Among the huge variety of plants that are used for home, office, apartment, shopping center and landscape decoration, dracaena is the kind that you can find almost everywhere.
If you want to have this shrub, then follow our tips and learn more about caring for dracaena at home.
Dracaena: home care - breeding
To begin with, we note that this is a perennial plant that grows quite slowly 10-15 cm per year.
Types of "false palm"
Propagation by cuttings.
There are two ways.
1. Reproduction by the crown.
The steps are as follows:
- prepare the cuttings. To do this, cut off a branch of the root column of the plant or, if there is only one trunk, cut off its upper part at a distance of about 10 cm from the beginning. Remove the bottom leaves from the cut portion. To dry a slice, leave it in the air for one hour.
- take a container and pour vermiculite into it - this is a special mineral that is used to root cuttings (it can be purchased at garden centers or replaced with charcoal). Alternatively, the stem can be lowered into a root solution, a drug that accelerates root formation in plants.
- moisten the soil and place cuttings in it. Pour again with warm water.
- Provide lighting, avoiding direct light and warm temperature conditions.
After three weeks, the root system of the plant will develop and it can be transplanted into the soil substrate.
You can plant the stalk and immediately directly into the ground, but the soil should have a high peat content. For the best effect, make a kind of greenhouse or provide the necessary temperature (24-26 ° C), moisturizing and watering.
If the uterine plant is now a feather, then cover it with a jar and place it in a warm and bright place. Signs of new growth on it can be seen in a few months. Remove all kidneys directed inward, there should be no more than five. This is done so that the shoots that develop do not interfere with each other. Otherwise, the crown will be uncontrollable in density, and as a result, diseases and pests simultaneously with the deformation of the shoots.
2. If the crown of your head has died and one stump remains, and you really want to save the plant, then use the following method of reproduction. To do this, take the stem and cut into pieces of 5-20 cm from leaf scars from it. The stalk is placed horizontally or vertically in vermiculite, sand or soil substrate and creates a kind of greenhouse effect. If you used the vertical method, then replanting the stalk into the ground is not required.
Proper cultivation plays an important role in providing plants. Not everyone knows what care instructions for dracaena should be followed at home. The following tips will guide you through proper crop production.
Dracaena: home care - soil, lighting, flowering conditions
The soil: if you do not want to purchase a special soil mixture for the agave family, then you can prepare it yourself. To do this, you need to take 1 part of the turf land (harvested in meadows and pastures) + 1 part of perlite (a light light mineral that serves as a replacement for sand) or sand itself, or peat + 1 part of compost or leaf humus. As a baking powder, you can also use coal or broken brick. Be sure to put expanded clay on the bottom of the pot. Due to this, various stagnations of water that can destroy the whole plant will be prevented in the soil.
It is even easier to take three parts of garden soil, 1 part of peat and coarse sand. Do not forget to lay a drainage of about 3 cm at the bottom.
With the so-called transshipment into a deep pot is desirable to replace the topsoil. Properly selected soil is the key to the successful development and growth of the plant.
Shine: this plant is quite tolerant to lighting in a wide range of conditions. But avoid direct sunlight, it is better if the lighting is scattered. At the same time, lack of lighting can lead to much slower plant growth. This refers to the case when the plant is in the middle of the room. It is drawn into growth and quickly loses its attractive appearance and sophistication. In this case, pruning will help him. It is recommended to spend it in spring and summer. According to its procedure, it resembles the process of "crown propagation." Do not forget to process the edges of the slices with special tools.
Temperature: It should always be warm (20-23 ° C), regardless of the season outside. At low temperatures, dracaena will not grow, and may even die. The minimum temperature for the content is 13 ° C. Do not forget that dracaena is afraid of drafts. Take care of her.
Flowering conditions. Surprised? It turns out that our ornamental deciduous plant also blooms. Although this bloom cannot be called impressive. An inflorescence is an ear or brush on which small and colorless flowers are located. For flowering, it is necessary to observe the temperature regime and the regime of watering and humidification. But do not have high hopes, since dracaena blooms quite rarely and most often, only fragrant dracaena.
Flowering fragrant dracaena
Dracaena: home care - top dressing and watering
Humidity: if the ambient humidity is high, the plant grows well. Try to spray this plant as often as possible.
