Features of care for room dracaena. Growing dracaena at home is available even to a beginner grower. It is resistant to pests and diseases , multiplies well, easily adapts to the conditions of residential and office premises . However, for successful cultivation of a culture, it is necessary to know some of the biological features of dracaena. Growing and caring for these features will provide the flower with an attractive appearance and long life.
When deciding where to put the dracaena, it is better to give preference to a place with bright diffused lighting, at a distance of 1-2 m from a sunny window. Culture tolerates relative shading well, green dragon trees are especially unpretentious in this regard. Variegated forms with a lack of lighting lose the brightness of the pattern, their leaves acquire a monochromatic color. All species grow well in artificial light.
Where to put dracaena
Staying outdoors in the summer has a beneficial effect on the plant, uniform lighting on the balcony or in the garden helps to increase the foliage of the trunks. It is important to correctly determine where to put the dracaena. It should be sheltered from the wind and drafts, from the bright sun. Direct sunlight is harmful to almost all species, causing sunburn on the leaves, so the flower must be shaded.
The optimum temperature for the culture in summer is 18-25 ° C, in winter – not lower than 14 ° C. The plant does not tolerate sharp fluctuations in temperature, a drop of 10 ° C can lead to its death. There is a group of hardy dracaena (dragon tree, fragrant dracaena), for which in winter it is permissible to lower the temperature to 12 ° C and below.
The flower tolerates the dry air of rooms with central heating well, but develops better with moderate and high humidity. It is useful to spray it from a spray bottle with soft water at room temperature, you can also use air humidifiers or put the pot on a tray with wet pebbles, expanded clay. For all types of dracaena, home care should include cleaning the leaves of dust that clogs their pores and prevents the plant from breathing. The leaves are regularly wiped with a damp sponge, from time to time a warm shower is arranged for the flower, be sure to cover the ground in a plastic pot with polyethylene in order to prevent waterlogging of the roots.
Watering dracaena
One of the main elements of care is watering. Dracaena requires a constant uniform moisture content of the substrate, but does not tolerate waterlogging at all, which causes rapid decay of the roots, so the question of how often to water the dracaena is very important. In summer, the flower is abundantly watered 1-2 days after the top layer of soil has dried to a depth of about 5 cm. The water should be separated, at room temperature, and excess moisture must be drained from the pan. Species with wide leaves are watered more abundantly, since they have a larger evaporation area than narrow-leaved dracaena. Winter care is somewhat different, watering is significantly reduced, while preventing the earthen clod from completely drying out.
Watering dracaena in the photo
It is useful to alternate watering with light loosening of the topsoil, this improves its aeration, air access to the roots. If a white crust appears on the surface of the pot, which indicates salinity of the soil, the top layer must be replaced.
Fertilizing dracaena with fertilizers
Plants are fed during the period of active growth, from April to August, once every 2 weeks, adding liquid fertilizers for indoor flowers to the water when watering. Later, feeding for dracaena is limited, in winter it is practically stopped.
The flower does not tolerate fluorine , with its excess, growth is inhibited, the tips of the leaves dry out, areas with necrotic tissue appear on them. It is necessary to ensure that this element is not included in the fertilizer for dracaena, to limit the use of phosphorus supplements, which usually include fluorine. If fluoridated water is used for irrigation, it must first be boiled.
Pruning and transplanting dracaena
Dracaena pruning is done to stimulate branching. In young, well-rooted plants, at least 30 cm tall, remove the upper part (5-10 cm), so that leaves remain below the cut. If necessary, cut off several long shoots. To injure the flower less, use a sharp, well-ground tool (knife, blade or garden shears). For disinfection, the cut point is covered with garden pitch . After a few weeks, several thickenings will appear below the cut, located radially. Over time, new shoots will develop from them.
Dracaena transplant in the photo
Dracaena can be transplanted at any time from March to November, but the best period is from the end of February to the first days of April. Young specimens are transplanted annually or every 2 years, depending on the intensity of growth, adults – after 4-5 years. A newly purchased flower is transferred to a permanent container no earlier than 2 weeks later, so that it has time to acclimatize in a new place. For planting use high pots with a large layer of drainage. As a soil, a loose substrate is recommended, consisting, for example, of equal parts of sod, leaf soil, humus and sand. Some flower growers advise to bring the dose of coarse sand up to 30%. For better water permeability, charcoal and brick chips are added to the soil (2-3 handfuls of coals and 1/2 liter of crumbs per bucket). Coal disinfects the soil, preventing rotting, and brick chips improve its structure and well absorb excess moisture during irrigation.
Reproduction of dracaena
All species easily propagate vegetatively, for which they use apical cuttings, stem segments, and air layering. Green-leaved forms can also be grown from seed. Let us consider in more detail how to propagate dracaena by each of the listed methods.
Apical cuttings are harvested by cutting off the upper part of the main or side shoots so that the length of the cutting is 10-15 cm. The cut point is dried, then the cutting is placed in water or a wet substrate (sand, peat with the addition of sand). During rooting, the temperature should not be lower than 24 ° C. For better survival, the shoots placed in the substrate are provided with increased air humidity by covering them with a jar or bag. From time to time, the mini-greenhouse is ventilated. Watering should be moderate, without excessive moisture and drying of the soil. Usually, within a month, the cuttings take root, and they are transplanted into a pot to a permanent place.
Stem segments are obtained by cutting off part of the main or side stem. Leaves are removed from it, divided into pieces 7-10 cm in size. To improve root formation, the lower end of each segment is treated with heteroauxin or another stimulant, then placed in a mixture of peat and sand. Further care – as for the apical cuttings. In this way, you can get many young plants at once. If the cut points are treated with paraffin, the cuttings can be transported and sent over long distances, they retain the ability to root for a long time.
Air layering allows you to root a young plant without separating it from the mother. To do this, they choose how long the new dracaena is planned to be, at this distance from the top the stem is freed from the leaves, an incision is made under the knot to the middle of the trunk, into which solid material (plastic, a match) is placed. A plastic bag is fixed under the incision site, where sphagnum or peat is placed, the substrate is moistened, after which the bag is closed. In the future, it is necessary to keep the soil in the bag moist, for example, by injecting water with a medical syringe. The top is cut off when the roots in the bag take up most of the space. The planted stalk at first is covered with a mini-greenhouse.
Seed propagation is used only for green-leaved dracaena. Seeds pre-treated with growth stimulants (epin, zircon) are sown in March in a loose substrate consisting of equal parts of sand and ground soil or peat. Plantings are kept at a temperature not lower than 25 ° C, for better germination they are covered with a mini-greenhouse, providing bottom heating, regularly sprayed and ventilated. Shoots usually appear in a month.
For all breeding methods, the best time is spring, although dracaena can be propagated vegetatively at any time of the year.