Dracaena bordered: description of the plant, features of home care

Pruning

So what do you need to know about her? From time to time, like all house flowers, dracaena should be pruned. It is best to use special garden shears for this procedure. Plants that have reached a height of 30 cm are subject to pruning. The cut should be treated with crushed coal. It is recommended to cut the shoot 6 cm below the location of the last leaves. You can also choose the height you need for decoration yourself. A few days after the pruning, several branches form at the cut site. At home, the procedure is best done in the spring.

Top trimming is carried out to obtain lateral shoots. Prune the plant to the length you need. After 17-25 days, new shoots are formed at the cut site. After pruning, the plant needs good lighting, watering and spraying to develop properly.

Basic rules for keeping Dracaena

1. frequent watering without waterlogging;
2. temperature compliance;
3. sufficient sunlight without direct rays;
4. timely transplant;
5. spraying or active shower;
6. protect from drafts;
7. wet air;
8. regular inspection of leaves and roots for pests and diseases.

It goes without saying that an adult will not eat Dracaena leaves, but children and pets may be curious about her. For safety reasons, you need to restrict their access to this plant.

Coming to the house of a person, Dracaena serves not only as a symbol of beauty, but also has the gift of chasing bad thoughts away, relieving despondency. She will thank the caring owner with a lush crown and beauty of foliage for many years.

Dracaena. Reproduction

Dracaena breeding methods at home

Dracaena bordered, deremskaya and Sandera breed more easily than other varieties. For breeding dracaena, vegetative methods are usually used: apical cuttings, rooting of stem cuttings and propagation by air layers. If you wish and have patience, you can also get dracaena from seeds.

Apical cuttings of dracaena

The success of this process depends on how well you prepare the cutting. The leafy top of the dracaena is cut off with a sharp sterile instrument slightly obliquely 15-18 cm below the last leaf. The cut should be smooth, free of nicks or burrs. Before planting, the cut is dried for two to three hours.

You can root the top of the dracaena in water, hydrogel, perlite (vermiculite), in a steamed substrate for dracaena or soil mixture for cacti. A couple of activated carbon tablets are added to the water for the cutting so that it does not become cloudy, and before planting the top in a nutritious substrate, its cut is treated with Zircon, Epin or Ecogel. The cutting is deepened into the substrate by 2 cm.

The rooting process takes place faster at a temperature of 20-22 ºC. From above, the cutting is covered with a transparent cap - glass, plastic or polyethylene. Every day, the cap is removed for airing for 15-20 minutes, and the cutting leaves are sprayed with warm water at least twice a day. Watering the substrate is carried out as needed, but frequent and excessive moisture damages the plant.

As for the remnants of the dracaena - a root with a trunk without a top - if you cover the cut with a bag, put the plant in a warm place and water it moderately, after a month or two dormant buds wake up in the upper part of the trunk, give lateral shoots, and start at the cut of the dracaena develop multiple trunks.

Propagation of dracaena stem cuttings

After grafting the top, a too long dracaena trunk can be shortened and divided into segments about 15 cm long: even, clean cuts should pass exactly at the point of attachment of the sheet. You can root the segments both vertically, like the top, and horizontally, by laying them and slightly pressing them into a wet substrate. Cover the cuticle with a transparent lid. After 3-4 weeks, shoots appear on the cuttings, and the root system is formed in a month and a half. As soon as this happens, the cuttings are planted in separate pots in the soil for dracaena.

Propagation of dracaena by air layers

If your dracaena is still small in stature, and it is not possible to get stem cuttings, use propagation by air layers. Make a transverse incision on the trunk under the remainder of the dried sheet, up to the middle of the trunk, and so that it does not grow together, insert a match or a toothpick into the incision. Wrap damp sphagnum moss around the cut and place an opaque plastic bag on top, securing it to the trunk above and below the cut. Don't let the moss dry out: moisten it with a spray bottle

When the roots that appear at the site of the cut will sprout into the moss, remove the bag, remove the match and carefully cut off the top of the plant just below the young roots with a sterile tool and plant it in a pot with a substrate for dracaena. For the first week, the transplanted top is best kept under a glass jar or a cut plastic bottle.

With the rest of the trunk, you can do the same as when propagating with an apical cuttings: put a bag on the cut, place the pot with the plant in a warm place and moderately moisturize the substrate as its top layer dries. After a while, new shoots are formed around the cut.

