Expert: Darlene K. Kittle - 10/27/2007

Question
I bought a white ribbon plant couple of weeks ago from a local store and in those couple of weeks its size was almost doubled. (~13 inches now) When I took the plant home, I realized that some of its roots outgrew from the pot. In a week, some of the ends of the bottom leaves became brownish, and dried (only the half inch part of 3 bottom leaves but still the plant looks very healthy and bright colored) I water it when the soil feels dry (almost every 5 days - most of the time I use tap water or sometimes filtered water). My house temp is around 75F. The diameter of the pot is around 5 inches. Should I repot? If so, what kind of soil should I use and should I also use fertilizer?

My white ribbon is on an end table near a window (faces east to south east) where it can benefit from the sunlight all day long. And at night, it gets light from (accent) fluorescent lightning. I've heard once that fluorescent lightning can help plants grow but if it is true, then it means my plant takes too much light for a day. Do fluorescent lightning effect plants?

Thanks in advance,

Betul

Answer
Betul,

The latin name for your white ribbon plant is Dracaena sanderiana and it is actually the same plant that people are going nuts over that is called lucky bamboo. Deacaenas do not like tap water that has chlorine or flouride in it and that may be what is causing your brown leaf tips on those lower leaves if you are using city water with chlorine and flouride. If your filter does not remove those chemicals allow the water that you use on this plant to sit in an open bucket for 48 hours prior to using it and the chlorine and flouride will dissipate into the air. Dracaenas are the only plants that are bothered by chlorine and flouride.

As for repotting I would not be in too much of a hurry to repot. I would wait a few months till after April 1st then repot it into an 8 inch pot.

Yes, flourescent lighting does affect plants but it is just making your plant feel lie it is a very long summer and will make it grow more as you have discovered. Many flower growers use light to force plants to bloom sooner or later than they normally would. It will not hurt the plant, in fact more light makes the plant even stronger and makes it grow even faster. Good luck.

Darlene