marginata – How to Care for Houseplants

Indoor house plants need more attention than your typical outdoor plants. House plants and flowers have only you to provide them with proper water and light to promote healthy plant growth. House plant care, a place for sharing ideas with Plant Lovers to help you and your plants grow.

Dracaena Marginata Houseplant — Dracaena Marginata House Plant One of My Favorites

Dracaena Marginata is one of my favorite house plants. That might be because it is one of the first large indoor plants that I ever owned. I was caring for indoor plants at the huge Xerox Research Center in Palo Alto, California. A 6 foot tall Dracaena Marginata in lower light that was getting a little leggy and it was decided with my contact person, Gary, that it would be replaced with a brand new plant.

He did not want to keep the old Marginata plant and told me that if I wanted it, I should take it home. That is exactly what I did! Planted in a fairly large terra cotta clay pot, the Marginata did quite well at my house. It was placed next to a large sliding glass door in bright, indirect light. Ever since that time, Marginata has been one of my favorite house plants.

Dracaena Marginata plants are really easy to care for once you know how. And they are very beautiful and graceful plants when they are grown in the home. You can let them grow large or easily keep them at the size you want them by pruning back the stalks or “canes” every once in a while.

There are some members of the Dracaena plant family that have long been popular for use as indoor houseplants. Dracaena is sometimes called Corn Plant as a few resemble the corn plant. However, it definitely will not give you any corn! I have pictures of four common Dracaena houseplants below.

Common types of Dracaena that are used as houseplants are the Dracaena Marginata, Dracaena Warneckii, Dracaena Massangeana, and the Dracaena Janet Craig. These are some of the best indoor houseplants and make great additions to any home while requiring minimal care. Bright indirect light is best and they will take some morning sun. Most Dracaena houseplants will tolerate lower light levels for some time with reduced watering frequency

Dracaena is grown in a variety of forms including the tip, bush, staggered, character, and standard. This versatile plant can be anywhere from 1 foot tall to 20 feet tall. You will not often find Dracaena plants much larger than 6-7 feet tall except in interior landscapes or in nature.

Your indoor Dracaena plant will do best in a bright, indirect light situation. With good care, your Dracaena houseplant can be maintained in somewhat lower lighting. Do not place in hot, direct sun. Dracaena is prone to root rot if overwatered, especially in lower light. In very hot, sunny locations spider mites can be a problem as can leaf scorch.

How to Water Dracaena Houseplants

In lower to medium light, you should water your Dracaena houseplant when the potting media has dried down at least 3/4 the depth of the pot. In very bright light, allow the soil to dry down about 1/2 to 3/4 of the soil depth before watering thoroughly. Please read the sections on watering your houseplants and lighting for indoor houseplants for more information on keeping your houseplants healthy and growing.

If you have a Dracaena plant in a fairly large pot size (10 inches or more in diameter), it would be a good idea to check the soil with a soil probe or moisture meter to help you make the decision when it is time to water your Dracaena plant. Improper watering is the most common cause of houseplant death.

You will need to be careful watering your Dracaena houseplant. New plants with minimal roots should be watered around the cane only. Established plants with a good root system can be watered thoroughly then allowed to dry almost completely.

Some signs of over-watering may be yellowing leaf tips, root rot and pale new growth with dark tips. More to the dry side is better but don’t be extreme either. The first sign that your Dracaena houseplant needs watering will be a slight drooping of the leaves and leaf margins may start to curl.

Dracaena Houseplant Care

Minimum temperatures for your Dracaena houseplants should be 50 to 55 degrees F. Dracaena is not a cold-tolerant houseplant. Average household temperatures will be fine for your Dracaena houseplant. Keep from direct sun.

Remove lower leaves as they yellow and trim brown tips to the natural leaf shape, as needed. It is normal for a new plant to shed some of its old foliage when it is moved to a new environment. Expect new additions to your home to do this. Given the proper care, it should acclimate and become a beautiful, trouble-free indoor plant.

Keep your Dracaena plant’s foliage clean and initially keep an eye out for insect problems. Mites, mealybug, thrips, and scale can sometimes be a problem but a good wash down with soapy water should be sufficient to control these pests. Just make sure you treat as soon as you notice a problem as they can and will damage your plant.

It is a good idea to quarantine any new additions to your houseplant family for a few weeks just to be sure there are not any insects that were not noticed at first. Wash down your new houseplant with a mixture of water and mild dish detergent. I like to add a few drops of Eucalyptus essential oil or Orange essential oil to my houseplant cleaning solution.

Apply to top and lower leaf and stem surfaces of your houseplants, being careful not to saturate the soil. You can clean by hand or use a spray bottle to apply your houseplant cleaning solution. I use a sponge moistened with my cleaning solution to gently wipe the top and lower leaf surfaces. Cleaning of your houseplants should be a regular part of your basic houseplant care.

Leave your plants in a nursery grow pot with drainage holes at the bottom and set that into the pretty container you purchased for your home. If you have no way to remove excess water from the roots and soil it is more likely that you will have a problem with overwatering your Dracaena houseplant.

Make sure you measure your pots properly as there should be an inch or two of room between the decorative container and the nursery pot. This will provide additional air circulation. If you must direct pot, use a clay pot as this is porous and will allow the root system of your plant to breathe.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon as information on houseplants, pictures and more are being added all of the time. I hope that your indoor tropical plants and all of your plants and flowers are happy, green, and growing because that is why I started this site PlantAndFlowerInfo.com.

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