Dracaena diseases and pests: how to recognize a problem and deal with it
Dracaena is a spectacular evergreen. It can be found both in apartments and in office premises. Amateur gardeners and designers, she is appreciated for its attractiveness and unpretentiousness. However, despite the undemanding and lack of whims, dracaena suffers from unintentional errors in care, attacks of pathogenic fungi, bacteria, viruses and harmful insects. This negatively affects her presentability. Therefore, you need to know what symptoms are characteristic of a particular disease or pest, and how to deal with them.
How to create an optimal microclimate in dracaena
Dracaena is quite unpretentious, and there is nothing complicated in creating an optimal microclimate for her at home. But the requirements of the plant should nevertheless be heeded, trying to create an atmosphere as close as possible to that to which it is used in nature.
Dracaena - a popular (not least because of its unpretentiousness) houseplant
Table: Suitable conditions for growing dracaena
| Factor | Recommendations |
| Location | Nearby (1–2 m) from a window facing east or west. Putting close to the south window is not recommended to avoid sunburn. In summer, if the dimensions allow, you can move the container to fresh air. Dracaena loves him, but does not tolerate cold drafts. |
| Lighting | Diffused light or light partial shade. Species with variegated leaves are more demanding on lighting. All dracaena can exist in fully artificial light, if daylight hours last at least 12 hours. |
| Temperature | In spring and summer it is moderately warm (20–25ºС). Dracaena does not tolerate heat well. In winter, it is slightly lowered to 17–19ºС. The lower limit is 15ºС. Exceptions are fragrant dracaena, Hooker, Dragon (they suffer a short-term decrease to 10ºС). All species react negatively to sudden changes in temperature. A difference of 10 ° C or more can lead to the death of the plant. |
| Air humidity | Normally exists with a standard air humidity of 40-50% (especially dracones of Dragon and Godsphere are undemanding to it), but with gratitude responds to any measures to increase it. The only thing you should not do is pour water into the sump. In winter, working radiators dry the air very much, so every 2–3 days it is recommended to spray the surrounding air with warm water. In the summer, in the heat, you can spray the plant itself, but so that the drops do not fall into sockets, or arrange a shower, covering the ground with polyethylene. Be sure to wipe the leaves with a wet cloth or sponge at least once a week. |
Choose a place near the window to the dracaena, it is very difficult to put it on the windowsill because of the dimensions
In addition to the optimal microclimate, a great influence on how the plant feels is provided by timely top dressing and the correct watering regime.
In summer, you need to allow the soil in the pot to dry about 4-5 cm deep. This can be determined by sticking a wooden stick in the pot. One procedure in 2-3 days is enough. In winter, intervals are increased to 5–7 days. In wet soil, when cool, rot quickly develops. Broad-leaved dracaena need to be watered more often - they have a larger evaporation area. An obvious signal is drooping, toned leaves. And do not forget to loosen the soil after each procedure.
It will also be useful material about the conditions of detention of Dracaena Sander: rastenija / bambuk-komnatnoe-rastenie-uhod.html
As for top dressing, there are special fertilizers for dracaena. The tree is watered with a nutrient solution every 20-30 days, after about half an hour it is well moistened with soil. If a universal tool for indoor plants is used, pay attention to the composition. Excess phosphorus and nitrogen can lead to a deterioration in the appearance of leaves. And dracaena categorically does not tolerate fluoride.
Video: home care and flower maintenance
Diseases and pests typical for dracaena and their prevention
Dracaena, which is properly looked after, is quite resistant to damage by various pathogenic fungi, viruses and bacteria. Most often, this kind of plant problem is the result of unintentional host mistakes. An invasion of pests, even a massive one, is also unlikely to lead to its death, but it will cause a lot of trouble to the grower.
The most dangerous for it are all kinds of rot, as well as bacterial and viral diseases, which cannot be cured with modern means. In this case, the plant needs to be destroyed as quickly as possible, no matter how sorry it is. Otherwise, you may lose the entire collection.
Most often, to avoid problems with dracaena, competent prevention is enough:
- quarantine for newly acquired plants for 25-30 days;
- regular inspections of the entire collection (ideally through a magnifying glass) and immediate isolation of “suspicious” specimens;
- free, without crowding, placement of pots;
- frequent airing of the room and maintaining high humidity;
- placing indoor and cut flowers as far apart as possible, especially if it is roses or chrysanthemums;
- mandatory sterilization before using pots, substrate, any tools;
- treatment of all "wounds" inflicted by dracaena during the trimming process;
- implementation of recommendations for plant care, especially those related to irrigation and fertilizing;
- maintaining cleanliness - regular dusting from leaves and other authorized water procedures.
