One of the most popular indoor palm trees among flower growers is considered dracaena. It is decorative, beautiful, suitable for any interior and quite unpretentious. It is often found that the leaves of the plant begin to turn yellow and fall off. You need to know how to deal with this, and not to allow this. If the dracaena dry the ends of the leaves, this article will tell you what to do for the grower.
Marginate dracaena should be regularly taken care of, while the plant does not require daily efforts, it is enough to pay attention to it once a week, follow simple rules and control the conditions of stay in the apartment. To understand why the dracaena dry and yellow tips of the leaves, it is enough to carefully look at the plant.
Healthy dracaena
Improper care and poor microclimate can cause yellowing and falling of leaves. Also, leaves can fall from the age when the plant is old enough this natural process. Indoors, you must observe the necessary level of humidity, air temperature, and regularly fertilize dracaena.
It is important to control the plant's health, pests and diseases can greatly spoil its appearance, and other green inhabitants of the room can also become infected from it. To avoid this, you need to regularly inspect the plant (each leaf), observe the abundance of watering and the number of useful trace elements in the soil.
Dracaena leaves turn yellow
How to water dracaena at home
Excessive watering and lack of moisture are harmful to dracaena. Therefore, you should be careful about the regularity of irrigation and soil moisture. Leaves may turn yellow due to excess moisture. In the case when water stagnates in the pot for a long time, even the trunk can begin to rot.
Attention! If dracaena is watered frequently, and the earth in the pot does not have time to dry out, then urgently it is necessary to free the roots of the plant from the earth, dry them, cut damaged and decayed plants, and plant them in fresh soil.
Insufficient moisture will also cause leaf falling, yellowing and wilting. Dracaena should be watered after the earth has completely dried out, while it is not worth delaying with watering. Knowing why dracaena leaves dry, trouble can easily be avoided.
Drying leaves at dracaena
Why do dracaena leaves turn yellow and fall
So why do dracaena turn yellow leaves?
Non-compliance with temperature and humidity
Dracaena loves spraying very much, it helps to increase air humidity and protect the plant from drying out the tips of the foliage. This problem is especially common in the autumn-winter time, when the heating is turned on, and the air in the apartments becomes quite dry. To solve this problem, you should use a humidifier or spray dracaena from a spray bottle.
Dracaena has several varieties that are popular, most of them can not stand direct sunlight, they can burn greens. The first sign of a large amount of sun will be the burning of leaves, they will become faded and dull. Most often, this problem happens in the summer, it is enough to rearrange the plant in the shade or remove from direct sunlight.
Important! Dracaena does not tolerate drafts at all, when choosing her place of residence, this fact should be taken into account. If the plant decided to omit the leaves, then it means that it begins to die, urgent measures should be taken.
The optimum growth temperature of this palm is from 180 ° C to 250 ° C. When the air temperature drops below 16 degrees, the plant may become sick, its condition will deteriorate, as well as the appearance, the foliage may fall. Cold drafts in winter are especially dangerous.
Inadequate plant nutrition
If the dracaena does not have enough nutrients, even green leaves can crumble. For fertilizing, special fertilizers for palm trees are used. You should carefully read the instructions for use, which is attached to the tool.
Spots on Dragon Tree Leaves
The soil should be nutritious, well permeable to water and air. A supersaturation of soil with fluorine causes the ends of the leaves of dracaena to turn yellow. Then the treatment can be long.
Why do spots appear on leaves
The appearance of any spots on the green dracaena indicates that the plant does not feel well, therefore, the cause of their appearance should be immediately identified and measures taken. Spots can be of different colors and sizes, each of them speaks of certain problems of the plant.
Direct sunlight
To understand that the plant received a sunburn, you can yellow spots on the leaves, burnout of greenery. If the first spots are found, you should immediately rearrange the dracaena to another place, provide diffused sunlight or partial shade.
Disease
Spots on the leaves of dracaena can appear with various diseases of dracaena, among the most common:
- alternariosis - brown spots with a bright center;
- phyllocystosis - light brown spots with a greenish border, may turn black over time;
- heterosporiosis - elongated brown spots in which the fringing turns red.
