Dracaena problems!!

Hello everyone,

I'm new here so this is my first post. I made this account because I found some very informative feedback from previous discussions and so I am looking forward to some useful advice! I recently bought 2 "Dracaena Fragrans Suprise" and 2 "Dracaena White Jewel" plants.

Problems:

- Brown Tips
- Some "tearing" on the leaves.
- Wrinkling

What I'm making sure I'm doing so to eliminate possible causes:

- The plants get the right amount of sunlight. Not too much directly, and not too little.
- I leave tap water standing for 2 nights in preparation for next watering session.
- I also use bottle water that doesn't contain fluorine and sometimes try to collect rainwater.
- The humidity and temperature seems to be the right amount. No too hot/humid, not too cold/dry.
- I place them in relatively small pots since I've read that dracaena's actually prefer to be a little root-bound.
- I cut off the brown tips that appear regularly, but then they continue to follow through and I find myself continuously cutting down the leaf with no end in sight.
- I place the plants in pots with holes at the bottom for drainage.
- The plants are placed in the middle of the living room, so no drafts.

As you can see, I've done so much research and taken a lot of steps to stop these problems happening, but I just don't know what I'm doing wrong.

The only thing that I can think of is maybe the frequency and amount of watering that I do. I touch the top of the soil to see if it is wet/damp. If it is, then I don't water it. If the top is dry, I stick my finger about 4cm deep and judge if it is still moist by the roots. If it is, then again, I don't water. This was a general rule I read somewhere however I find myself watering every 4-5 days. I also don't know how much water I should be using?

I've read that the brown tips are due to flourine in water, which cant be in this case since I let it evaporate by leaving water standing for 2 nights before I water and sometimes use bottled water or rainwater. Another suggestion could be overwatering, which might be the cause? I'm not too sure.

Some leaves have started to show some tears, as in, they appear like they have been ripped through the middle. Another big issue is that I've noticed some leaves are beginning to wrinkle and shrivel up in a way. Now for these, I have no clue what could be causing them. Nonetheless, I will attach photos so that you guys can see this much more clearly.

Any and all help is very much appreciated since I'm worried about how long this can keep going on for... I've only recently got them and they were in great condition so it must be something I'm doing!!

Many Thanks in advance!!

I think they are very pretty & look very healthy,it seems to me your doing everything right. I believe a little damage is normal from when they were at the growers.
Christine

Those are nice looking plants. It might have been more helpful to see the damaged parts before trimming though. Dracaenas are quite sensitive to fluoride, which does not evaporate.
http://extension.psu.edu/pests/plant-diseases/all-fact-sheets/dracaena-diseases
I'm not sure that's enough light, in the middle of a room. If it's a SW or SE corner room with windows on 2 sides, or you might have really great, huge windows. But less than optimal light for such a short time wouldn't cause brown tips, or wrinkled leaves. Dracaenas grow very slowly, and damage can take a while to manifest, so often mysterious unless the trauma was memorable to you.

The brown-edge holes in the one leaf could be the result of being creased months ago. Maybe something took a nibble. The brown edges of the holes indicate it's been a while, whatever it was. Perfect Dracs with never a brown tip are extremely rare, and an unreasonable goal for the average potted plant in the average house.

It is normal for Dracs and most other plants to lose the oldest leaves at a certain rate, though that may vary seasonally if your plant has different conditions, such as going outside for summer, inside for winter. As long as it is growing new leaves as fast as, or faster than older leaves are being discarded, it's considered to be doing fine. Generally, older Dracs of most types are long/tall bare stems/trunks with a 'puff' of leaves at the ends.

Inspecting often for spider mite webbing, and pests in general is never a bad idea but I don't see anything to indicate an inspection of your plants is needed today.

The sticky at the top of this forum is great stuff to know for trying to have any kind of happy plants in captivity, but especially helpful, IMVHO, for potted woody entities like Dracaenas that can live for decades with acceptable care and conditions. The parts we see, leaves and stems, are not the parts we care for, which is the roots, so can be mysterious. But keeping roots happy, so the visible parts look good, gets easier the more you learn about what's going on under the soil/behind the scene. Reading the stuff Al wrote, then trying to move in that direction, has helped me a lot. New versions of plants I've killed before hardly ever die, now that I know what was killing them - root rot.

purple, your so good with words :>)
Christine

TY, Christine, much delayed. I need to pop in here more often!

Realize I didn't say anything about water...

Distilled water is condensed evaporation, not water that has sat around for a while waiting for substances to evaporate from it. The modern method of chlorinating water usually doesn't use a volatile (can evaporate) type of chlorination, so letting water sit does not remove it. This piece of advice comes from a time when the chemical used to chlorinate water was a type that evaporated quickly.

There can also be fluoride and/or lime in tap water, neither of which are appreciated by many plants, or evaporate within a short amount of time (days.) There is no way to remove these things from water except through filtration designed to do specifically that. Distilled, caught rain water, the condensate from a dehumidifier, are good sources of water without these chemicals added. Bottled water may or may not be tap water from somewhere, may or may not contain fluoride, chlorine, balanced PH, etc... If it's ground water, like from a spring, it's going to have some minerals in it, which won't be visible or mentioned on the label. Plants may or may not like them. I wouldn't use this expensive and 'unreliable' water for plants.

Hi everyone I purchased a 2 year old Rhapidophyllum hystrix I planted it in a pot during its young days I plan to move it back outdoors inearly march I live in usda 6b. This plant is the cold hardiest palm there is. Dose anybody know how cold tolerant this palm is at this age?

Thanks Jon

Hi Jon. If you ask your question in a separate discussion, it will get its' own attention by those familiar with that palm that may not look at a Dracaena discussion. Best of luck!