• Oh darn; too late. :P I did a chop -- and stuck both the root half and the leafy half in a pot, with rooting powder on the end of the leafy half. Anything I can do now to help the leafy cutting survive? They've been in their new pot for about a week. I had to bring the whole thing back to my house (an hour away from where the plant has been living for the last few years), so I couldn't be careful with it there.

I did it with one of the other dracenas. It kinda worked. . It finally died. I would just go buy some new ones. That is what I am going to do.

Keep it in bright light but not full sun. Make sure the cutting isn't too close to the bottom of the pot. The cutting needs oxygen to root. If the bottom of the cutting isn't above the soggy layer at the bottom of the pot it will likely rot. The bottom cut should be clean. By that, I mean it should not have been cut with pruners. It should be sawed off and the wound cleaned up with a very sharp tool. I use a scalpel to make sure there is no crushed tissue at the cutting's base. The little tag ends and crushed tissue are where rot starts. If you can tent the cutting in its own pot, it will increase the odds of the cutting striking considerably. The tent material shouldn't touch the leaves.

The part that's rooted should be fine as long as you don't over-water, as noted above. Good luck.

Al

Here's my set-up. It's next to a big slider with morning sun. The pot drains very well, and is on legs so it's not sitting in any water accumulated in the drip pan. A few questions:

1. I used a pair of big pruners to chop. :P You can see the other end of the cut in the second pic – should I pull the leafy cutting back out and attempt to clean up the bottom, or just leave it be and hope?

2. The exposed cut end looks like it's growing mold. :( :( What should I do about this? I'm assuming it's bad. Argh.

3. At some point, should I give up on trying to re-root the leafy end from the bottom, and cut off the leaf extenders (?? what are they called? pups?) and try from those instead?

Thank you so much for all your help!! I wish I could have waited longer to do something with this big guy – I would have done your suggested root trimming instead.

Emily: I’ve done the same as you have and had repeated success. I even purchase smaller dracena and purposely cut off the head(s), stick them in the pot with the original stem and create a multistemed, more attractive plant. I try to do this in the spring, however, when most plants are in a growth mode. Don’t despair. You may have success too. You have variations in height of the stems in your pot so the result will be pleasing. Good luck. - June