First post; a little bit awkward.

Small intro, don't judge me by the nickname, it's just how I look. I'm a bit of a hippy. I love my plants, almost obsessively. What I have I received from people I love, or I got them when i felt delighted. Mostly I've got bamboo's, they're great! I usually go for the ones you see around the supermarkets, because I see them bound up looking 'pretty' but know secretly that the way they're arranged and tied up means they'll die soon. I liberate the bamboo!

anyway, my friend gave me a dracaena massangeana. I saw her's, it was great. she gave me one before summer last year, it looked great, it was healthy and beautiful. After a couple of months of good times, I had to find somewhere for it to stay however, as I was off to uni for a year, in a hall room with underfloor heating which would no way do good to the plant and end up being vomited on by people living in the same halls as me, or messed around with, I planned for the eventuality. I left it with my 'friend' who had lots of plants, all very healthy for a year. I just got it back from him this weekend and I was pretty upset with him. what I failed to realise was how this guy had left my plant in the care of his other housemate, for him to have as a 'project'. This project apparently was too tedious for said housemate and the plant wasn't bushy, with lots of layers of vibrant two-tone green leaves, fleshy and lovely, it was two logs with three extremely long, yellow tipped leaves, a dead bud and one struggling live bud coming from the top of one of said 'logs' and very red cores to the logs indeed.

Suffice to say I'm really really annoyed. People keep telling me to leave the plant for dead, but I refuse, I WON'T LEAVE IT FOR DEAD! not because it was a gift, or because I have dellusions of it having a personality, but because it's a living organism that deserves to see some love when it's had so much neglect. i can only blame myself for not forseeing what would happen, but I know with all the attention I can give it I can help it grow back. i don't care how long it takes.

Please help me! I've trawled the web but all I can find are very complicated things about nutrients and stuff which I can't fathom, or just pictures of people using the dracaena massangeana as office furniture.

I must help to save this plant! I'll have a pic of it up soon if anyone replies to this thread positively.

thanks,

John

p.s. i'm quite poor, but what money i have i will use on the plant.

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from John the Viking
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anyway, my friend gave me a dracaena massangeana.
in the care of his other housemate, for him to have as a 'project'.
This project apparently was too tedious for said housemate and the
plant wasn't bushy, with lots of layers of vibrant two-tone green
leaves, fleshy and lovely, it was two logs with three extremely long,
yellow tipped leaves, a dead bud and one struggling live bud coming
from the top of one of said 'logs' and very red cores to the logs
indeed.

Suffice to say I'm really really annoyed. People keep telling me to
leave the plant for dead, but I refuse, I WON'T LEAVE IT FOR DEAD! n
Please help me! I've trawled the web but all I can find are very
complicated things about nutrients and stuff which I can't fathom, or
just pictures of people using the dracaena massangeana as office
furniture.

I must help to save this plant! I'll have a pic of it up soon if anyone
replies to this thread positively.

thanks,

John

Hi John,
First of all I would say you need to look at whether it needs repotting.
Has it become potbound, and used up all the nutrients in the compost
it's in? I would repot it in all-purpose compost, possibly include some
slow-release fertiliser, like Osmocote, then put the plant in a
reasonable spot in good light but away from direct sunlight. It's a
plant which doesn't need too much water so I would just water it when
the compost feels dry. All you can do then is hope that a period of good
care will do the trick and that it will slowly improve.

Good luck,

Janet G

Thankyou so much Janet, I've repotted the plant as it indeed was in particularly parched (nutrient wise) compost and I've steadily watered it, but only slightly, keeping the soil moist but not 'wet' so to speak.

The leaves (both of them!) are looking better, I believe they've started to fill out, though I'm told that I'm perhaps just being a bit too positive just because of my hopes for the plant

I was going to post a picture of the plant but I can't get my pictures onto my pc or onto the internet successfully. The poor thing really is a sight, it looks so ill, though not as ill as it did before, thanks to you.

Take care.