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Hi new plant friends! I just found this app and really enjoying it
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EllenLikesPlants

Hi new plant friends! I just found this app and really enjoying it for telling me how to care for my plants! Here’s my story about my Janet Craig Dracanea. This plant lived at my work office lobby for years. The plant company that cares for them was going to replace them so said they would just throw them out if no one wanted them. Yes please!! So I took this guy home. First picture is first day I had it home. Plant care guy said it could use some sun, I described I have an east facing covered porch, he said he thought that would be fine. Well, it was 2 hot days and he got real sad looking. So he came in. The leaves ended up scorched and so many were dead. So I trimmed him up with some recommendations from ChatGPT. Picture 2 is now. My question now - is it going to grow new leaves? Will it only grow them from the top? Should I do anything different? It’s inside now, in a decently sunny room. The stems seem healthy and strong. Thank you for any advice you can give me!!

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1 gilla 10 kommentarer

10 kommentarer

  1. Jneyman

    Give him a chop! New leaves will only grow from the top unless you chop. I have a Janet Craig also and, it’s slower, but you’ll get 2-3 new “branches”. In my pic you can see the front tree in the big pot got chopped really low and its top section was cut in half and that’s the two trees in the lower left. Key is PATIENCE. It was probably 6+ weeks to see descent roots in water.

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    1 gilla
    • EllenLikesPlants

      I was kind of afraid of that! I’ve never chopped anything like this! How do I do that? Fun side note - I also have one of those ficuses like to the right of your tree.

      2 gillningar
    • Jneyman

      Get some GOOD shears big enough to accomplish the chop in one cut. Make sure they’re clean. Decide where you want to make the chop. If there are aerial roots peeking out anywhere, just beneath that is good bc it will help start up root growth. If not, that’s ok. Make the cut on an angle. 📐 and BE CONFIDENT! One big swift squeeze to go through the whole thing in one cut as best you can. Try not to need to do multiple attempts since it will add stress on the cut. One you chop, let the open ends callus for a day or two. If you chop the stalk up into a few pieces, make sure you don’t mix up which way is up vs down. For the bottom end(s), once they’ve callused, if you have candle wax, you can drip wax onto the cut end of the stalk. Just enough to cover. This will help prevent bacteria and rot. You don’t need to wax the top end bc it won’t be sitting in water. If you don’t have wax, just make sure you have a good callus before you put in water. Then, put the bottoms in a jar of fresh water and wait. Change out the water maybe once a week. And just keep waiting! And waiting! Once you see roots, wait some more! Once the roots get to be a few inches long and they’ve got secondary roots, you can pot them up. They’ll focus on root growth first, so once you get roots, it will probably be a little while longer before you start seeing new growth on the top of the plant. (More waiting) If you’re going to chop, I’d say do it sooner rather than later so you can get the most growth before the plant starts to go dormant in the fall/winter. Good luck!!!!!

      2 gillningar
    • EllenLikesPlants

      Wow - this is so helpful! Thank you! Think I’m a big scared but I’ll see what tools I have and see what I can do! This plant was free so I feel like I want to make a good go at caring for it, just didn’t have a good introduction to my house!

      1 gilla
    • Jneyman

      Here’s a pic of my shears for reference. I have found that confidence on the chop and then words of affirmation to the plants in the weeks following have worked wonders!

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      1 gilla
    • Jneyman

      Seriously though, check for rot, but give it a good 6-8 weeks of patience for the roots to really show up. Especially since there won’t be leaves bringing in energy, it will be slow growin’

      1 gilla
  2. Jneyman

    Since you have multiple stalks, you can also just start by chopping 1 and then leaving the rest for next spring so you can see how it goes.

    1 gilla
    • EllenLikesPlants

      I like that compromise!

      0 gillningar
    • Jneyman

      That’s how I started. Took a bit off the top of my two tallest (I had more leaves) so if they failed to thrive, the trees were at least pruned shorter. Then I got bold and did the BIG chop the next growing season. So I’ve been able to make 2 additional 2-stalk pots of Janet’s. With how much stalk you have, you could start a small jungle at some point!

      0 gillningar
    • EllenLikesPlants

      Could totally start a jungle! And it was a free plant!!

      1 gilla