Propagation of dracaena seeds

If you are lucky and your false palm tree will bloom, try not to miss the chance to grow dracaena from seeds. Fresh dracaena seeds are thoroughly cleaned of fruit residues, kept for 15-20 minutes in a growth stimulant solution, then dried, laid out on the surface of a disinfected and moistened sandy-peat substrate and lightly sprinkled on top with the same soil. Film-covered crops are kept at a temperature of 25 ºC, daily aerating and removing condensation from the cover. The seeds will begin to germinate in 3-4 weeks. The sprouts are gradually accustomed to room air. When the seedlings develop the first pair of true leaves, they are dived into separate pots.

Pests, diseases, how to deal with them

Like all other plants, dracaena can be damaged by pests - scale insects, aphids, mealybugs, thrips, spider mites. They should be removed mechanically and then applied with insecticides. The attack of dangerous parasites occurs in the close proximity of already infected flowers, therefore, if a new copy is purchased, it is kept separate from the rest for some time (up to three to four weeks).

Sometimes the "palm" is affected by various diseases:

• powdery mildew (characterized by the appearance of a coating that looks like flour);
• spotted wilting (the appearance of bronze-brown spots, stripes);
• root rot (the trunk turns brown, becomes soft);
• gray rot (spots covered with gray pile);
• bacterial rot (tissues soften, watery spots are everywhere);
• fusarium (yellow-red-brown spots on the leaves);
• Alternaria (spots of beige color with a white dot in the middle);
• bacteriosis (ulcers throughout the trunk, watery leaf ends), etc.

This usually happens with weakened specimens that are not properly cared for.

It is also important to wipe the leaves of each plant in the collection from time to time with a damp cloth or arrange a warm shower. But washing and spraying is required not in sunny weather - water droplets on the leaves under the influence of the sun lead to burns

What to do if dracaena leaves turn yellow

To stop yellowing of foliage, you need to identify why this happened.This often happens among those who like to overly care for the flower - the constant stagnation of moisture in the axils of the leaves after a shower may well lead to yellowing. Overdrying or rotting the roots has the same effect. Yellowing foliage gradually becoming covered with dark spots is a sign of brown rot.

When attacked by pests such as thrips, scale insects, spider mites, the leaves also turn yellow. Control measures are the simplest: thoroughly wash the "palm" with warm soapy water with the addition of a small amount of alcohol, if this does not help, apply insecticides. When the top begins to turn yellow, the flower needs to be removed from the draft, if at the same time the rest of the foliage has become dull - the top has been exposed to direct sunlight. Sometimes yellowing is a consequence of a lack of nitrogen fertilizers, excessive watering.

Why do leaf tips dry

When the ends of the leaves of the "false palm" suddenly began to dry, then most often this is a sign that the air in the room is excessively dry - constant humidification is required. The solution will be frequent spraying, placement in the immediate vicinity of containers with water (for example, an aquarium). It is forbidden to place any kind of dracaena next to the battery. The dried parts are cut off - they can no longer be saved. If the leaves dry and curl, this is a sign of insufficient watering.

Causes of rotting dracaena

The fact that the "tree of happiness" has begun to rot is immediately evident from its leaves - dry areas appear on them along the edge. With fungal diseases, the same thing happens. The root system is the "heart" of any plant; if the roots die, the flower will die too. Trunk decay usually occurs with excessive deepening of the root collar, lack of high-quality drainage, in combination with excessive watering. If rotting has just begun, the flower is taken out of the pot along with the roots, dried with an earthen lump. When the process has gone too far, but the tip is not yet damaged, it is cut off, rooted.

Causes of leaf fall

When the leaves suddenly began to fall, the cause of this phenomenon must be found out as soon as possible - then the chances of saving the specimen are great. If the foliage quickly and almost completely fell off all, and the plant itself became sluggish, it means that the root system died due to some kind of long-term illness that was not noticed in time. In order to prevent this, at the first signs of foliage loss, it is recommended to apply potash-phosphorus fertilizers

Advice: it is important to know that periodic falling off one bottom leaf at a time is a natural process, not affecting the general condition flower

Home care

Dracaena compacta is a stable tree, capable of growing indoors. This is one of the most unpretentious species of the Dracaena genus.

Features of care after purchase

Acquiring a new place of their permanent residence, dracaena takes time to get used to. You need to carefully look after the plant. Spraying with water is very important.

