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Dracaena is one of the most popular houseplants. However, not everyone knows how to properly care for it. As a result, many people find that their dracaena sheds its leaves, grows poorly, or dies altogether.
Very often, all this is due to errors during watering. Dracaena is very sensitive to soil moisture and has a hard time tolerating an incorrectly selected watering regimen.
In today's article, we will talk about the main mistakes when watering dracaena, which can lead to serious problems: from dropping leaves to the death of the plant. Take note of them and try not to repeat them.
5 main mistakes when watering dracaena
1. Watering with cold waterDracaena is a heat-loving plant, so it needs to be protected from sudden temperature changes as much as possible. Moreover, this rule works for both air temperature and soil temperature.
That is why you can’t water dracaena with cold water. This is a very serious stress for it. Ideally, the water for watering should be at room temperature. Moreover, it is easy to do – just pour water into a watering can and leave it in the room for a few hours.
2. Very abundant watering. Even in adulthood, Dracaena consumes relatively little moisture. Therefore, if you water it too abundantly, the moisture will not be absorbed by the plant and will evaporate quickly. It will stagnate at the roots for a long time, provoking the development of various fungal diseases.
In addition, it is precisely stagnation of moisture near the roots that often leads to the death of dracaena. In neglected situations, its roots and stem begin to rot. And this process is practically irreversible.
Water the dracaena in small portions. Calculate the amount of watering so that the moisture evaporates within a few days. Maximum - in a week.
3. Too frequent watering. This mistake is again due to the fact that dracaena does not tolerate overflows. It should not be watered very often, so as not to provoke stagnation of moisture near the roots. After all, even if you water it in small volumes, but quite often (for example, every couple of days), the moisture simply will not have time to evaporate.
The frequency of watering will depend on various factors: the age of the plant, the temperature and humidity of the soil, the volume of the pot, etc. But there is one universal rule that will help you navigate. Water the dracaena only after the top layer of soil has dried out. This will help avoid overflows.
4. Lack of foliar irrigation. Dust accumulates on the leaves of dracaena over time. And, of course, it needs to be removed so that the plant feels normal. But regularly wiping them is quite problematic. Especially if you have a dracaena marginata with many long, thin leaves.
It is much easier to periodically give the dracaena a light shower and wash off excess dust from the leaves. The main thing is to make sure that too much moisture does not get into the soil. For example, you can tilt the dracaena and water it from the shower at an angle.
5. Watering before transplanting. Dracaena grows very actively, so sometimes it has to be transplanted. And this is always a potentially stressful event for it, because when transplanting, the roots are often injured under the weight of the soil.
To prevent this from happening, you can dry the soil around the dracaena well before transplanting (don't water it for a few days). Then the soil will not be so heavy, which means the risk of root injury will be much lower.
