Beginner Gardening: Help me save my Dracaena Marginata!, 1 by plantladylin

plantladylin wrote:
Here are a couple of links to information for care and culture of Dracaena marginata: http://www.greenpatio.com/plantdatabase/dracaena_marginata.s...
http://www.evergrowing.com/tips/dracaena.htm
And the listing in DG Plant Files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/732/

I have a couple of smaller D. marginata's but mine stay outside on my deck all year, in very bright light so if you have a bright window that would be the perfect location. They do okay in low light situations, they just don't seem to grow as fast. If kept indoors just make sure you don't over water or you will end up with root rot and rotting canes/branches. I've found they like to be kept on the dry side but that could just be because of my location. It's very humid here so there's lots of moisture in the air almost year round.

I also have a D. marginata Tricolor: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59787/ planted in the yard. I covered it with an old blanket when we had cold nights over the winter and it even survived a couple of nights with temperatures in the 20's so they seem to be very forgiving plants! Years ago I had a very large one that grew so tall it touched the top of the screened pool enclosure and began to curve ... a lot of people like that effect of curving branches but I chopped mine off and rooted the cuttings. It's normal for lower leaves to die and fall off, I just pull them off when they get ratty looking.

I find this plant easy to propagate by just cutting off a branch and sticking it in soil or even in water ... I have rooted it both ways. When you cut a stalk/branch it will eventually put out new growth at the sides of the cut branch, showing up as little nodes at first and then recognizable new little branches. Here's a picture of Tricolor growing in my yard. This plant took a beating last week when we had 23" of rain and some high winds. This photo shows some of the "ratty" looking leaves.