Dragon tree drooping and bending

6 years ago

Hello-

One week ago I repotted my dragon tree after it had been in the same pot and soil for probably 3 years (terrible, I know). I could tell it wasn’t thriving because the rate of leaves being dropped had increased, one top root was exposed, and all the leaves had yellow to brown tips.

I pruned some of the larger leaves to get the size down, loosened all the roots to fully get rid of the old soil, and separated the different parts of the tree. I potted 2 of the parts together and another part separately. I put them in the same part of the house that they were in before. I watered them once, misted them twice, and that’s it in the last week. Within a day, they each bent away from the sun and all the leaves are drooping. The bottom leaves are dropping like crazy. What did I do wrong? Is it just in shock? Will it bounce back?

I for sure need to buy a bigger pot for both but they each have waaaay more space for roots right now than they did before. Here is the one where I put 2 together.

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Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
did you moisten the media before planting ...

i might just take some string.. and wind it around.. to hold the plant upright.. until the roots recover and start pumping enough water for the plant to hold itself upright ... nothing tight or anything ...

its stressed... not hungry.. no fert until it recovers ...

and no direct hot sun until it does ...

ken
Brianna Acuesta thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
Shoody Plant
6 years ago
Hi, first, if root were exposed and the leaves started dropping thats the sign to repot it in bigger pot. Second, if you cut some of roots the plant is for sure stressed. I am not sure did you just repot it or you cut the stem and plant it in soil? There is also rule that plants are being repotted in spring/summer. Quck video on care:

https://youtu.be/p2tWnBvm2Rw
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Brianna Acuesta
Original Author
6 years ago
Ken, I moistened the soil of the existing plant before repotting, is that what you mean?

also, do you think I should increase watering while the plant recovers?
Brianna Acuesta
Original Author
6 years ago
Shoody, thanks for the video! So I cut some of the stems and separated the different trunks (there may have been some root loss when removing the very old soil, nothing major) because once the soil was removed the roots were easily loosened from each other’s grasp. I repotted two of the trunks in the pot it came from and put the other two in a different pot. So they each have more room than they did before. Both are reacting the same way.

Wish I had known about repotting times :( I had seen a video that said late summer was the perfect time to do it for this plant. It’s still hot where I live so maybe the prolonged sunlight/temps will make up for it.
Shoody Plant
6 years ago
https://youtu.be/cVqz4pKzr-g
Shoody Plant
6 years ago
Repottinf dracena