If the purchased plant is in a container for transportation, then it is transplanted into a pot.

Lighting

Dracaena compact does not like bright sunny color of direct direction. Diffused sunlight is better.

The best option would be placement a meter from the windowsill. But in a dimly lit room, the dracaena also grows well.

Temperature

Like other dracaena, this flower needs a moderate temperature. In summer, the compact feels good at a temperature of 20-27 degrees Celsius. In winter, the temperature should not drop below 14 degrees.

The plant should not be overcooled and drafts should not be allowed.

Air humidity

For dracaena compact, you need to regularly spray with warm water.

It should be remembered that in winter, due to the presence of central heating, the air is dry and many living organisms lack moisture. Therefore, spraying is indispensable.

In the hot summer season, it is necessary to increase the number of daily spraying procedures so that the plant does not start to wither.

A shower with warm water is an incredibly useful procedure that will help dracaena more easily transfer dry air and get rid of dust that has settled on the sheet plates. After a shower, you need to carefully remove the water from the axils of the leaves in order to prevent decay.

Leaves should be periodically wiped with a cloth dampened with warm water. This will rid them of dust and prevent pest infestations.

In the warm season, dracaena will benefit from exposing it to the balcony with streams of fresh summer air.

Watering

For irrigation, water that has settled for at least 10 hours or passed through a filter is used. The water should be at room temperature.

There should be no stagnant water in the pan, otherwise the plant will deteriorate.

Watering is recommended in moderation. The plant should not be left in dry soil. The soil should be slightly damp, but not swampy. This means that next time you need to water the dracaena when the topsoil dries up.

Bloom

When flowering, small white flowers appear, gathering in inflorescences and having a pleasant aroma.

In domesticated specimens, flowering is rare.

Fertilizers (top dressing)

Fertilize dracaena compact in the spring and summer months. Every two weeks, you need to make universal top dressing for dracaena or complex fertilizers, such as "Ideal", "Rainbow" and others.

Liquid fertilizers with a high content of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, which are added to the water when irrigated, will benefit.

Transfer

Adult plants should be transplanted once every 2 years, and young plants - annually.

As a soil base, a universal soil for dracaena is used, a combination of leaf and sod soil, sand and peat. If the dracaena is large, then it is recommended to plant it in a floor pot and add coarse sand.

Other transplant rules:

• it is advisable to start a transplant in the spring, when the flower begins to grow more actively;
• the next pot should be 3-4 centimeters wider than the previous one;
• The best dishes are pots made of natural materials for good air exchange;
• good drainage needs to be laid on the bottom;
• after transplanting, the soil must be periodically loosened.

Growing

Growing from seeds is possible in green-leaved species of dracaena. Seeds purchased in the store are sown in early spring in a sandy-peat mixture and placed in a warm, bright place.

Sprouts appear in 35-40 days. Fortified plants, when they reach 5-6 centimeters, are planted in separate pots.

Reproduction

For reproduction of this plant, cuttings are cut, and pieces from its trunk are also used.

Propagation by cuttings is the most used method. Cuttings are cut from the top or sides. The lower obsolete leaves are removed.

Further, the stem is divided into pieces of 7-9 centimeters, and the places of the cuts are processed with the root. Cuttings are planted in a mixture of peat and sand. Containers with cuttings are placed in a lighted place with a temperature above 25 degrees Celsius. When the first leaves appear, the flowers are transplanted into separate pots.

In another method of propagation, pieces are cut from the trunk, which are then treated with paraffin. These pieces tolerate transportation well and are stored for a long time until they are needed for planting.

Correct care

After purchasing a compact dracaena shrub, first of all, you should pay attention to watering. In spite of what the plant loves moisture and regular spraying, it absolutely does not tolerate soil flooding

That is, it is necessary to water abundantly, but without allowing waterlogging. Re-watering is considered the best option, after two or three centimeters of the upper soil has dried.

Just like the dracaena compacta does not like waterlogging, it does not tolerate drying out of the soil.If it dries slightly and forms a small coma, you should loosen the earth in a flower pot and try to prevent this from happening anymore. If the land was dry enough, it is better to immediately transplant the shrub into fresh loose soil.

It is recommended to add top dressing during watering in summer and spring - when the dracaena begins to grow actively. To do this, you can use any universal top dressing, following the instructions on the package. In winter and autumn, it will also be useful to add top dressing when watering, but in an amount half as much as usual. This can be done no more than once a month.