Diagnose a problem
The plant gives the grower unambiguous signals. Deterioration of his appearance is a clear sign of health problems. It is important to correctly interpret these signs, and know what to do in each case.
Table: Symptoms and Possible Causes
| External manifestations | Possible reasons | ||
| Mistakes in leaving | Disease | Pest | |
| Yellowing and fading leaves. | Their life span is about two years. Otherwise, excessive irrigation | ||
| Turning pale, fading leaves, deforming, thinning trunks. | Deficit of light. | ||
| Falling green leaves. | Unsuitable room temperature (both high and too low), constant cold drafts. | ||
| Drying, curled and falling leaves. | Too scarce watering. | ||
| Dry brown leaf tips. | Low humidity in the room. | ||
| Dry tips and small areas of dead tissue on the leaves. | Excess fluoride in the soil - the use of unsuitable fertilizers or irrigation with hard not settled water. | ||
| Leaves that lose color saturation and yellowish or almost discolored spots on them. | Burn from prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. It is almost inevitable if the plant has been sprayed before. Drops of water focus the rays no worse than lenses. | ||
| Yellowish-white spots on the leaves, dry edges. | Low temperature in the room or its sudden changes. | ||
| A discolored “watery” border around the edge of the sheet. | Excess fertilizer in the soil (too frequent fertilizing). | ||
| Blushing leaves. | Unsuitable too heavy soil with a predominance of peat. | ||
| Fine white crystals on the back of the sheet. | A natural phenomenon provoked by a single plentiful watering in combination with high humidity. | ||
| Slow growth or its complete absence. | Unsuitable soil, lack of top dressing for a long time or overly tight pot. | ||
| A flour-like coating on the leaves. | Powdery Mildew | ||
| Browning soft-touch barrel. | Root rot. | ||
| Brownish spots, gradually pulled by a gray "pile". | Gray rot. | ||
| Dark "watery" spots, softening tissue. | Bacterial rot. | ||
| Yellowing leaves, covered with dark brown spots. | Brown rot. | ||
| Reddish-yellow, gradually browning spots on the leaves. | Fusarium | ||
| Brown spots with bright green border on the leaves. | Brown spotting. | ||
| Small beige spots with a white dot in the center. | Alternariosis | ||
| Elongated beige spots with a pale red border. | Heterosporosis | ||
| Blurry brown spots with yellow-green border. | Phyllosticosis | ||
| Dark "watery" tips of leaves, "sores" on the trunk. | Bacteriosis | ||
| Brownish spots and stripes cast in bronze. | Spotted wilt | ||
| Yellow spots on leaves, braided by petioles. | Spider mite. | ||
| Silver “scratches” and small black dots on the leaves. | Thrips. | ||
| Brown "plaques" on the leaves, reddish-yellow tissue around them. | Shield. | ||
| Small lumps of whitish substance in the axils of the leaves and in the ground. | Mealybug. | ||
| Many small yellow-green or black-brown insects on the underside of leaves and sticky drops on them. | Aphid. | ||
What the mistakes in leaving lead to: examples in the photo
- Dracaena, whose leaf tips dry, suffers from excessively low humidity or sunburn
- Dracaena leaves can be dropped for several reasons, including natural
- This is what dracaena most often looks like before dropping leaves
- Dracaena can very easily get burned if you leave the sprayed plant in direct sunlight
- Browning, drying dracaena leaves mean prolonged neglect of the plant's need for moisture
- Yellowing leaves of dracaena reacts to overflow
Diseases and how to cope with them
Of the fungal diseases, for dracaena, the most dangerous are all types of rot, which develop very quickly when irrigated incorrectly. If at the same time the room temperature is still below normal, this is almost inevitable.
