How to Grow Dracaena? Master These Growing Methods and Care Tips

As an excellent foliage plant that stays green all year round, Dracaena is kept by many people as a bonsai in their homes: first, to improve indoor air quality, and second, because the Dracaena plant has a graceful shape that makes it great for decorating a space, with very high ornamental value. So how should Dracaena be grown? And what should be noted during the growing process?

How to Grow Dracaena

1. Light: It likes light but fears scorching sun exposure, and tolerates partial shade and dryness. With sufficient light, the leaf colors are vivid.

2. Soil: Dracaena likes loose, fertile, sandy soil with strong permeability. You can also add an appropriate amount of organic fertilizer and ferrous sulfate to the nutrient soil.

3. Watering: Dracaena has a fairly strong drought resistance. You can water once every ten days or half a month, keeping the potting soil slightly dry and moist.

4. Fertilizing: When fertilizing, apply less nitrogen fertilizer and more phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, to avoid the golden-yellow markings on the leaves becoming indistinct due to excessive nitrogen fertilizer. Stop fertilizing during the winter dormant period.

5. Temperature: The minimum winter temperature is 5-10C. If the temperature is too low, yellow-brown patches will appear at the leaf tips and leaf margins.

Dracaena Growing Methods and Care Tips

I. Growing Methods

1. Soil

It is not strict about soil requirements, but grows best in loose, fertile, slightly acidic soil with good drainage.

2. Water and Fertilizer Management

3. Watering: It likes high temperatures and humidity and fears scorching sun. There is no rule for watering once every few days; it grows luxuriantly in spring, summer and autumn and needs more water. In winter, watering frequency can be reduced appropriately. But the potting soil must not be dry, to ensure sufficient nutrients and promote flowering in spring.

4. Fertilizing

Mainly apply nutrient solution as a top dressing. Dracaena has a well-developed root system and grows robustly, so fertilizing does not need to be too frequent.

5. Temperature and Light

Dracaena likes warm, humid and sunny environments, and can also tolerate shade. It is best to place the pot on a windowsill facing southeast, so that it fully receives sunlight. When the summer sun is too strong, move the pot indoors, especially at noon, and provide appropriate shading; generally a light level of 40-50% is sufficient, to avoid the scorching sun burning the leaves. Dracaena likes warmth and does not tolerate cold.

6. Propagation Method

For home propagation, Dracaena is generally propagated by cuttings, carried out together with pruning, from April to August each year; indoors it can be done all year round, but the temperature needs to be kept between 20-30℃ to favor the growth of new roots.

II. Care Tips

1. During the winter dormant period, stop fertilizing and control watering. Generally place it indoors to overwinter, and water once every ten days to half a month, keeping the potting soil slightly dry and moist, so it can overwinter safely.

2. If there is no sunlight for a long time, you can turn on a light at night and place the Dracaena under a 40-watt light for artificial supplementary lighting.

3. At night, place the Dracaena inside the curtains and use thick curtains to block cold air, or place the pot in a warm corner of the room.

How to Take Dracaena Cuttings

1. The time is May to June. This is exactly the vigorous growth period of Dracaena, when the plant is rich in nutrients and cuttings root very easily after planting.

2. Before taking cuttings, you can select a mother plant with relatively high ornamental value, and take robust branches that have grown for more than two years, each segment about 10-20 cm long, with or without leaves.

3. Cut the base of the cutting into a flat end; after making a cross cut at the upper part, keep the leaves. The upper and lower cuts can be soaked in clean water to wash away the exuding sap, then placed in a cool, ventilated place to dry briefly. Then soak the base of the cutting 2-3 cm in 500-1000 ppm naphthaleneacetic acid, generally for 5 seconds; insert immediately after soaking.

4. For the seedbed, you can use a small earthenware flower pot, and the substrate can be vermiculite, perlite, or sterilized plain sandy soil; after potting, carry out the cuttings.

5. One plant per pot; after inserting, water thoroughly once, place the seedbed in dappled light, and care for it carefully.

6. Subsequent management is mainly about keeping the substrate moist.

7. Generally after 15 to 20 days, callus tissue forms; after 25 to 35 days, root primordia appear; after 35 to 40 days, new roots can sprout; and after two months, it can be repotted and transplanted using growing soil.

Common Pests and Diseases

Common disease: Alternaria leaf spot. It mainly harms Dracaena leaves.

Common pest: red spider mite.

Dracaena does not have high requirements for its growing environment, and can be placed in all kinds of rooms, but the time spent in relatively dark rooms should be shortened as much as possible. However, during home cultivation, be careful to prune the branches of the Dracaena in time, so as to maintain its graceful shape.