Dracaena - home care, important rules and advice for growing

Such an attractive tropical plant as dracaena, home care for which uncomplicated, is now very popular. Her love for the exotic look and unpretentiousness, in any interior, this greenery, a bit like a palm tree, looks spectacular.

Dracaena - Species

The picturesque dracaena itself is a shrub consisting of a rosette of elongated leaves that turn over the years into stiff tissue (trunk). The flower grows slowly, but lives long. Depending on the age, the culture can reach a length of a dozen centimeters to 2-3 meters, leaves 15-70 cm long from the base. Varieties of dracaena:

1. Dracaena bordered ( Marginata ). A tree bush with a strong trunk, reaches a height of 3 m. The stems are crowned with a bundle of narrow long leaf plates 50-70 cm long. The color is green with a yellowish or red stripe.
2. Dracaena is bent (Reflex). The leaves are elongated and broad, bright green with a beige longitudinal border, bent downwards. The stem branches almost from the root. On each trunk there are several leaf sockets.
3. Dracaena Godsef. It has the form of a bush, up to 60 cm in height, with oval leaves pointed at the tips. They are dark green, covered with beige glades.
4. Dracaena is fragrant. The height reaches 6 m, leaves hanging down, curved, 80 cm wide with a wide yellow stripe. The plant exudes a pleasant fragrance from the inflorescences - small fluffy balls.
5. Dracaena is Dermen. The stem is thick, reaching 1.5 m, on it sit large leathery bent dark green leaves with two white longitudinal strips.

How to care for dracaena at home?

The tropical dracaena, care of which at home does not require special care, is considered an unpretentious culture. When it grows, you must adhere to the following rules:

1. Arrange the plant in a bright spot protected from direct sunlight.
2. The moderate temperature dracene approaches, in the winter the care requires that it does not fall below 15 ° C, in the summer the plant normally feels at 20-25 ° C.
3. If the dracaena grows in a dwelling, home care after it presupposes feeding. From March to September during the vegetation every two weeks it is fertilized with a composition for green cultures.

Dracaena - breeding at home

The optimal period for obtaining young shoots is spring, there are three ways of propagation of dracaena:

1. Seeds (only for green species). Soak the seeds in the stimulating composition for a day, sow with the soil for palm crops, put in heat and cover with a film. After a month or two they germinate. The subsequent leaving is reduced to top dressing (once in 4 weeks) and watering. 5-6 centimeter sprout planted in a vessel.
2. Reproduction of dracaena by cuttings - apical, cauline. To do this, cuts of the trunk are necessary for 7-10 cm - the stem together with the tip, or the central part of it, which rooted.

How to root the dracene at home?

The pieces of the stem, cut with a sharp knife, are used for reproduction. How to root dracenia cuttings:

1. This requires a loose mixture of peat and sand.
2. On the one hand, the bark is cut on the cuttings and stuck into the prepared substrate.
3. Sprout is best covered with a jar or a bottle of plastic to create a greenhouse effect and remove from the sun direct rays.
4. The stalk should be periodically ventilated.
5. Rooting takes place in a month.
6. If cuttings without green mass were used, then young shoots will appear on them.

How to transplant a dracene at home?

Transplantation of dracaena at home is performed as the plant grows, the young one - every year, the adult - every five years. The best time for this is spring. Each time the pot is used a bit more than the previous one. The roots of the plant are located in the upper part of the soil, so it needs good drainage . How to change dracaena - care at home:

1. If it is necessary to transplant, it is better to accurately transfer the plant with an earthen lump into a new container.
2. But the bottom is laid clay crocks, drainage and a layer of sand.
3. The plant is placed in the center of the pot, pour the soil into the missing places and water well.
4. The land for transplantation is better to use the store - dracene is perfectly suited substrate for palm trees.

Pot for dracaena

When deciding which pot is needed for dracaena, it is important to know that the space in it should be so much that there are 2-3 additional centimeters left for future growth. Too much capacity can not be used - it will cause stagnation of water and the plant will die. For a bush height of 40 cm the diameter of the pot should be not less than 15 cm. As the growth continues, the capacity also increases by a couple of centimeters with each transplant. The main requirement for the pot: the presence of an excellent drainage system - holes for water drainage.

How to water a dracene at home?

The tropical dracaena is a moisture-loving plant, care for it requires regular watering. Overdrying the earth coma is inadmissible, the soil in the pot must remain moist all the time. But you can not pour a flower either - it can not stand the stagnation of water. Moisten the dracaena when the upper tier of the soil is dried up to 2-3 cm, before moistening it is desirable to loosen the soil. How often to water the dracaena - in the summer twice a week, in the winter - once. With proper care periodically green mass should be arranged irrigation - it will refresh it.

Dracaena - how to trim for branching?

When you dilute the dracaena, you must periodically cut it. This procedure stimulates the formation of young shoots, and the plant begins to branch. How to properly cut dracaena to get lateral shoots:

1. For pruning, a good time is spring and early summer.
2. Cut the dracenum to a height of at least 30 cm, use a blade or a sharp knife to perform the procedure.
3. Cut the shoot 6 cm below the bottom of the leaves.
4. The top is used for rooting - it will grow a new plant.
5. The place of the cut is covered with charcoal, and later treated with zircon .
6. To create high humidity, the culture should be covered with a cellophane bag.
7. A month later young shoots appear on the truncated trunk.

Dracaena dies - how to save?

Sometimes, due to incorrect care of the plant, problems arise. Dracaena - possible diseases and treatment:

1. The tips of the leaves dry. The reason is overdried air, the bush should be sprayed more often.
2. The foliage turns yellow and falls down. If it's the bottom plates, then this is a natural process. When a flower massively sheds foliage - the reason is an excess of moisture and rotting roots. To save it, you need to cut the cuttings.
3. The leaves hang and curl. The reason is drafts, the flower freezes. We need to find him a more comfortable place.
4. It grows black and does not grow, it has a thin trunk. He does not have enough nutrients. It is necessary to transplant a flower into fertile soil and fertilize it in a timely manner.
5. Shield, spider mites and thrips. To combat insects, the plant is treated with fungicides.