Flower growers - amateurs are well acquainted with dracaena, which surprisingly resembles a palm tree. Its slender long trunk and lush cap, consisting of tough long leaves, looks very exotic. Interior designers often use this plant to revitalize office spaces, study rooms, and formal spaces. At home, dracaena grows willingly only if conditions are created for it, similar to their natural habitat.
Many gardeners dream of acquiring this southern plant, and today we will talk about various ways of propagating this culture. We will talk about what methods are best to use for the propagation of this culture, we will talk about caring for it at home after the planting material has taken root and turned into an independent plant.
Features of dracaena, its main characteristics
Both a palm tree and a dracaena in the wild can grow very tall, everyone knows this. How does the dracaena behave in a room, is it really so directed upward? Yes, and it becomes a real problem when the top of her head starts to hit the ceiling. Dracaena can grow at home up to three meters in height, its growth has no restrictions, in addition, the decorativeness of the dracaena is lost due to the bare trunk, its awkward length. At the top, only a few leaves remain, which branch poorly and look rather ridiculous.
Seeing such a picture and realizing that the plant is out of control, many lovers of home plants simply get rid of the dracaena. However, not many people know that it is possible to return beauty to a green pet without much effort, especially since there is a wonderful source of planting material at hand for breeding.
Diseases, symptoms, treatment
Although dracaena marginata is unpretentious in care, if the rules are not followed, it is affected by pests: scale insects, thrips, spider mites.
The scale insect affects the leaves and stems, which begin to turn yellow and slow down their growth. If no action is taken, the plant will die. In case of a strong lesion with a scabbard, the flower is treated with Actellik, in case of minor lesions - with a soapy solution with the addition of vodka or alcohol.
Small black insects - thrips infect the leaves, causing spots to form on them, the dragon tree slows down growth. A soap solution applied for 24 hours will help get rid of thrips, after which it is washed off. After a week, the treatment is repeated.
Spider mite damage occurs due to increased dryness of the air. Affected leaves turn yellow and fall off. Treatment of the flower with the preparation "Fufan", "Fitoverm" will help to get rid of the tick. Maintaining the required air humidity is a reliable prevention of spider mites.
Insufficient watering and increased dryness of the air can cause yellowing of the leaves, the appearance of brown spots, and their drying.
Drafts, too low air temperature also provoke the appearance of brown spots.
Direct exposure to bright sunlight causes burns on the leaves of the dragon tree. To avoid this, the flower is moved to another place or shaded.
Several ways to reproduce dracaena on your own
Do not despair if your dracaena has lost its decorative effect, there are several ways to return the plant to its previous appearance and propagate an exotic culture:
- apical cuttings;
- stem cuttings;
- air layering;
- planting seeds.
Reproduction of a plant in the first two ways is considered the most common and easy. Such methods provide the grower with an almost one hundred percent guarantee of material survival.
The best time for taking planting material and breeding dracaena is spring. At this time, the plant's forces are activated, the growth processes are enhanced, the immunity is well protected. It is in the spring that the southern beauty should be propagated, since the results will not be long in coming and will be pretty quick.
In the winter and autumn, it is not advisable to engage in reproduction, most attempts to reproduce the plant turn out to be unsuccessful. Cuttings and layering take root extremely slowly and difficult, so you should not waste your own time and plant energy on such fruitless experiments.
Dracaena: plant propagation using apical cuttings
So, your dracaena has become ugly, has ceased to be attractive, do not despair, it can be restored to its previous state, you just have to pay a little attention to it.
Take a sharp knife and cut off the top of the plant along with the leaves. The cut should be perpendicular to the trunk and be 15-17 cm from the last leaf. Clean the stem from the remnants of leaves and old foliage, everything, the seedling can be considered prepared for planting. It remains to dry it a little at room temperature for three hours.
A rooting stalk can be made in several ways:
- by placing the stalk in water, to which it is necessary to add charcoal or a preparation stimulating root formation;
- by placing the stalk in a mixture of peat, sand and crushed coal;
- by placing the stalk in a container with vermiculite or perlite, at the request of the grower;
- by placing the stalk in a container with a steamed soil mixture, specially produced for dracaena, palms and other types of exotic plants.
Necessarily, in any of the cases, the plant is placed in a mini greenhouse or under a film shelter. This is necessary to regulate the humidity inside the greenhouse. Daily airing for 15 minutes allows you to eliminate excessive moisture, which Dracaena does not like.
Watering is also done very carefully and dosed. The roots of a plant can rot from a large amount of water and dry out from a lack of it. The florist will have to balance to prevent either one or the other. Water is used only warm, at room temperature, at least + 20 degrees. It is defended for about a day, and only after that the cutting is watered and sprayed. Dracaena is very good at irrigation, using this method you can not only water, but also feed the plant.
Do not discard the remaining stem with the root, it can also be reanimated and a full-fledged beautiful plant can be grown from it. It is enough to cover the stem with a bag and put it in a warm place, of course, water it periodically. After about 30 days, lateral shoots will begin to wake up on the trunk, which will soon turn into full-fledged branches. The updated dracaena will be able to continue its existence already as a multi-stemmed plant.
