AboutDarlene K. Kittle Expertise I have been a Master Gardener for 20 years and I raise around 300 houseplants a year including tropicals, succulents, and cacti.
Experience She is also studying the Japanese art of bonsai with tropical plants and is President of the Fort Wayne, IN Bonsai Club.
Education/Credentials I am not a hortculturist. I am a Purdue University Master Gardener for over 20 years. I have studied plants on a personal level by growing hundreds of plants annually for the last 35 years. I have also studied under several nationally known American Bonsai experts.
Question QUESTION: Dear Darlene - I have a question about 2 dracaena canes that I have. One of them looks top dead and is growing new leaves from the bottom. Should I cut off the top ? I am not sure exactly what I should to do to make it look full and pretty.
The 2nd cane has no leaves at all. how can I tell if it is dead or alive?
Please help.
Thanks much.
Regards,
Esha.
ANSWER: Eshra,
If the cane is brown and not green it is dead. A living cane will be green. Should you cut off the top off the one that is growing from the bottom? Only if the cane is brown, if it is green it may still gorw something from the top eventually if you are patient. Patience is the key. Plants teach us that sometimes we have to wait on mother nature, she can be slow. As for making it look full and pretty, again all I can reccommend is patience, if you wait it will become full and pretty on it's own. Good luck.
Darlene
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you for your reply Darlene. Both the canes are brown, and maybe it is because the soil is too wet or there are black flying bugs in the soil.
I pulled out the 2nd cane with no leaves, and it was all wet at the bottom (soil was all wet too), and it had some musty kind of smell. But roots looked fine (I'm not sure how to tell if it was root rot or not, but the bottom part of cane which was in the soil was wet & mushy). Is there any chance there might be some life in this one still?
i am afraid the wet soil (or bugs) will affect the one which is growing new leaves at the bottom. What should I do? I mean how to dry the soil? It is a drainageless pot. Should I keep it out in the sun for few days ?/ or remove the cane with new growth and put it in a new pot?
Also, there are quite a few black flying bugs in the soil ? Could they be the problem? Are they eating my plant/s?
I am new to gardening and I really don't want to kill these plants :(
Thank You.
Regards,
Esha.
Answer Esha,
That answers the whole question. Your pot killed your plant and I recommend that you move the remaining part of the plant to a plain pot with a drain tray you can empty. Those self watering pots kill lots of plants! Actually you should be able to take it outside or to the sink or bathtub and pour as much water as possible out of the same hole where you put it in. That will help dry it out faster. Or you can take what is left out wet soil and all and move it to a separate new plain pot and put dry soil around it.
As for soil, buy the cheapest soil available or if you already have some soil that is fine but either way go get a bag of perlite to add to the soil. Mix 2 parts of soil, I use a cottage cheese container, and 1 part of perlite. The perlite makes the soil lighter and airier and it will drain better and you will not have problems with fungus gnats (the flying insects you mentioned). They are like fruit flies. They are not causing the problem, they just take advantage of it. They like nibbling on the rotting roots in the soil just like fruit flies like rotting fruit on your counter.
You said that you pulled out the 2nd cane with no leaves, and it was all wet at the bottom and it had a musty kind of smell. But roots looked fine. What you saw was the large roots. The plant should have had a lot of very fine feeder roots that look like thread. They would make it impossible for you to pull it out so easily. They were not there because they had rotted off. That is why the plant died, it could not get any nourishment because the feeder roots were gone. All you saw that was left was the large roots that anchor the plant. If the other plant stays too wet it will soon die also. Move it as soon as possible. Good luck.
