Dracaena - a plant somewhat reminiscent of a palm tree, in nature grows to enormous sizes. At home, you have to make some efforts in order to preserve its decorative effect and prevent excessive stretching upwards. And for this, knowledge is needed of how room dracaena can reproduce.
Description of the plant
Dracaena is a shrub that belongs to the agave family and is often called the dragon tree. She has a pleasant appearance with a shock of narrow long leaves of different colors and widths on a lignified bare trunk. In this way, it looks like a palm tree, to which, in essence, it has nothing to do.
Some types of indoor dracaena can grow up to 3 meters in height, while their trunks are bare, and the leaves remain only at the very tops of plants. Therefore, the natural tallness of dracaena in the conditions of apartments and offices limited by ceilings must be corrected in a timely and correct manner.
Varietiesindoor dracaena
There are about 60 types of dracaena, differing in the length and width of the trunks, as well as the color and size of the leaves. At home in the Asian and African tropics and subtropics, these plants grow to enormous sizes.
Dracaena are long-lived trees. Outwardly, they resemble not only palm trees, but also yuccas. And they are often confused with cordilins. But dracaena can always be recognized by the roots, which are distinguished by an orange tint.
Over time, the lower leaves on the trunk of this plant die off and fall off, which is very natural for them. However, if a lot of foliage falls at once and abruptly, then it is worth sounding the alarm, because this means that the dracaena is sick or lacks nutrition.
Common types of indoor dracaena
The most common types of domesticated dracaena are:
- Dracaena Deremskaya. In nature, it grows up to 5 m and has dark green leaves of a narrow and pointed shape, which grow upwards in young growth and hang down with age. Its varieties differ in color and leaf shape. (Cultivars of the species: Sriveriana, Bausei, Warneckii.)
- Dracaena Canary, she was also called the dragon tree. At home, in the Canary Islands, it reaches 10 meters in height. In apartments, it does not grow more than 1.5 m. Its leaves are bluish in color with sharp spikes at the ends. With sufficient light, the edge of the sheet becomes reddish. (Varieties of the species: Shirmonosaya, Sandera.)
- Dracaena Godzeff - undersized wella branching shrub, a distinctive feature of which are shiny leathery oval leaves up to 10 cm long. This species blooms with yellow-green flowers with a pleasant smell. The leaves of some varieties of this species resemble those of dieffenbachia. (Species variety: Aletriformis dracaena, she is Rumfa cordilina, she is Hooker's dracaena, she is Rumfa dracaena.)
Features of care
The most unpretentious and shade-tolerant species that are not demanding on watering are the dragon tree, Dracaena Deremskaya and Dracaena bordered.
Most of these plants prefer to keep the room warm (not below +16 ° C), and do not like drafts and sudden changes in temperature. Dracaena, whose foliage is painted in darker tones, feel calm in poorly lit areas of the apartment. But the lighter the foliage, the more light such a plant needs, however, all dracaena cannot stand direct sunlight.
In order to prevent root rot, it is better to water the bushes less often, but it is necessary to spray more often. Half an hour after watering, the water from the pan must be drained. Dry air will be calmly carried by the Canarian dracaena and Gorzefa. Others prefer moisture.
In hot weather and with running batteries, spraying is necessary three times a day. But Deremskaya dracaena should be irrigated especially carefully, making sure that water does not accumulate in the leaf axils.
Methods of reproduction
When the dracaena grows too large, it ceases to look like a neat, compact shrub that looks like a palm tree. Only a long bare trunk remains, oftentwisted, yes, a bunch of leaves somewhere under the ceiling.
But do not rush and get rid of the overgrown plant. After all, if you approach the matter correctly, you can easily return it to its previous form.
You only need to know about the methods of propagation of dracaena and be able to put this knowledge into practice. In an apartment, these plants bloom extremely reluctantly, so getting seeds will not be easy. Lateral shoots and new plants from the root also grow very rarely.
