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Help me with my Dracena

Hello, I was gifted in mid December two beautiful well cared for Dracena plants. They came from a well humified home with loads of light. I believe the lady even had plant care service that would remove plants and put them in greenhouses and return them when healthy.
They were transported in just below 0C temperatures to my house. And now into my home that has been pretty dry due to the extreme cold we've been having here (-27C average).
I have moved them around and let their soil dry out at the roots in-between watering's. We do have fluoride in our water and just recently started watering them with distilled water(very recent).
They currently sit in a window that faces east.
I really do not want them to die, anyone have any suggestions? Thank you so so much.

Comments (7)

  • 5 years ago



  • 5 years ago



  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    There are a few things I see. I would remove any moss that is sitting on the soil and make sure those pots have drainage holes. They do look stressed from lack of light (long skinny leaves ) but that is all the leaves on both plants as far as I can tell. If that is all the light you can give then they will continue unless they go outside in the summer. Proper lighting would be for example, a back sliding patio door or wall of windows. As far as the browning on the leaves, yes that is from dry conditions inside.

  • 5 years ago

    This window faces east, so they do get quite a bit of light. I was worried I was burning the leaves. The moss came with it, but I will remove it for sure. Thank you for the info! I will give them some humidifier time as

  • 5 years ago

    Sounds good! you're welcome. I just want to note one more thing.. I see the window, no the light will not burn the plant through the window ever. Pulling the blinds all the way up will help down the road. Also moving it at 0c would have done little damage.. not to worry. Are you around AB? or Sask?

  • 5 years ago

    Manitoba. Sadly I had no choice but to move it as the owner was moving away and couldn't take them with her. The big one is the most unhappy . I love them so much, all my other plants have had no issue, but of course these two are haha

  • 5 years ago

    Agreed. They really don't look all that bad, per se. They were completely coddled and went to hospital whenever they got a minor cold in their old place. For you, open the blinds, let the bright light shine in. Eastern light is great, although they'll tolerate far less. One of mine sees eastern light. One sees western light indirectly, but has a plant light on it any time I turn on the light switch in my office.

    Zap the moss, as Matt suggested.

    There's no evidence of cold burning from moving them, and that would have shown up long since. So no worries there.

    Distilled water will certainly help stop the browning at the tips (you can cut the browning away or leave it if you want, dealer's choice). I just use tap water and a scissors when necessary. :-)

    Browning can show from any salt, not just fluorine and chlorine compounds (although those are two of the worst offenders), so when feeding, do so lightly. Dracaena aren't heavy feeders. Some suggest feeding only once or twice a year. I feed almost every time I water in spring and summer, but in extremely tiny amounts. These plants simply don't grow that quickly.


    Mine are actually in a fairly low humidity Pennsylvania home and do just fine. They adjust over time to their environment, those are simply used to being babied every step of the way. :-) While a humidifier wouldn't be taken amiss for you or the plants, and 35% humidity would certainly be healthy for all concerned, if that's too tough, don't worry about it too much. They'll bear up.