I recently purchased a Dracaena Marginata and noticed slight tip burn after only a week of having it. Since the temperature up here in Canada is around -35C at the moment, the air is very dry and extremely cold. I run a warm air mist humidifier and mist my plants with reverse osmosis bottled water a couple of times a day. I've got him placed in my kitchen by a big set of patio doors with no blinds so he gets more then enough indirect sunlight a day. The soil still feels moist to the touch and is in a high drainage 8" pot. Any tips will help as this one of my favorite plants and a first Dracaena for me.
My first thought was too much cold from being maybe too close to the patio doors. Hold you hand between the plant and the door, if you can feel cold so can the plant. A draft will cause leaf tip burn too. And heavy doses of fertilizer can build up in the soil and cause the damage.
I've placed him about 5' away from the patio doors up on my kitchen table so no real draft there when the doors are closed. I do have to open the door a couple of times a day to let my dog out though. Do you think opening the door would be causing the burnt tips? It's cool in the room for maybe a minute or two but I wouldn't say it gets anywhere near freezing. As far as fertillizer goes I haven't given him any and the soil is still somewhat moist. My kitchen is on the south side of my house so if I could I would like to leave him there but maybe I have to move him. Thx for your input Toni.
Hi, welcome to Stew! Being in Canada, the rays are quite weak so more light might help, if possible with your window/furniture situation. The sunniest spot you have, some direct sun would be great. The misting won't accomplish anything, except to make you feel like you're helping, or to make conditions difficult for spider mites if such are a problem, so I would save the reverse osmosis water for the roots of your Drac, which will appreciate it since it should not have any chlorine, chloramine, or fluoride, substances to which Dracaenas react badly. I used to live in OH, so very familiar with cold, and have had to move my older tree in the cold before. One winter it lived near the front door, sitting on the floor. Opening the door probably isn't affecting it, especially if it's up on a table. But the ordeal of leaving the store to go to your car, then the hot car, then the cold again, then the hot dry house coupled with occasional cold blasts is not a situation the tree would naturally encounter and has probably been quite a shock, although this particular Drac can handle a lot lower temps than some of them. The moist soil is likely the culprit for any health issues your plant is having. Or, more specifically, the damage such can do to roots when the condition is prolonged, without a chance for the roots to reach some air as well as moisture. A soil that is composed of mostly fine particles, like peat, can often be what is causing the difficulty. If the roots are healthy and the light is sufficient, there's no reason not to expect your plant to recover its' health. Seeing a pic would help a lot in determining that, and which of these issues might be in play.
Hello Purple and thank you for the warm welcome and insight. I will try moving my Dracaena tomorrow into direct sunlight and see if it helps. The place I bought it from told me the same thing, they said the plant was in shock from the move and not to worry about it, however I did ask to have it triple wrapped for it's trip home. As far as the soil goes it's a Costa Farms plant, so what ever they use is what it has, you know I'm not sure about the soil to tell you the truth but it did come with a fast drain pot. I'll post a pic as soon as I can figure out how to turn down the resolution on my camera. Thanks again for your post, I appreciate it! My Dracaena Marginata ( photo / image / picture from Raptor5871's Garden ) My Dracaena Marginata ( photo / image / picture from Raptor5871's Garden ) My Dracaena Marginata ( photo / image / picture from Raptor5871's Garden )
That's an absolutely beautiful tree, no doubt you would want to take good care of it. Don't know that I've seen one with more tops before. Your other plants look fantastic also! It looks like you have a whole room for just plants? How cool is that?! I've gotten several plants from Costas farms lately. They're all in a shredded peat with a very small amount of perlite. This stuff takes forever to dry out, and as soon as plants can go back outside, these will be at the top of my list for repotting. You can deal with it too until it's a better time for repotting. Just let it dry almost all of the way before adding more water. D. marginata is a little tricky because it can't/don't wilt unless the tree is deadly dessicated, but you may notice some puckering where the leaves join the trunk. If the pot feels much lighter and you see that puckering, that's the equivalent of wilt in this plant, so definitely time for more water if that happens. The Sans also will need to stay very dry during the shorter, cooler days of winter, especially in that peat. We use that kind of heater instead of the heat pump here. If you're making the room warmer than about 65-70 degrees, that may be more harmful than helpful, especially at night. But they are handy for augmenting humidity. First, they don't remove existing humidity from the air, and also because you can set a glass or metal pan of water on the top. It will evaporate pretty quickly, and do a lot more for plants than misting. If you have a ceiling fan or other fan you can run on low for an hour or so per day, the plants would appreciate that also.
Hey Raptor, Your plants look so nice and healthy! The Dracenas will often have lower leaves dry out and drop off. I see it as normal, and it looks as though your plant will be fine. I was told not to use fresh tap water when watering. Let it sit in an open container first.
Hey Hey, thx for the advice and nice compliments on my plants guys! I've moved my Dracaena into direct sunlight and will lay off on the watering as suggested. I'll keep using the bottled water for misting and watering, so there is no chance of fluoride poisioning. As for the temperature, I try to keep it around 75F during the day with high humidity and let the temperature drop at night. Also good point about the strength of the sunlight aswell Purple, the weaker sunlight here in Canada would change the light requirement for the plant most definitely. It's actually not recommended that the Dracaena Marginata be exposed to direct sunlight but up here it's probably required as you suggested. I'll keep ya posted and thx again for the input.
Just an update on my Dracaena Marginata, since placing my Drac. into direct sunlight and not watering it for about 10 days, the leaves are still getting tip burn. Other then the tip burn it looks healthy and vibrant, I try to keep the humidity around 50% and temperature at about 70F. When I watered it 10 days ago, the soil was so dry it was cracking on top, so I don't think I overwatered it. Bit of a hard nut to crack, any ideas?
Built a sort of makeshift terrarium for my Dracaena to try to keep the humidity high enough for it's needs as it is still showing signs of tip burn. I was just wondering how much ventilation the plant would need to flurish in this enclosure? It seems to work I can get the humidity up to 100% in about 15 minutes, with the temperature holding steady at around 75. Just winging it here so any advise will help.
If these trees were this picky, they wouldn't be the ubiquitous house plant that they are. If your soil is capable of cracking, the texture is too much peat (and clay can crack also.) That's too dry, which can also cause leaf damage. Can't think of anything else to say about the soil at this point that I didn't recently say in the "potting mixes" discussion, except that maybe I didn't fully express that letting a plant get very dry is not necessary unless that's the only way for air to reach the roots. If the soil mix is chunky enough to have air pockets in it at all times, there's no reason to put a plant through that added stress. Only plants like cactus are fine with having periods of total dessication... unless one is battling rotting roots.
Is the plant still in the same soil and container as when you purchased/received it? It might just need some fresh soil and a larger pot. And like others have said repeatedly here... don't water on a schedule. Water when the soil is just drying out. I check my houseplants by sticking my finger into the soil about knuckle deep. If it's still moist, I wait and check again in a few days. After some time, you'll get used to each plants watering needs and don't have to check as often.
