How to Care for Dracaena

Dracaena is one of the most forgiving houseplants you can buy, which is why it turns up in offices, hotel lobbies and first-time plant collections everywhere. Most types grow as a slim woody cane topped with a rosette of long, strappy leaves, sometimes plain green and sometimes edged in cream, yellow or red. Over years they grow tall and tree-like, but they stay narrow, so they fit into corners where a bushier plant would not.

The genus contains around 120 species. The majority come from Africa, with others from Madagascar, southern Asia, northern Australia and the Canary Islands, where the famous dragon tree grows. The name comes from the Greek word for a female dragon, a reference to the red resin some species bleed when the bark is cut. Many of them grow in dry or seasonally dry places rather than rainforests, which is exactly why they cope so well with the conditions inside a centrally heated home.

It is worth knowing that in 2017 botanists moved snake plants, long sold as Sansevieria, into the genus Dracaena. So if you own a snake plant, you technically own a Dracaena too, although almost everyone still uses the old name in the shops!

How Much Light Does Dracaena Need?

Dracaena does best in bright, indirect light, but it is genuinely happy in medium light too, which is a large part of its appeal. A few metres back from a window, or beside a north-facing one, will suit it.

Keep it out of strong direct sunlight, which bleaches the leaves and leaves dry brown patches. Very dark corners are survivable but not ideal, as growth slows right down and variegated types lose their colour and revert towards plain green. If you have a variety with bright yellow or red edges, give it the brighter spot and the markings will stay vivid.

How Often Should You Water Dracaena?

Water your Dracaena when the top half of the compost has dried out. That is drier than most tropical houseplants want, and it reflects where these plants come from.

In practice, this often means watering every ten to fourteen days in spring and summer, and as little as once every three or four weeks in winter. Push a finger deep into the pot to check rather than going by the surface, which dries much faster than the compost below. Water thoroughly when you do water, then drain completely. Dracaena is far more likely to be killed by kindness than by neglect, so when in doubt, leave it another few days.

What Humidity Does Dracaena Need?

Dracaena is comfortable at normal household humidity of 40% to 50%, and that is one of the reasons it is such an easy plant. Many species come from drier African habitats with a proper dry season, so their leaves are tougher and lose moisture more slowly than a rainforest plant's would.

You do not need a humidifier for one. That said, if your home is very dry in winter, you may see the leaf tips go brown and papery. Grouping plants together or standing the pot on a tray of damp pebbles is usually enough to prevent it.

What Temperature Does Dracaena Need?

Dracaena grows well between 18°C and 24°C, which is ordinary indoor room temperature.

The lowest temperature it can withstand is around 12°C. Below that the leaves start to yellow and droop, and prolonged cold will damage the cane itself. It particularly dislikes cold draughts, so keep it away from front doors and single-glazed windows in winter. If you move it outdoors for the summer, bring it back in well before night temperatures drop towards 12°C.

How Do You Propagate Dracaena?

Dracaena propagates very easily from cane cuttings, and doing so is a good way to deal with a plant that has grown too tall and leggy.

Choose a healthy cane and cut cleanly through it with sharp secateurs. You can take the leafy top as one cutting, and cut the bare section of cane below it into pieces about 10 to 20 cm long. Keep track of which end of each piece was pointing up, because the cuttings will only root the right way round.

Stand the leafy top cutting in a jar of water or push it into damp compost. For the bare cane sections, sit them upright in water or compost with the lower end submerged. Keep everything warm and brightly lit, changing the water weekly if you are rooting that way. Roots usually appear within three to six weeks, followed by new shoots from the top. Once the roots are a few centimetres long, pot each cutting into free-draining compost. The original plant will also sprout new growth just below the point where you cut it, so you end up with a fuller plant as well as new ones.

Why Are My Dracaena Leaves Turning Yellow?

The most common reason is overwatering. Dracaena roots need to dry out substantially between drinks, and if the lower leaves are yellowing and softening while the compost is still damp, that is your answer. Let the pot dry until the top half is completely dry, then water less often going forward.

Brown, crispy leaf tips are just as common on this plant and have a different cause. Dracaena is unusually sensitive to fluoride and to the salts found in tap water and in some fertilisers, and these accumulate in the tips of those long leaves and burn them. Switching to rainwater or filtered water makes a real difference, as does flushing the pot through with plenty of water every couple of months to wash the salts out. Feed sparingly, no more than once a month in spring and summer.

Also rule out the simple explanations. The oldest leaves at the bottom of each rosette naturally yellow and drop as the plant grows taller, and that is exactly how a Dracaena forms its bare cane. Yellowing right across the plant with bone dry compost means it has been underwatered, so give it a thorough soak. And a plant in a cold draught will often yellow and droop within days of the weather turning.

Shop Dracaena at House of Kojo

Take a look at our Dracaenas at House of Kōjō, with varieties ranging from compact, desk-sized plants to tall, multi-stemmed specimens made for a little more space.