If you want to know how to water dracaena, there are three factors that you must master. The timing, method, and additional considerations will play a role in the proper way to water dracaena. More so, you want to grow these plants somewhere stable like the greenhouse if your region experiences fluctuating and extreme conditions.
Remember that while dracaena plants are generally care-free, maintaining them should be consistent. Their care does not stop with proper watering to prevent growing problems, but it also involves the environment and the practices they encounter daily. Getting care and maintenance correctly will surely keep dracaena plants happy and healthy.
Best Guide On How To Water Dracaena
When to water
The first factor to consider in watering dracaena plants is when you should do this practice. Timing is crucial in watering for all plants to avoid overwatering or underwatering plants. When dracaenas don’t need it, frequent watering can lead to standing water and rot, while not providing enough water can dehydrate the plants and affect their health.
So when should you water dracaena plants? The main takeaway to remember is that these plants are native to tropical regions. Therefore, they don’t need wet soils to thrive, and you should only water them when the surface of the ground is dry to touch.
Keeping dracaenas in wet soil or standing water can lead to stress or other diseases like root rot. It would be best to use a well-draining medium or container and place the plants somewhere stable like the greenhouse, so the climate doesn’t affect the soil’s water takeup. This will give you less room for error in timing the watering.
How to water
Besides the timing, you also have to perfect the method of watering dracaenas. These plants will do well if you water them thoroughly and allow the ground to dry between intervals. Those who grow dracaenas in plants can let the water drain in the holes at the container’s bottom.
If the current climate is dry, you can mist the soil lightly to keep the plants hydrated. However, be careful not to let the medium gets soggy as this will encourage root rot. More so, some areas have a high level of fluoride in their water, which is detrimental to dracaena plants.
Stick to purified water if you’re not sure about your tap water when watering dracaena plants. If the leaves have formed brown areas and yellow edges, there’s a high chance your plants are undergoing fluoride toxicity. On the other hand, yellow leaves can also indicate underwatering.
Other considerations
As mentioned earlier, the stability of the environment plays a significant role in watering dracaena. If the temperature and humidity are tricky to maintain, it’ll be hard to gauge how quickly the soil will dry. More so, you want to determine your plants’ specific needs to know their ideal moisture requirements and adjust the practices accordingly.
Caring For Dracaena
Besides watering, it’s also essential to know how to take care of dracaena correctly. These plants are generally low maintenance, but you will avoid problems and diseases by maintaining them consistently. First, what is the ideal location for these plants?
Ideal location
Dracaena will thrive best in areas around 70°F during the day and 60°F during the night. You can easily maintain this in the greenhouse and avoid extreme and fluctuating temperatures. A familiar nemesis of dracaena plants is the freezing temperatures in the winter because they damage their leaves.
You want to be mindful of where you place the plants as drafts can also be detrimental. As for humidity, it’s advantageous for dracaenas to be somewhere with high humidity, especially when the environment is hot. However, always control the humidity to avoid diseases such as mold growth.
More so, choose a bright area that doesn’t receive harsh sunlight to keep dracaenas happy. Some varieties prefer low light as well, so it’s essential to know the desired conditions of the plants you have. Regardless, direct sunlight will burn the leaves, so always provide cover to filter the light or use grow lights at a reasonable distance if you have the dracaenas indoors.
Fertilizing
Do you need to feed dracaenas? You can fertilize these plants every spring and summer with a balanced fertilizer. Feeding every two weeks should suffice, but reduce fertilizing to only once a month when fall starts. And like other tropical plants, you must encourage dormancy in the winter by stopping the fertilization of dracaenas.
Overall, dracaenas don’t demand an extensive list of maintenance practices besides keeping the environment stable and feeding and watering them accordingly. You can also encourage a full look at your plants by removing the top part. This will maintain the size of the dracaenas and also help with foliage growth.
Conclusion
It can be overwhelming to determine the moisture requirements of tropical plants. However, you can quickly learn how to water dracaena using three factors. The timing, method, and other considerations will ensure that your dracaenas meet their needs.
In general, the only thing to remember is only water when the surface is dry. Use a well-draining soil or container to ensure that the plants don’t stay in a soggy medium. You can also consider growing dracaenas in the greenhouse to maintain a stable environment for easier moisture control.