Dracaena Marginata - how to plant and care
Content:
Dracaena Marginata, or Bordered, is one of the most famous indoor plants, a perennial. It is often found in conservatories and greenhouses, in office buildings. The plant is quite unpretentious, it is easy to care for.
What does Dracaena Marginata look like, which family does it belong to?
Dracaena Marginata (lat.Dracaena marginata) belongs to the genus Dracaena, the Iglitsev family.
Appearance Description:
- trunk - straight, even, woody;
- the leaves are straight, narrow in shape, in appearance they are very similar to a palm tree, their arrangement is heaped, the color is light or dark shades of green, with stripes of pink, green or white;
- growth is slow, a room flower adds a maximum of 10 cm per year;
- open buds are small, creamy or white;
- aroma - fragrant, pronounced.
Marginata is the perfect solution to complement the office space
Dracaena's leaf plates are rather fragile; with slight mechanical stress, they can break.
Other common varieties
Among the dracaena grown at home, there are several varieties:
- Fragrant or Fragrans is a very hardy representative of the family, the height of the plant when kept at home is up to 2 m. In the wild - up to 6 m. The buds are white, exude a strong aroma. It is recommended to use Scented Dracaena to decorate offices and winter gardens.
- Deremskaya is an evergreen plant, this is the most spectacular variety with excellent decorative characteristics. Platinum plates are painted in a deep green color, which looks good in any interior.
- Bent - the leaf plates of the plant have the shape of an arc, they branch at the base. This variety rarely blooms at home. The inflorescences collected in panicles are small, painted white. Caring for the Bent Over is complex. It is grown mainly in greenhouses, where it is possible to create the necessary climatic conditions for the plant.
Dracaena Okaymlennaya, Fragrant and Deremskaya are quite easy-to-care varieties, therefore they are most often brought up at home and in offices.
In its natural habitat, dracaena grows tall and rampant
Medicinal properties of Marginates
In addition to its beautiful appearance, dracaena is a useful plant that has a beneficial effect on human health:
- promotes wound healing;
- used in the treatment of skin diseases of various etiologies;
- strengthens bone and dental tissue;
- has a positive effect on the central nervous system.
Briefly about the history of appearance
There is no exact data on how the dracaena appeared. The island of Tenerife is considered her homeland.Dracaena Marginata came to Europe thanks to seafarers who were engaged in the delivery of various goods from China and India.
The name "dracaena" in translation means "female dragon". This name is associated with the legend of the origin of the plant. Dracaena appeared at the place where their blood was shed during the battle of dragons and elephants.
The resin of the plant looks very much like blood.
Features of caring for a flower at home
If we talk about the indoor flower dracaena Marginata, then caring for it at home is not difficult. When the right conditions are created, the plant will delight with beautiful, unusual shoots.
- Temperature
Dracaena Marginata loves temperatures from +18 ° C to +25 ° C. If the room is hotter, you should increase the watering frequency.
- Lighting
The plant loves abundant, diffused lighting. But direct sunlight should be avoided.
The best place for placement is partial shade. If the leaf plates began to fade, this indicates a lack of light. If it is impossible to provide natural light, fluorescent lamps are used.
- Watering
Watering is moderate - it is impossible to overflow an indoor flower at all. To understand when a plant needs water, you need to monitor the condition of the soil. It should dry 2-3 cm deep.
- Spraying
Dracaena loves a shower with warm water, which helps to wash away the dust. In winter, if the room has central heating, which dries the air, you need to spray it 1-2 times a day.
- Humidity
Dracaena Marginata prefers medium to high humidity levels. Despite the fact that she may be in conditions with dry air for some time, this is best avoided. The drier the air, the faster the plant will begin to lose its decorative characteristics.
- Priming
The soil must be enriched with nutrients. To grow a plant, you need to buy a special land intended for dracaena.
- Top dressing
Fertilizers are applied in spring and summer for 2 weeks. Complex preparations are used. In winter, it is enough to apply fertilizer once a month.
Features of care in winter, dormant period
In winter, when the dormant period begins, the care for the Bordered Dracaena is minimal. It is enough to water it once a week, to maintain the required humidity level, depending on how dry the air in the room is. It is enough to apply the fertilizer once a month in a small amount.
The room temperature should not be lower than +15 ° С. Dracaena is dormant from October to January.
Regular feeding promotes active growth and splendor of the plant
When and how it blooms
If you take care of the plant incorrectly, you may never see its flowers.
When this palm tree begins to bloom depends on how suitable the conditions were for it. This can happen at any time of the year.
Inflorescences are small, white or pale cream in color, they are collected in numerous bunches, similar in shape to a lush ball.
Small inflorescences look like umbrellas.
The arrows that appear mature in about 7-10 days. Flowering continues for about 1 month.
Changes in care during flowering
Dracaena needs daily spraying and feeding. The frequency and amount of watering depends on the room temperature.