All of these diseases can be treated with fungicide, which is sold in specialized stores. Pests can also affect the plant, among the most dangerous and common:
- spider mite - yellow spots;
- thrips - brown spots with a gray tint;
- scab - falling leaves and white plaque;
- mealybug - cotton wool on green parts;
- aphid - damage to greenery begins from the top of the plant.
Sick Dracaena
If a disease is detected on a plant or pests, special products should be purchased at the store and the leaves and soil should be treated immediately. Numerous drugs and proper care will help to revive the plant on time. After that, growing a flower will be good and long.
The location of dracaena in the draft
Drafts, cold air or sudden changes in temperature will cause brown spots in dracaena. It should be checked whether a draft appears at the location of the dracaena during ventilation.
If the plant is frozen, then washing with warm, clean water, as well as moving to the room with the air of the desired temperature, will help. The flower can also discard leaves with a draft.
Why does dracaena dry after transplantation
In winter, the dracaena has a dormant period, because dressing and transplantation are carried out in the spring. Sometimes it happens that after a transplant, the plant cannot come into shape. Leaves can dry and fade, spots appear not only at the tips, but along the entire length of the greenery. There are several explanations for this condition; you should carefully examine the plant and take measures to improve it.
How to save Dracaena
The unwell state of dracaena after transplantation, as a rule, comes from poor and poor-quality soil. You should buy only soil for palm trees of proven manufacturers to avoid infection of the root system and the entire plant as a whole. It is also better not to immediately change the location of the dracaena, even if it rests on the same place as before.
For your information! Only after the plant has actively begun to grow, can one begin to experiment with rearrangement and selection of a new place of residence.
Watering should be done the same as it was before the transplant; you should not water the plant more or less than before. At the same time, it is necessary to continue to monitor the condition of the earthen coma and timely water the dracaena.
If dracaena is transplanted into poor soil (heavy, not suitable for growing palm trees), then fertilizer should be purchased that will revive the plant and help take root in a new place.
How to feed dracaena
For a dragon tree, the most important components are phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium. Their presence in the fertilizer is mandatory, yet it is also necessary to control the amount of substances in the soil. They will provide an active growth of greenery, roots, and also help to better resist possible diseases, strengthening the plant's immunity.
In addition, a small amount of such trace elements should be present in the fertilizer:
- manganese;
- copper;
- zinc;
- cobalt;
- molybdenum and others.
All these substances are necessary for dracena in the summer, in an amount that meets the requirements of the plant. It is best to purchase ready-made drugs, which are presented in specialized stores in large quantities.
For your information! Excess minerals and trace elements can also cause plant disease. Excess nitrogen will cause yellowing and falling of foliage, which will fade, fall, dry out, growth will slow down.
If brown spots appear on the leaves, brown or red, this may indicate an excess of phosphorus. A large amount of potassium will lead to the death of the lower leaves, they will dry out, and also to the fact that it will weaken the plant and increase the likelihood of infection by diseases or pest attacks.
If young shoots are thin and pale, and also began to curl, then this most likely indicates an excess of calcium. With a large amount of boron, the top of the dracaena can dry out, and its development will stop. When the trunk of a dragon tree becomes brighter, this indicates an excess of iron, sulfur or magnesium.
Thus, ready-made mineral fertilizers and top dressings created especially for palm trees, ornamental-deciduous plants, ficuses and succulents are most suitable for feeding dracaena. You should pay attention to the fluorine content, it should not be too high.
For your information! Any drug should be used strictly according to the instructions, which are always present on the package. In spring, it will be good to feed the plant with nitroammophos. In the summer - spray the palm with nutrient solutions.
Dracaena enters the active phase of growth in the spring, it must be regularly fed. The frequency should be at least two times a week. In winter, top dressing is either reduced to 1 time per month, or stopped altogether. It depends on the room temperature, the lower it is, the less nutrients a plant needs.
Dracaena, or dragon tree, is unpretentious in cultivation, but, like any living creature, requires care and attention. Regular monitoring of the state of the plant will help to avoid trouble and grow a beautiful palm in your apartment.