Beginner Gardening: Rooting Dracaeana marginata, 4 by purpleinopp

purpleinopp wrote:
I've started many new Dracaenas via cuttings. I wouldn't put them (or any woody entity) in water to make roots. I promise you from trying both ways, water takes a lot longer for this particular plant. It's so much easier to cut part off, stick it in the pot next to the mama. Nothing extra to tend & it's there, waiting for you, whenever you're ready to separate the two plants when you would normally repot the mama, or to start a 'shrubby' look in the pot instead of the naked tree with a puff of foliage at the top. Not knocking either look, I have some of both, just highlighting the fact that 'bushy' is almost impossible with a single entity, unless you use a cutting or buy a plant with several tops already. Turning 1 top into 2 doesn't constitute bushiness. But a pot with 6 tops at various heights looks like 'a bushy plant' no matter how many individuals are used.

The info above about roots is general to about any plant in a pot. Although there are plants that can survive just fine in the presence of fluoride, the PH of tap water is often much too high, so tap water is generally not good for potted plants.

I definitely didn't mean to give the impression that D. marginata is a fussy plant, I don't think that at all. Since I stopped putting tap water on plants (generally, I don't always have rain or other water,) I've noticed a huge improvement in many plants I thought were fine before. However, for 15 or so years, before finding the great info about roots, water, etc... the tree my gramma gave me was OK. (Big one pictured below, which has donated the cuttings.) I think much more important that not using tap water is just not letting water sit in a drip saucer, letting the pot dry well between waterings. And plenty of light, which that window looks like it can provide.

If styro bits thwart fungus gnats, more power to 'em, and to you for re-using the material for something else! I think you were just making a joke and know this already, but real Perlite is something totally different, and not interchangeable as far as being a component of decent potting soil. Since styrofoam could create a barrier that prevents evaporation, I might be concerned from that POV about using it as a top dressing for a succulent like a Sans, if the layer is thick enough.

The mini-garden thing your DH has going on is really cute! I don't like prickly plants either, but have relatively recently discovered there are thousands of pretty little succulents that have no pricklies at all. Most of them turn pretty colors with some direct sun too, purple, pink, red, blue-ish.

I hope you can pass this info on to MIL, the sticky too. It sounds like her plant is in peril!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1226030/

These plants started as cuttings. Here they are with soil removed, about a year after being cut & stuck in a pot.


This message was edited Dec 13, 2013 5:53 PM