Dracaena

One of the foliage plant that we use to grow indoor for its nice, striking architectural structure. Having its origin in Canary Island and tropical Africa, this plant produce lance to strap-shaped, leathery, glossy leaves which are spirally arranged, 30-45 cm long, just green or variegated.

Dracaena is an evergreen shrub, but as it grow it will form a trunk and will start to look like a tree. If you keep it as a houseplant, it will be a nice change for it, if you will take it outside over the summer.

Dracaena enjoy a loam-based compost but with a good drainage. Keep it in full light but with shade from hot sun and moderate humidity. The green-leaved specimens will tolerate slightly lower light levels.

In growth period, from spring to autumn, water freely and apply a balanced liquid fertilizer monthly. In winter water sparingly. Top-dress or pot on in spring.

If the plant will get too tall and the trunk will become unaesthetic just cut it at about 10-20 cm from the base. In few weeks you will have a nice surprise. From the bare trunk will start to appear new branches, often two or three. You can use the cut part to propagate Dracaena by using the top of at least 15 cm long by the semi-ripe cutting method, by putting the cutting in water or in compost.

You can also use parts from the bare trunk by cutting pieces of 3-5 cm long taking care that each part you want to use has a leaf mark on it, a place where a leaf was and now is a little node from where the new plant will grow. Lay the cuttings in a tray on a layer of moist sphagnum moss and store in a humid place out of direct sunlight or on a compost and push them in just as half of their thickness. If you want  to be more sure that this procedure will succeed, gently cut into the bark on the side that will lay on the compost and put some hormone powder. Water and keep it in a warm place. After 6-8 weeks the dormant buds will have developed into plantlets, which will then be ready to pot up.

You can also propagate Dracaena by sowing seeds in spring at 18-21 Celsius degrees (64-70 F). The usual dimensions that a Dracaena can reach are about 50 to 250 cm height and 80-120 wide, and will survive indoor from 5 to 15 years.

It might suffer from thrips and red spider mites but you can avoid this by regular pulverizations with warm water specially under the leaves.