Watering the soil should be moderate and carried out as it dries. This is about 2 times a month in winter and once a week in summer. It is important to prevent any excess moisture, or drying out the soil. Water must be warm.
Fertilizers: such needs are quite simple. In summer and spring, water-soluble fertilizers can be used twice a month. When winter or autumn is outside, fertilizer is not required. During the period of active growth of the plant, organic fertilizers are recommended, and from mid-summer - mineral fertilizers. Important: the soil must remain moist during fertilizer.
Fluorine: these plants are very sensitive to it, so exposure to this chemical should be minimized. Fluoride can be found in tap water, so it’s important to use clean and distilled water.
Dracaena: home care: why does she die?
In most cases, the owner of the dracaena is disturbed by the condition of the leaves of dracaena. They begin to darken from the tip, and then the entire sheet turns brown and dies. Trimming dead leaves does not solve the problem. Here we need to think about the reasons that led to such results.
Some of the most common reasons for this are:
- plant is poured. It can also lead to rotting of the roots of the plant. For resuscitation of dracaena, remove it from the pot, cut the roots with rot, sprinkle them with activated charcoal or charcoal powder and transplant into a new substrate;
- not watered enough - brown spots appear on the leaves and they dry out. In this case, adjust the watering to moderate. Cut the brown ends of the leaves.
- low humidity combined with high temperature. Avoid placing the pot of dracaena near radiators. If this cannot be avoided, spray the plant regularly.
Excessive lighting is indicated by the appearance of light and dry spots on the leaves or they are weakly colored.
If the house is too cold, the leaves become soft, curl, fall off and rot.
Always use well-drained soils to avoid future problems. If the stem of your plant is healthy, but the leaves have dried or fallen off, then remove them. Continue to spray the barrel regularly and provide it with the necessary conditions. Soon he will give new sprouts. Keep in mind, however, that falling of the lower leaves of a plant is a normal process for dracaena.
If the trunk wrinkles, then this means that the process of decay of the whole plant is going on.
Also, the cause of the death of the plant may be mechanical damage. But in this case there is a way out. Use one of the breeding methods to plant the broken tip or root of the broken pot again. Caring and proper care at first resuscitates your plant.
Another reason for the death of a plant can be an already diseased plant that you bought in a store. Do not purchase a plant with the following symptoms:
- wrinkled trunk;
- drooping tops;
- translucent or brown young leaves;
- rotting root tips;
- the smell of mold and rot.
Buying a healthy plant will save you from unnecessary money spending and worries that you are doing something wrong.
Potential challenges to control: diseases and pests
Various pests can kill Dracaena, and that is why it is very important to know about the natural solutions to these problems.
Spider mites - These are sucking insects that lead to leaf irregularities. To get rid of them, you can spray a plant with insecticides for indoor plants.
Shield when it is necessary, it is necessary to scrape off, and treat the leaves with an alcohol solution.
Mealybug - sucking insects that are clearly visible. With a cotton swab dipped in soapy water, remove them from the surface of the leaves, and treat the leaves themselves with an alcohol solution.
Aphid - when these pests are damaged, the leaves of the plant turn yellow, curl and fall. To combat them, insecticides are used (actellic, phytoverm, decis, intavir).
Thrips - small insects that infect both flowers and leaves. They look like black dots with the naked eye. You can get rid of them by ruthless removal of leaves and processing confidor.
The most common diseases that affect the plant include:
1) Leaves are yellow and white spots near the tips. The disease is treated by maintaining moderate humidity, lighting conditions and temperature.
2) Fluorine toxicity - leaves have dark brown and dead zones with yellow borders. Management: avoid using soil changes that contain fluoride.
3) Leaf spotting - reddish spots on young leaves. Iprodion, methyl thiophanate, mancozeb and chlorothalonil are used.
4) Soft rot - soft, brown rot and an unpleasant smell from rooted cuttings. Peel the roots of the old earth and plant them in new soil.
5) At low temperature and high humidity, gray rot (botritis) may develop - brown spots on the leaves.
A regular inspection of your plants and timely preventive measures will help keep your plant beautiful and healthy.
Dracaenas have beautiful colored patterns (with pink, yellow, white and red stripes) and can revive any area. If you know when to transplant, how to care for them at home and will adhere to all of the above recommendations, then your healthy plant will surprise everyone around.