Table: Dracaena typical diseases
| Disease | Symptoms | Treatment and prevention |
| Alternariosis | Small rounded pale brown spots on the trunk and leaves with a whitish dot in the middle, quickly changing color to black-gray. Gradually, the tissues in these places die. |
For prophylaxis, treat the flower and soil once a month with a 0.1% solution of Fundazole, Topsin-M. |
| Heterosporosis | Elongated beige spots with a reddish border on the leaves. Gradually they are tightened with a layer of greenish-gray plaque. | |
| Phyllosticosis (brown spotting) | Blurry spots of irregular shape beige-brown with lime border. Then in the middle small black “grains” are formed. At risk are adults and especially old dracaena. |
|
| Bacteriosis | Dark brown “watery” tips of leaves, brown spots on them, small round “ulcers” on the trunk and petioles. Healthy tissues are separated from infected by a wide yellow “oily” streak. | There are no effective treatment measures. The development of bacteriosis is provoked by constant dampness in the pot, heat in the room, and alkaline soil unsuitable for dracaena. |
| Spotted wilting (bronze) | Leaves are almost completely covered with stripes and spots of irregular shape. Under artificial lighting, they are brownish, cast in the sun with bronze. Dracaena growth almost stops, new leaves are small and deformed. | With the help of modern means it is impossible to get rid of the virus. More often suffer from spotted wilting plants that do not feed. A deficiency of potassium and phosphorus is harmful to dracen. |
| Fusarium | Yellowness spreading through the leaves from bottom to top. Along the edge is a "watery" border. The top of the trunk wilts. He himself is thinning, changing color to brick. In especially severe cases, dracaena is covered with “weeping” brown spots. |
For prevention, add Fitosporin-M to water for irrigation. In the soil when transplanting add Gumistar, Trikhovit. Recent entries In April, I process roses so that no pests encroach on my beauties5 Japanese plants that take root well in Central Russia How do I protect seedlings from my curious cats |
| Root (black) rot | Brown roots and base of the trunk, mold on the soil and an unpleasant putrefactive odor coming from it. |
|
| Bacterial (wet) rot | Dark "watery" spots on the leaves and trunk. Tissues in these places soften to a semi-liquid state. | |
| Gray rot | Pale brown spots on the leaves, gradually dragging on a layer of grayish “pile” with multiple small black blotches. |
|
| Brown rot (rhizoctonia) | Dracaena stops growing. Leaves turn yellow, discolor, then become covered with black-brown spots. |
|
| Brown spotting | Small brownish spots with a bright green border on the leaves. |
|
| Powdery mildew | Leaves, as if powdered with flour. Gradually, this plaque condenses and turns brown. |
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Photo gallery: how a plant affected by pathogenic fungi and bacteria looks like
- Powdery mildew seems to be a harmless coating that is easy to erase, but it is by no means
- Brown spotting is a fairly rare disease.
- Brown rot affected dracaena practically stops growing
- Gray rot is easy to recognize, but not easy to cure
- Tissues affected by bacterial rot turn into a semi-liquid mass
- Root rot is very difficult to recognize on time, and the disease is treatable only in the early stages of development
- Plants in the garden are more likely to suffer from fusarium, but indoor plants are not protected from infection.
- The plant that suffers from spotted wilt can only be thrown away
- It is not yet possible to cure bacteriosis
- Phyllosticosis most commonly affects adult and old dracaena
- The greenish-gray plaque that appears as heterosporosis develops contains fungal spores
- Tissues affected by alternariosis gradually die, holes remain on the leaves
Video: Dracaena Disease Treatment
Dracaena attacking pests
Most pests, even having bred in a multitude, will not kill dracaena. But this does not mean that they do not need to be fought. The plant did not “bring” any exotic insects from its historical homeland. You have to deal with the most common insects and ticks that feed on its juice.
Table: Common Pests
| Pest | Symptoms | Control and Prevention Measures |
| Shield | Rounded "plaques" of different shades of brown on the back of the sheet. Gradually they “swell”, the tissues around them acquire an unnatural yellow-red color. In severe cases, the soil turns black. |
|
| Spider mite | Thin, almost transparent filaments braiding the petioles. On the underside of the leaf are brown dots and blurry pale or yellowish spots around them. |
For prevention, weekly spray the plant with a decoction of cyclamen tubers. Or irradiate the leaves with a quartz lamp for 2-3 minutes on both sides. |
| Thrips | Discolored leaves, small black dots and silver-beige thin “scratches” visible on the inside. |
|
| Mealybug | Lumps of dirty cotton-like plaque in the axils of the leaves and at the base of the trunk. Leaves quickly turn yellow and dry. |
|
| Aphid | Large colonies of small insects clinging to the underside of leaves (especially young ones) and the top of the trunk. Then a sticky transparent coating appears. |
|
Photo Gallery: How Dracaena-Infecting Pests Look
- Aphids are distinguished by a rare “omnivorous”, dracaena is also among its interests.