Dracaena blooms unusually and very beautifully
Pruning
At Dracaena Marginata, competent care includes regular pruning. Its essence lies in the removal of the top. Cutting off shoots contributes to the active development of the plant, its renewal and rejuvenation. After the procedure, it is enough to leave up to 5 leaf plates on the trunk.
Cleaning shoots helps to get new "candles". To do this, you need to cover the cut with a film to create a greenhouse effect. With a lot of luck, new buds will appear in about 30-40 days.
How Dracaena Marginata reproduces
For propagation of dracaena, seeds, cuttings and the method of air layering are used.
Germinating seeds
Seed sowing is carried out from February to March.
Soaked seeds are planted at a distance of 15-20 cm in a box with fertile soil. Cover the top of the container with polyethylene to create a greenhouse. Every day, the film must be removed for 20-30 minutes in order to ventilate the ground in order to avoid the appearance of mold on it. Periodically, the seedlings need to be watered, preventing the land from drying out.
The first shoots will appear in about 30-50 days. Fertilizer is introduced once a month.
When the bores reach a height of about 5 cm, they can be replanted.
The seed method is quite laborious, and does not always give a positive result.
Rooting cuttings
To prepare the cuttings, you need to cut a healthy, sturdy branch. It needs to be cut into several pieces, each cutting should be about 5 cm long. A small incision is made on the bark on the cuttings below. The workpiece is lowered into the soil to a depth of 1-2 cm.
From above, the stalk is covered with a film or plastic jar to create a greenhouse. Keep in a warm room until roots appear. Shoots will begin to appear in about 1.5-2 months.
Cuttings are the preferred way to breed dracaena
Apical rejuvenation
From the top of the plant you need to cut off about 15 cm of the shoot. It must be immersed in water poured into an opaque, dark container. 1 tablet of activated carbon is pre-mixed in water.
The roots will start to appear in about 3 to 3.5 months. When the root system is well developed, dracaena can be planted in nutrient soil. The planting pot is covered with foil.
This method is used quite rarely, because it takes a very long time to get results from it.
Transfer
An adult dracaena needs to be transplanted once every 2-3 years. You can guess that she needs a new place - the previous container for the bush will become cramped, and roots will crawl out through the drainage holes at the bottom of the flowerpot.
Planting a plant in a new place is quite easy:
- A new container is being prepared, which should be an order of magnitude larger than the previous pot.
- A drainage layer is placed on the bottom - expanded clay or small stone; on top, fertile soil is poured from a mixture of turf and peat land.
- Carefully remove the dracaena from the old flowerpot.
- Using a wooden stick or a simple pencil, you need to clean the root system of the old earth.
- In a new pot, the dracaena is placed in the center.
- The rest of the earth is filled up, slightly compacted.
Possible growing problems and diseases
Despite the fact that dracaena is quite unpretentious, when growing it, the gardener may face a number of problems.
- Drops buds and leaves
If the plant suddenly begins to fall off the leaf plates or forming buds, this indicates excessive watering. Due to the abundance of water, the root system begins to rot.To restore the condition of the dracaena, you need to remove the damaged roots and normalize the water supply.
- Leaves turn pale
Pallor is the result of the plant being in low temperature conditions.
- The tips of the leaves dry
In dracaena, the leaf plate can dry due to excessive dryness of the air. What to do - remove damaged parts, spray the plant regularly.
Any changes in the state of the dracaena are due to the wrong conditions for her.
- The lower leaves fall
Fall may be due to abnormal, low temperatures or root rot.
Pests
Dracaena can become a victim of such pests:
- Aphid - when it appears, the green part of the dracaena turns yellow and falls. To get rid of aphids, the plant must be treated with soapy water. In advanced cases, insecticides are used.
- Spider mite - dark spots appear on dracaena, thin threads of cobweb are visible. Treatment - increasing humidity, treatment with soapy water or acaricides.
- Mealybug - the appearance of a white bloom. Treatment - wiping with an alcohol solution and treatment with an insecticide.
It is possible to treat the plant with soapy water for prevention purposes.
Other problems
Dracaena diseases:
- Heterosporosis - the appearance of brown spots with a dark edging. Treatment is carried out with drugs Fundazol, Fitosporin-M.
- Spotted wilting, virus - growth retardation, deformation of leaf plates - fungicide treatment.
- Phylloscistosis - dark spots in a yellow frame. The damaged parts are removed, after which the plant is treated with a fungicide.
To prevent the appearance of any diseases, the plant needs to create comfortable conditions.
Signs and superstitions
Dracaena is a plant that brings good luck, success and material wealth. According to the teachings of feng shui, dracaena must be placed at the entrance.
Dracaena - a talisman for good luck
What exactly Marginata will bring to her household, will say the number of leaf plates on her:
- attracting happiness and good luck - 3 pcs;
- good health - 7 pcs;
- financial well-being - 5 pieces.
Dracaena is an amazing plant in its properties and characteristics. Despite the fact that in conditions of "captivity" it rarely throws out inflorescences, you can still see delicate white balls if you create comfortable living conditions for the plant.
