Wednesday, April 29, 2009

How do you replant a Dracaena Tree?

A few months ago I bought my mother a Heart Shaped Dracaena Tree for Valentine's Day and the cat have turned it over so many times that the tree needs to be replanted. This is the issue we are having she doesn't know if she can take it and put in a glass to make the roots sprout more or if she should just directly repot in another pot? Please help?

How do you replant a Dracaena Tree?
Either technique is fine for draceana. She could remove the plant from teh potting soil, wash the roots clean of any remaining soil and insert them into a glass of water. Change the water when it looks brown or smells bad. The plant will go through a period of shock during which leaves may fall and some roots may die. This is normal. The dying roots may stink like rot and turn slimy in the water. This, too, is normal. All she has to do is remove the plant from the glass, rinse the roots off really well to remove the slime, and put it back into completely fresh water.





If it's top heavy she may be better off just repotting it, though. In my experience, draceana have fairly shallow root systems and like lots of moisture. So a plastic or glazed ceramic pot with a tray of gravel to hold runoff for humidity is a great way to go.





Bear in mind that draceana is a cat magnet plant. The kitties will try to dig in the soil and eat the leaves no matter where it's put, so put it as out of the way as possible. The leaves aren't toxic, so don't worry about that aspect. You just end up with a sorta odd looking plant.


No comments:

Post a Comment