In addition to spraying, home care requires regular wiping of the plant sheets with a damp soft cloth. This simple manipulation will avoid the problems associated with the appearance of pests. For example, scale insects, worms or spider mites, which are especially fond of settling on dusty and unkempt plants.

The first sign that the dracaena is being cared for is falling leaves or the appearance of brown spots on them. If this does happen, it is necessary to check whether the home care is fully followed.

About the plant

In the natural environment, the "dragon tree" grows in the subtropics, tropics in Africa, Asia and Europe. One of the species growing on the island of Socotra has an interesting property: if its bark is damaged, a reddish juice, which has healing properties, begins to ooze from the trunk. The local population once used it as an antiseptic, immunostimulant. Now there are very few of these trees left.

At home, in offices, the plant blooms extremely rarely, and in greenhouses, where conditions are created that are as close to natural as possible, a little more often. It does not belong to palm trees, although it is very similar to it by the presence of a bare woody trunk with a lush shock of leaves at the very top. It grows slowly, but is able to gradually reach great heights. Among the dragonflies there are dwarfs and giants, squat and slender, with juicy green and silvery leaves.

At home, the dracaena is recommended to be placed in the bedroom, room of a sick person. It qualitatively cleans the air around itself from harmful chemicals (including those released by new furniture), helps to quickly recover from skin diseases, bone injuries, dental problems, and improves depression. The benefits of the "false palm" are undeniable, but the harm is also present: when eating the leaves of a flower, which is sometimes done by children and pets, the plant leads to an upset stomach, headache. Therefore, most copies should be placed so that the above-described subjects could not reach it. People who are prone to skin allergies may have reactions to the hairs formed on the stem, as well as to dust that can accumulate on the "palm".

Features of planting and transplanting pseudo-bamboo at home

Dracaena Sander can be grown both in water and in a container with a substrate. Regardless of the cultivation method, the bamboo of happiness should be transplanted annually, and a plant growing in a humid environment can be transplanted even more often, as needed.

Transfer to the ground

When growing happiness bamboo in a substrate, it is very important to create a thick drainage layer, which should be about two-thirds of the pot's thickness. For this purpose, you can use small pebbles or other rounded pebbles, as well as coarse sand.

When grown in transparent containers, decorative stones will be an excellent option for creating drainage, which will not only allow you to remove excess moisture, but also give an aesthetic appearance to the composition.

The substrate is made up of:

• 1 part peat;
• 1 part coarse sand;
• 1/2 part of turf land.

Also, for planting bamboo of happiness, you can use ready-made soil mixture for dracaena.

The transplant procedure consists of several stages:

1. Pour drainage on the bottom of the pot, the layer should occupy 2/3 of the capacity.
2. Remove the dracaena from the old pot, rinse the roots, cut off any damaged, dry or rotten parts.
3. Set the plant on a drainage layer and lightly dust the roots with stones. Then add the substrate. compact it and water it.
4. Place in a semi-shaded place, and after a week transfer to the west or east window with diffused light.

The surface of the soil in a pot with dracaena can be decorated with stones

Growing dracaena Sander in water

Very often, the plant is sold in cones filled with water. It is not necessary to transplant it immediately after purchase into the soil. The plant can grow well in a humid environment for several years, but the transplant procedure must be carried out annually (sometimes even more often), as when growing in a substrate.

Water for growing dracaena Sander must be filtered. Experienced growers also recommend using rain or distilled. During the transplant, you must:

1. Remove the shoot from the container, rinse the roots and remove the rotten parts. If the root system is underdeveloped, several cuts can be made on the lower part of the stem. This technique will stimulate the formation of new roots.
2. Put rounded pebbles on the bottom of the container.
3. Place dracaena shoots and press them with stones.
4. Then pour clean water into the pot. The liquid level should be 1–2 cm above the start of root growth, otherwise the shoot may rot.

When grown in water, the plant must be fixed in a pot with stones.

An effective way to grow Dracaena Sander is to use a hydrogel. For planting, it is best to choose a transparent pot, so the composition will look spectacular. The transplant process is simple:

1. Fill the hydrogel with water and let it swell for 4 hours.
2. Then prepare the plant by removing the rotten parts.
3. Place it in a flowerpot and fill the voids with swollen hydrogel balls.

The multi-colored hydrogel is perfect for growing Dracaena Sander