- If you do not pay attention to the mealybug, very soon the plant will be covered with a continuous carpet of stirring “fluff”
- Small black dots on the leaves are nothing but the thrips themselves
- The spider mite is not an insect, therefore, to combat it, not general insecticides are used, but special preparations - acaricides
- Durable carapace of the scale shield - reliable protection against most folk remedies
Video: common pests of indoor plants and their control
Plant Resuscitation
Most often, the dracaena requires urgent resuscitation, its owner is to blame. Most painfully, it reacts to improper watering - “drought” or “swamp” in the pot.
In the first case, cut off all the dry leaves to living tissue without touching the growth point at the top of the dracaena. Every 2-3 days, spray with a solution of any biostimulant. Rearrange as close to the south-west or south-east orientation window. Water according to the instructions. If the roots are not affected, after 2-3 months the dracaena will give new leaves. When the growth point has dried up, you will have to cut it off and hope that the side kidneys “wake up”. But the chances of it are not so many.
In a waterlogged substrate, the development of rot is almost inevitable. Drazen needs to be transplanted as soon as possible, regardless of the time of year. But this procedure does not guarantee success; it will be effective only at an early stage of the development of the disease. In the process, be sure to cut off all the roots affected by the fungus, do not forget to sterilize the new pot and soil. At first, be very careful with watering, but spray the dracaena daily. Select capacity according to the size of the root system (plus a maximum of 2-3 cm).
You can learn more about how to properly transplant dracaena from the material: rastenija / peresadka-dratsenyi-v-domashnih-usloviyah.html
What to do with a broken dracaena palm
Dracaena is a fairly massive plant, so the aboveground part can simply outweigh the pot. Also, the “fractures” she often received are the result of the intense activity of children and domestic animals. In this case, do not be upset. If everything is done correctly, instead of one plant you will get two.
Broken dracaena - not a reason to arrange a tragedy
The easiest way is when the trunk broke, but did not break at all. “Tires” are placed on it, as if on an arm or leg, and the skin is fixed so that it covers the “wound” if possible. You can wrap strips of sphagnum moss or coconut fiber on top.
Do not forget to "seal" the cut
Otherwise, the remaining part of the plant in the pot:
- Saw off the barrel evenly below the point of damage. It is advisable to do this according to the “scars” left from the fallen leaves.
- Disinfect the section with a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate or 1% m Bordeaux fluid.
- Pour with liquid wax, paraffin, cover with garden var. If nothing is at hand, apply 2-3 coats of oil paint.
- Put the plant in partial shade. Water sparingly. When growth buds form, return to normal care.
It will also be useful material on the methods of propagation of dracaena: rastenija / dratsena-razmnozhenie-v-domashnih-usloviyah.html
The side kidneys on the dracaena "wake up" for a long time, be patient
Broken tip:
- Cut at an angle of approximately 45º. Try to do this as smoothly as possible, without “flaking” and chipping. Let it dry for 2-3 hours.
- Tear off the interfering leaves. Put in a container with a biostimulator prepared according to the instructions. Succinic acid and activated carbon can be used (per tablet for every 200 ml). An alternative is rooting in wet perlite, vermiculite, sand. The slice will need to be sprinkled with any powdery root stimulator.
- Change the water every 3-4 days, regularly moisten the substrate. Обеспечьте нижний подогрев, световой день продолжительностью не менее 12 часов и температуру примерно 25ºС.
- Be patient. Процесс укоренения может растянуться на 3–4 месяца и даже на полгода. Когда появится первый новый лист, пересадите растение в грунт, подходящий для взрослых драцен.
Чаще всего сломанную верхушку драцены укореняют в воде
Видео: укоренение черенка драцены
Драцена, как и любое комнатное растение, не застрахована от атак болезней и вредителей. Однако она к ним довольно устойчива, и дерево, за которым должным образом ухаживают, страдает редко. Тем не менее отдельные ошибки в уходе, болезнетворные грибки и бактерии могут спровоцировать ухудшение внешнего вида драцены. Если ничего не предпринять, растение может даже погибнуть. Поэтому важно уметь распознать, чем вызваны те или иные симптомы, и знать, что предпринять, чтобы справиться с проблемой.