But reproduction of dracaena can be achieved by other methods that work flawlessly. In addition, it will not require any serious effort and time from the owner.
So, the easiest way to propagate dracaena at home is with apical or stem cuttings. Also for these purposes, propagation methods by air layering and seeds are suitable. However, the last method is the most labor-intensive.
Propagation by apical cuttings
Propagation of dracaena by apical cuttings is most easily tolerated by bamboo-type dracaena. Such as Sandera, Bordered, Deremskaya and Fragrant. This method will rejuvenate the plant and remove the ugly and unnecessary part of the bald trunk.
Garden pruners are best suited for propagating dracaena with the tip, but you can also use a knife with a sharply sharpened blade. The tool must be treated with an alcohol solution or kept in boiling water for disinfection.
Then, using the prepared tool, the upper partthe shoot must be cut off, removing the lower leaves from it, and left to dry for 40 minutes, after which the seedling should be placed in a vessel with water for rooting.
To propagate dracaena in this way, you will need clean water, in which a biostimulant for root formation or a crushed activated charcoal tablet is added, which will not allow the water to become cloudy and rotten.
Roots will appear in a week or two, after which the seedling is placed in a pot, where there is a drainage layer and nutritious, moistened soil. In this case, it is better to spray the leaves at least once a day, and preferably twice. And it would be nice to place a newly planted plant under a film, glass or transparent plastic greenhouse.
Care must be taken not to water the young plant, which can lead to root rot, and not to allow the soil to dry out too much, which will prevent the plant from taking root.
Propagation by stem cuttings
Propagation of dracaena by stem cuttings can be used when the apical part of the plant for some reason cannot be used for these purposes.
The stem must be he althy and have a diameter of at least 20 mm. The stem part of the plant used for propagation of dracaena is cut into cuttings, no less than 5 cm and no more than 20 cm in size. Sections are made with disinfected tools.
Cuttings can be rooted both horizontally and vertically. With the vertical method, the lower cut is placed innutrient soil by 2-3 cm and sprinkled with medium-grained clean sand by 5 cm.
The method with a horizontal arrangement of the cuttings is performed with a slight indentation of the cutting into a wet substrate. In this case, the temperature regime must be maintained in the range of 20-24 ° С.
As the shoots grow, the stem part breaks down, giving nourishment to new plants. After 1.5 months, new shoots will form, and they can be transplanted to a permanent place. With this method, it is also better to use greenhouses, airing three times a day and removing accumulated condensate.
Reproduction by air layering
Propagation of dracaena with air layering is not often used, as this process is slightly more laborious compared to cuttings. In this case, the sequence of actions should be as follows:
- Carefully examine the trunk of the dracaena.
- In the place where the leaf is located, with a clean and sharp knife, make a transverse incision to the middle of the trunk.
- Insert a toothpick into the incision to prevent splicing.
- Wrap the incision site with sphagnum moss, moistening it with settled water from a spray bottle.
- Wrap the moss with polyethylene, making sure that it always remains wet under the film.
- When the root system appears, remove the film, and cut the young plant and plant it permanently.
Seed propagation
Reproduction of dracaena (photo below in the text) by seeds is the most inconvenient and rarely used method. For this you need:
- Choose shallowcapacity.
- Place a drainage layer at the bottom.
- Pour soil consisting of peat, humus and sand.
- At a depth of 1 cm, place the seeds by treating them with warm boiled water from a spray bottle.
- It is advisable to pre-soak the seeds by adding a growth stimulator to the water.
The first shoots will appear within three months. For faster emergence of the first sprouts, it is possible to ensure that the soil is slightly warmed up from the bottom of the container and the air temperature in the room is maintained at 25 ° C. It is also necessary to moisten the soil with seeds in a timely manner and prevent it from overflowing and drying out. The use of a greenhouse will also help here.
Whatever method of propagation of dracaena the florist chooses, the process of growing a new plant will not become less exciting from this. And when the flower planted with your own hands begins to grow and develop, the pleasure of watching these transformations will be worth all the effort.