Care process
Dracaena is quite light-requiring. With careful courting at home, the dracaena lives up to 15 years. It is recommended to place the container with dracaena on the west or east side.... It is possible on the south side, but with the scattering of the direct rays of the sun. The plant needs abundant watering, before which the soil in the pot should first be slightly loosened. Use soft water, or even better rainwater.If the water is only tap water, then it is better to boil it.
In summer, dracaena watering is carried out every other day. If the leaves begin to turn yellow, then watering is necessary more often. In winter, the plant is watered 2 times a week. If there is a battery nearby, then the watering option is the same as in the summer. But one should observe the measure: the flower does not like an excessive amount of water. The root system can rot.
How to propagate dracaena using cuttings from the stem
In the case when the crown is cut off and sent for germination, but the stem is still long, it can be used to obtain several plants at once. Cuttings can be obtained not only from the top of the plant, but also from the middle part of the trunk.
- Cut the stem into separate pieces, 10-13 cm long, but in such a way that the cut coincides with the place of formation of the leaf.
- All sections must be done neatly and cleanly. Cracks or peeling of tissues are not allowed on the cuttings.
- Prepare a soil special for growing dracaena, and place the cut cuttings in it. They can be installed not only vertically, but also horizontally, slightly pressing into the soil.
- When placed horizontally, each cuttings not only develop roots, but also sprout shoots.
- For the development of the horse system, 1-1.5 months is usually enough, and shoots appear after a couple of weeks.
The melon method also requires careful handling of water, regulation of irrigation, covering with polyethylene and placing the container in a warm place.
How to propagate dracaena using air layers
If your dracaena is not large and you cannot get cuttings from it, you can resort to another method of propagation - using air layers.
- Select the location on the trunk where the leaf was located and make a small incision up to about the middle of the trunk.
- Insert a toothpick or match into the gap, otherwise it will quickly overgrow.
- Wrap the trunk in this area with sphagnum moss or a plastic bag.
- To prevent the moss from drying out, it is constantly moistened with water using a spray bottle.
- After some time, roots will begin to appear through the moss, then the strapping is removed and a separate, independent seedling is cut from the parent plant.
- The sprout is placed in a greenhouse under a jar for accelerated rooting and successful acclimatization.
- This method is much more complicated, but thanks to proper care, the seedling takes root faster and becomes an independent plant.
Very often, rudiments of fresh shoots begin to form on the cut, which gradually turn into additional trunks of dracaena.
When are cropping manipulations performed?
The plant will feel comfortable and look healthy if it has reached a considerable height. From the first months of spring to the end of August, the dracaena is in the stage of active growth. This period is considered the optimal time to perform pruning.
Trimming the dracaena trunk stimulates the development of lateral buds, after which the branching process begins.
The procedure for circumcision for dracaena is not very pleasant in the cold season. In winter, it is inactive, so experts do not recommend disturbing the flower. Even if all actions are carried out without deviating from the rules, there is a high probability of a variety of problems, and, as a result, the dracaena may die.
In summer and spring, the plant produces hormones responsible for its growth. Thanks to this, there is a quick recovery of the trunk. During the winter months, hormones are not produced, which makes the healing process much slower.
Pruning a flower during periods of slow growth is possible only in emergency situations, for example, if it breaks. Damaged dracaena should be cut off immediately.If a broken dracaena, pruned in winter or autumn, undergoes proper resuscitation care, then it will quickly recover and will continue to delight the owners with its appearance.
Is dracaena circumcision allowed when it is in a weakened state or is affected by some kind of disease? Absolutely not. Only a plant filled with vitality can cope with a stressful situation when pruning. The owner must take care to completely heal his plant. If you cut off an unhealthy dracaena, then the cut area will gradually begin to dry out or rot. It will be extremely difficult to save a flower in such a situation.
How to propagate dracaena by seeds
At home, it is almost impossible to make the dracaena bloom, and even more so it is impossible to collect seeds from it. If, nevertheless, it was possible to perform a miracle, the planting material should be planted immediately. The seeds must be cleaned of fruit residues and placed in a growth stimulant solution for 15 minutes.
- Take a well-moistened mixture of peat and sand and sow dracaena seeds over the surface of the soil.
- Top them can be sprinkled with a small layer of soil and covered with glass or film.
- Seeds will germinate successfully only at a temperature of at least + 25 degrees. They need light and warmth.
- Airing the greenhouse is a prerequisite for germinating seeds. Prevent condensation from accumulating and cold air entering the greenhouse.
- Seedlings usually appear in a month, but it is difficult to call them friendly.
The "kids", after appearing, are allowed to get used to the room environment, gradually opening the film, and then I begin to dive into separate containers. Usually, about 60% of the planting material germinates from the total number of seeds. This is a good indicator considering the rarity of flowering of this exotic culture.
This method is considered the most difficult and unusual, but if you like to conduct experiments of this kind, this lesson is just for you.
Dracaena takes root pretty well, whichever method you use. The main condition for successful rooting is warmth, metered moisture and good, breathable soil.
