

Lily,

A plant won’t be spending energy on a leaf that’s completely dead, because it is just that: completely dead. Therefore, removing will have no impact. Sure it looks, better, but if it’s dead, it’s not wasting any energy that could go elsewhere.

A leaf that’s almost dead also will also not be wasting energy. The plant will be removing any usable nutrients from said leaf and removing it before the plant desides to drop it would only be taking something away from the plant.

Al explained it very well.

Id focus more on what’s causing the leaves to turn yellow and have brown tips.

Overwatering, build ups in the soil, lack of light, etc.

Removing a dead leaf is to a plant as a haircut is to a human. Our body puts no additional energy into growing hair after a haircut; and, a haircut has no impact on our metabolic processes, unless you count the fact that a reduced volume of hair allows more heat to escape from our bodies under certain conditions, but that has no parallel in houseplants.

Al

Yes, the focus is on what is causing the leaves to turn yellow. What I meant, was a more efficient plant that can overcome obstacles easier if it’s not weighed down. Why leave half dead leaves on, when you know what the outcome will be. And hair is a good example. Why do people get hair cuts? To keep it healthy (and also to look nice). But if you just allow your hair to grow, and to develop split ends, your hair will end up being flat, lackluster, and growth will slow. It’s a haircut. Pruning, if you will. There’s a reason you prune a plant.

And if the logic would be, that you never remove leaves from a plant, then pruning is not necessary.

If pruning is not necessary, then every farmer, gardener, etc is doing their job wrong.

I get what you’re saying completely.

I do think that pruning and removing dead leaves are two completely different things.

Branch or tip pruning can produce back budding and a lot of it if done at the right time and given the right cultural conditions, you can change the direction of growth, etc.

pruing or removing dead leaves doesn’t do that. You’re just taking care of what the wind would naturally do. You won’t get any new growth or help the plant really in any way.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that.

Hi, LR. I think you've strayed quite a distance way from your original premise, which was, "Removing dead leaves on a plant allows the plant to focus its energy towards growing well. Keep a balance." Physiologically, there is no good reason to remove half dead leaves (other than what I mentioned), but there is a good reason to leave them; that being, the plant is still extracting usable nutrients and biocompounds from leaves that are not entirely isolated from the living organism by an abscission layer at the base of the leaf. But that's really not what's in question. What's in question is what's in bold a few lines above; and it can't be stated more simply than 'it's a false premise'.

There's probably no sense in belaboring this further, so you can have the last word if you like.

Al

James, so this happens every once in a while, I give an answer and then get told I didn’t follow text book, essentially. I don’t really know what text book that is, but I can tell you the opinion I gave is based upon what I have learned from a very knowledgeable person, and then done personally, and the plant was better for it. If you want, how about if you keep us updated on your plant’s progress? The wild card here is what is going on with the roots, but I’m hoping it was caught in time by the three simple things- less watering, more light and taking off completely dead leaves.

Thank everyone so much for the information, I will keep everyone updated - I think it's very likely I was overwatering and under-lighting (there's almost definitely a better term for that). I'm also watering with tap water so fluoride may be an issue but I'm not sure I'l be able to do much about that, and the nursery I purchased from was *probably* watering with similar water. I definitely have some old chopsticks at home I'll fashion into water-checking dowels.

Regardless of effect on the plant, removing dead leaves regularly let's me more accurately measure how quickly more leaves are dying, so I'll be doing that!

The stem on the smallest one where all the leaves had died is now going soft, I'm going to try and find shears strong enough to clip off the whole thing.

Small update: haven't watered since, the leaves have actually perked back up some and leaf loss has stopped. Leaf color overall definitely looks better, bar the ones that came out half-dead, waiting to see what happens with new leaf growth. Optimistic on the recovery, minus the one I snipped off the tip of haha.

This is fascinating, I have never seen a Dracaena like this for sale, with a big one in the middle, surrounded by a ring of smaller trunks. Is this a new thing that I'm just not seeing in my rural area?

