I just got a plant I believe to be a dragon tree( either dracaena deremensis, or dracaena marginata)?

It is large, and instead of repotting it, I believe I can take cuttings from it and make new plants from them, getting rid of what is left of the original plant( which was under stress) . I know about" Air layering" which I have no time to do( I'm moving soon) is it possible to cut the crowns of the tree and treat it as a"lucky bamboo"( Dracaena sanderiana) and "plant "it in a bowl of gravel until it roots?

I just got a plant I believe to be a dragon tree( either dracaena deremensis, or dracaena marginata)?
Air layering IS the best and easiest method of obtaining new tropical plants by asexual reproduction. It was invented by the Chinese and works very easily, is simple to do, and is perfect for tropical indoor plants. What's this BS about not having enough time? Air layering might take six months. Rooting cuttings will take several weeks. And if the stem cutting fails, then you've really wasted your time. With Air Layering the original plant will regrow if the Air layers are at appropriate locations. The Chinese invented the practice. They cut clay pots in two, then reunited them around a plant stem and filled it with dirt. I've found the original Chinese method is actually as good or better than modern methods with plastics. Why? Clay pots "breathe"....











Let it alone for three-six months and voila, it roots and you can separate the new plant. With clear plastic you can see the roots. With opaque plastics, you can squeeze lightly and should be able to feel the roots.





For tropicals, if you want to try stem cuttings, I recommend baked river sand [not ocean sand which has salt] alone and it should work fine, or you can use Vermiculite half and half with Perlite, but those two are rather expensive! Most people loose cuttings due to rot from excess moisture allowing fungal attacks. That's why traditional sand works well, it drains well. You bake it in an oven to kill harmful organisms.





However, moder methods can speed up the process significantly. Here's a great method to use.





Take a suitable branch or stem you want to air layer. Mix in a bowl shagnum moss with sand and potting soil about 1/2 moss and 1/2 sand and potting soil. You can sterilize the sand and soil by baking it in an oven for 30 minutes or so if you like, or treat the stem with a commerical fungicide or both.


Now tape clear plastic at the lower junction of the stem after you've scraped the stem with a knife. Some gardeners recommend slicing the bark around the stem entirely. I find that it works best to rough the bark with a knife or rough sand paper until you reach the cambium layer and then treat with Rootone rooting compound!!!, fill with the moss sand mix--some gardeners use just the moss alone. I've tried peat moss instead of sphagnum solo and it works rather well indeed! The clear plastic allows you to visually SEE the roots which should appear in a couple months, six at the latest. Tape the ball of moss in a ball around the wounded area and try your best to create a hermetic seal with the plastic. Now you can do other things and let Nature do the rest for you. Once you see roots, cut beneath the layered area and pot the plant in a separate container and baby it awhile until it is doing well.





Layering, stooling, dropping and other similar methods are a slow, but very SURE method of getting results.


There are tropical plants that can root in plain water like English Ivy. You might want to take a few small tip cuttings and place them in water. If this works, you can easily make a dozen plants in half no time. Once baby roots begin to appear, wait until they are sizeable enough and carefully pot them and allow them to mature. By the use of Hydroponics techniques which I use, and root cuttings in a aqueous gel solution, I can root just about anything I like without expensive misters and all that blahblah.
Reply:I think this is a good answer. I hope I can get it to root. Report It

Reply:yes you can, you can also get rooting hormone and add it to the water.