I've had this plant for many years, but now the stalk/stem/cane is dying...actually dead already, I think. How can I save the 6-7 plants growing from the main cane before I lose the entire plant?
I'm quite good with plants and I have had houseplants for many, many years, but I don;t know how to save this one. I mean I know it is too late for the main cane.
This is common for branches to die back now and then, it doesn't mean the whole plant will die.. You can take tip cuttings and strike them if you want new plants.
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Dracaena cuttings do take root quite readily. I would use about half the live shoots, leaving the rest to possibly restore the parent plant.
Prepare a rooting mix of half coarse sand and half peat moss; there should be NO added nutrients. Place this in a small plastic flower pot; I used plastic because moisture would not evaporate through the sides. Get the mix in the pot moist but not soggy. Use stick or rod to poke a hole in the mix larger in diameter than the stem of a shoot.
Obtain a commercial rooting hormone. I prefer powder, but a solution form is available. What follows is based on using powder.
Remove a live shoot. Remove leaves from around the base of the shoot to expose about 1-2 inches (2.5-5.0 cm) of bare stem. Holding the end of the stem under water, slice a small piece away. Keep the cut end of the stem under water for a slow count of 10. Remove the shoot from the water and immediately dust the bare stem with the rooting hormone powder up to the lowest remaining leaf. Pot the shoot, pressing the rooting mix firmly around the shoot. Water the pot. Invert a large jar over the shoot to form a miniature greenhouse.
Wait about 2-3 months to check for roots. Check by removing the jar and holding the pot upside-down and tapping lightly to loosen the rooting mix and shoot. You should see roots exposed around the edges of the rooting mix. If there are no roots yet but the shoot still appears alive, carefully return the shoot and rooting mix to the pot and restore the jar. Wait another month.
Do the above for about half the shoots, one at a time but all on the same day. That way, your wait should be the same for all.
Just today, I discarded a parent Dracaena and used its pot for a rooted cutting. Instead of a side shoot, the cutting was taken from the top of the plant, which had grown too tall.
Instead of a jar, I used a plastic liter (litre) softdrink bottle; I pried the hard plastic bottom off and cut the top off. This made an unbreakable dome that fit just inside the flower pot. I placed the cutting in the same north-facing greenhouse window (in my breakfast room) where the parent plant remained until today. Every so often, I checked the rooting mix to make sure it was not getting dry; when it did get dry, I added only a little water. A soggy mix would make the curring rot. Now that the cutting is potted, its mix contains nutrients.
Plant the removed tops of the dracaena plant to grow a new plant. Plant the tops in well-drained but moistened potting soil. The cutting produces its own roots quickly, allowing you to save the foliage removed from the old plant. Cutting the stems to different heights provides foliage at levels of the plant.
D. marginata roots easily from root tip cuttings. It takes about three weeks for a cutting to sprout roots, and rooting hormone isn?t generally necessary. Refresh potting soil annually with fresh soil to replace any that has compacted. Allow the plants to dry between waterings, but not completely. These are more susceptible to root rot, so be very careful never to allow them to sit in water.
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