The room dracaena looks like a miniature palm tree, which brings a special flavor and liveliness to the interior of the room. It is popular with amateur flower growers. Some people grow several of these plants at once, since their types are so diverse and numerous that sometimes one is completely different from the other. But sometimes trouble happens – the leaves of the dracaena dry. What to do? The first step is to find out the causes, eliminate them, and then provide proper care.
Why do dracaena leaves dry
Often, amateur flower growers acquire dracaena without being interested in what species it belongs to. But these species, according to botanists, are more than 150. Treelike dracaena live in semi-deserts, but for shrubs (they are mostly domesticated), the natural habitat is tropical forests, where they are part of the undergrowth. Thus, deciding to have a “female dragon” in the house (this is how the name of the plant is translated), you should know her type, this will help create the right conditions for growth.
Most often, amateur flower growers still purchase dracaena shrubs, which means that conditions close to a tropical climate should be created for them under the canopy of tall trees with sufficient moisture and shade.
Here are the types of dracaena that feel great as indoor plants: – Dracaena godseffiana; – deremskaya dracaena (Dracaena deremnsis); – bordered dracaena (Dracaena marginata); – fragrant dracaena (Dracaena fragrans); – Dracaena Sandera (Dracaena sanderiana).
These are the most unassuming types of dracaena. If the one that lives in your house is constantly naughty – dries up, becomes stained, falls off, think about replacing it with a more unpretentious one. For example, fragrant dracaena is extremely good. Beautiful in itself, it also pleases with an unusual flowering. True, the flowers open only at night, but the phenomenon is worth not sleeping one night.
If you do not know what kind of dracaena your dracaena belongs to, take it to a specialized flower shop, a consultant will help you determine its type. Then you can clarify the rules for caring for her.
But the tips of the leaves of dracaena can dry out in the species listed above. Then the main reasons for this trouble lie, most likely, in too dry indoor air, insufficient watering or cold and frequent drafts. Another reason may be direct sunlight falling on it. The vast majority of indoor dracaena species are very sensitive to bright light, signaling this with dried leaf tips.
Finally, the age of the plant can be the cause of drying out and even their death. Dracaena leaves live for about two years, then they gradually turn yellow, starting from the tips, and disappear. Thus, in the aging dracaena, the “bald” trunk becomes visible, and the lush crown shifts upward.
Dracaena care rules
If you want your dracaena to delight you with bright greenery and a healthy look, eliminate drafts, remove it from direct sunlight. Purchase a humidifier to reduce dry air in your home. If this is not possible, you can install or hang containers with water on the batteries, or simply hang wet towels on the radiators from time to time.
Arrange a dracaena shower once a week and spray it daily from a spray bottle (preferably in the morning). Wipe the leaves regularly with a soft, damp cloth or sponge. Keep in mind that dracaena loves moisture, but not abundance. The drain hole in the pot must not be in the water. It is best to place the pot on a pallet with expanded clay, pebbles or sphagnum moss.
In the summer, do not forget to feed the dracaena with complex fertilizers for indoor flowers. It can be “Ideal”, “Giant” or “Rainbow”.