James, I'm glad to hear your Dracaena is recovering. I don't know about you, but I'm always (and usually undeservedly) proud of myself when I figure out how to help one of my plants do better.

@tiffany I'm not sure how common it is, I mostly see them sold in clusters of 2 or 3. It could just be the nursery by my house getting creative - it's a nice way to get a solid column feel with all the different heights. I worry for the ones closest to the wall so I rotate it every once in a while.

Thanks litterbuggy! Myself as well, maybe because it doesn't happen often :P. There is new healthy leaf growth on some stalks, a few of the stalks where the leaves were coming out yellow and withered from the get-go have yet to start new ones though, keeping my fingers crossed.

Hello,

This is a really helpful thread on the red-edged Dracena, so a 'green' thumbs up to everyone for contributing! This account of real-time experience is not something easily found even on online gardening sites! A few underlying leaves of mine have begun to brown(more than usual) but new leaves are emerging at the top so I'm not too concerned, as I have watered a bit heavier than usual given its a 40C summer period. However, does it take a while for the edges of the new leaves to 'redden' or will they just stay green if that's how they emerged? Thanks for any advice.

I discovered that Dracena are very sensitive to fluoride. So as tea leaves actually contain a high level of this mineral, they are big no-no as compost material unfortunately for these plants and some ferns. Better utilised for sugarcane which tolerates it quite well.

use distilled water

Use distilled water ......... or water from a R/O water filtration system (what I use), or rain water, snow melt, or air conditioner/ dehumidifier condensate, all of which are deionized (no solutes harmful to plants) or very close to that state.

N/a - leaves appearing at close to the rate they are being shed, or more leaves being shed than are appearing is an unsustainable condition. Expression of the pigment anthocyanin, which produces the maroon coloration of leaf margins, is usually most conspicuous in the very early and early developmental stage of the leaf; however, light levels are an overarching influence at all times. Brighter light will increase the contrast of the leaves' variegative coloration.

Not to chide you, but to others, it's important to understand that because a plant tolerates something isn't necessarily an indication its provisional influence is advantageous to the plant. That a schefflera temporarily tolerates temperatures in the low thirties, or ponytail palms tolerate extended periods of drought and/or low fertility isn't reason enough to adopt those parameters as part of the plant's care regimen. The closer cultural conditions are to the limits the plant is genetically programmed to tolerate, the greater the stress the plant must tolerate to maintain viability. Stress quickly turns to strain, which is an unsustainable condition, unsustainable because under conditions of strain, the plant is using more energy than it's producing. In order to cope with severe stress and strain, plants have the ability to reduce the mass living mass the roots need to sustain, and the mechanism by which mass is diminished is my shedding parts to create a balance between the the plant's top volume and the size/efficiency of its root mass.

Good point about the tea leaves. I did know coffee and tea grounds are not good for plants until all harmful chemicals have been leached during the composting process (whether in a compost pile or in the pot), but I wasn't aware of their high fluoride content. I did read that in humans the anti-oxidants act as a counter-measure to the potentiality of oxidative stress in humans. I have no idea if that carries over to plants, but I suspect not - just a guess. Something I wrote about the impact of coffee/tea or used grounds in container plantings:

Coffee/Tea Grounds

Forum discussions frequently center on the question of adding dilute coffee/tea or grounds to plants as a 'tonic', but Arabica (coffee) and Camellia (tea) are known for their toxic alkaloid (caffeine) content and their allelopathic affect on plants as well as autotoxic (poison to their own seedlings) effects on future generations. Caffeine interferes with root development by impairing protein metabolism. This affects activity of an important bio-compound (PPO) and lignification (the process of becoming woody), crucial steps for root formation.

We also know that the tannins in both coffee and tea are known allelopaths (growth inhibitors). There are ongoing experiments to develop herbicides using extracts from both coffee and tea that cause me to want to say they might serve better as a nonselective herbicide than as a tonic. I would not use either (stale coffee or tea) by applying directly to my plants - especially containerized plants; nor would I add tea bags/coffee grounds to my container soils.

Al