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Help with my Dracaena Marginata Plant/Tree?

7 years ago

I either have a real problem, or I'm paranoid (probably both).


I recently acquired a beautiful, kinky dragon tree. It's over 5ft tall. It's been on a full shade porch, but I don't know for how long it was kept there (a while?). It was probably doing really well until I came along.


I brought it to the back of the house near my office window so I had something nice to look at, other than a wall. Then it rained. A lot. Poor thing got drenched. (I didn't know about over-watering. I'm "green.")


I dragged it into the sun for a few days. It seemed to like that. See first picture.



But, the roots sure looked cramped in there! So I re-potted it. I gave it great potting soil in a fiberglass pot with plenty of drainage. I moved into the overhang where there is shade for most of the day, but morning sun and afternoon sun, which are both pretty hard/direct.


Now, it's changing and I'm starting to worry about it. I am paranoid I'm going to kill it!



Take a closer look:



Like, what's happening here??



The leaves are thinning, slightly drooping and getting shorter. Some of the tops are burning. I am scared. I want to fix it now before I am on the road to losing it.


Am I over watering, under- watering? Too much sun? I traumatized it to death?


Help.


Comments (10)

  • 7 years ago

    Thank you Ken. It helps to have someone out there to talk to about this! I don't get out often, except maybe the the day I got the soil.

    Yes, I realize now it needs full shade with lots of light around it. By the way, I live in Los Angeles. What zone is that?

    To answer some questions/give more info:

    No fertilizer in the soil.

    The pot has drainage, and I made sure to create good drainage as I planted the tree in. It's not all just dense soil. There are a lot of 2" rocks placed within the soil. I used a tad bit of pumice in the soil as well. Maybe I shouldn't have done that??? Like I said, I'm a novice, but I have been a renter all my life and have been a "porch planter" gardener for some 30 years. By trial and error, I've learned a few things. This is a different animal however.

    I think I'm going to have to get a little platform with rollers (which I didn't want to do because I don't like how it looks). There's bright shade at the front of the house -- where I'll never see this thing. I want it in the back where I can. There's the north end of the (outside of the ) house, but I'd have to move it during the rains, and probably mid summer (I'm guessing).

    Thank you for all your help. I do not want to kill this beautiful tree.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    You have planted it much deeper than it was. Those aerial roots belong in the air. That’s a serious blunder. Woody plants, including mammoth trees, are easily killed by burying too deep. It can cause rot and completely kill the tree. Good luck.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Do not keep moving it around. Find a single appropriate spot with low to partial sunshine and good drainage. Leave it there. Do not spin it—change its orientation—AT ALL. When it’s healthier, you can carefully reangle it a little at a time. Do not worry about too much rain as long as the drainage is really good.

  • 5 years ago

    All your questions have answers online these days. With the internet, you can do less trial and error, and kill fewer plants

  • 5 years ago

    It is just showing some stress from the repotting. It is not planted too deeply and I see no aerial roots (to my knowledge, Dracaena marginata does not produce aerial roots).

    btw, there is also no reason at all why you cannot change the orientation. Won't bother the plant a whit and in fact, it is recommended for these when grown as houseplants. I move my outdoor containerized plants around all the time, usually to make sure all parts/sides get an equal amount of light.

    And the problem with finding answers on the Internet is determining which ones are accurate and providing good advice and which ones are not. As a professional horticulturist, I can assure you there are far more of the latter than there are of the former :-) And for a rookie gardener that can be a tough determination.

  • 5 years ago

    I guess we are on different planets. Have a nice day.

  • 5 years ago

    Sunburn in that closeup. Moved plant to full sun without a slow acclimation. Consider that most plants in the ground never move. Now you're moving it around to all different kinds of environments.

  • 5 years ago

    That too, Dave. Absolutely.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Richie, I just bought a Dracaena to put on my "north" facing porch here in Tampa. Turns out my house is not exactly lined up with north and south. So it would be getting morning sun. Is that ok, or should I find a different spot? Thank you for any feedback

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