The main advantages of the Janet Craig dracaena are its spectacular appearance and unpretentiousness in care. An exotic plant with bright, juicy greenery can become a decoration for both home and industrial or office interiors. Thick foliage cleans the air well from harmful impurities and regulates water-gas exchange in the room. Feng Shui experts believe that dracaena brings harmony, love and well-being to the house.
Content
Botanical description of the plant
Dracaena Janet Craig (dracaena Janet Craig) belongs to the genus of evergreen plants from the asparagus family, in the wild it grows in the African and South Asian tropics.
In tropical thickets, there are specimens up to 6 m in height. Indoor decorative-leaved varieties often grow up to 1.5-2 m, in rare cases – up to 3-4 m.
The erect woody trunk has many transverse stripes: these are traces of dead leaf blades.
Janet Craig is a fragrant plant, but it rarely blooms indoors. The dense inflorescences that form in the form of a spike or brush are pinkish on the outside. The opened white or cream flowers have a pleasant herbaceous-honey aroma.
The leaves are arranged in bunches at the top, which makes the dracaena look like a palm tree. They are dark green, glossy, and uniformly colored.
The young plant forms a bush with lanceolate leaves 3-4 cm wide and 25-30 cm long. Adult "palms" have leaves more than half a meter long, curving downwards.
The stem has dormant buds from which leaf rosettes are forced out. A correctly formed plant acquires a given lush shape. In flower shops, such a dracaena can be seen with the mark "Janet Craig branch".
Florists have developed a miniature form – Dracaena compacta. It is distinguished by its slow growth rate: the bush grows only 3-4 cm per year. An adult plant reaches 35-40 cm in height. Leaf blades up to 15 cm long are collected in a dense bunch.
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Home care
The exotic culture has adapted well to indoor conditions in different climatic zones, including temperate and sharply continental climates.
To ensure that the plant is strong and healthy, you should follow simple rules:
- do not over-water the soil;
- do not place the flower in direct sunlight;
- Avoid drafts and sudden temperature changes.
Selecting a location and lighting
The best place for dracaena is the western or southwestern side of the room. It is better to place pots with plants closer to the window, but not on the windowsill.
With the onset of cold weather, you need to move the flower away from heating devices.
If the "palm" is in a corner or other shaded place, it requires additional lighting. With insufficient lighting, the leaves become limp and pale, the stem stretches out, new rosettes do not develop.
Watering
Moderate soil moisture and loose soil structure ensure healthy growth of the above-ground part and root system.
In spring and summer, dracaena is watered twice a week. Beforehand, you should check the soil moisture at a depth of 2 cm: if the soil is dry, water it until moisture appears in the tray. It is better to drain the excess so that the roots do not rot.
In winter, watering is reduced to 2-3 times a month (depending on air humidity).
It is recommended to pass water for irrigation through a carbon filter. You can add charcoal to the container with water during settling.
It is useful to spray dracaena with a spray bottle or bathe it under the shower. However, you should not allow water to stagnate at the base of the leaves: this leads to rotting of the trunk.
If the air in the room is dry, you can place an aquarium or a decorative container with water next to the flower.
Temperature conditions and feeding
In summer, dracaena grows well on closed balconies, loggias and in shady corners of the garden. The most favorable air temperature is +22…+26ºС.
In winter, it is advisable to reduce the temperature to +16…+18ºС.
Any universal fertilizers are suitable for feeding, but it is better to use specialized products intended for palms or non-flowering indoor plants.
From the beginning of March to the end of October, the soil is fertilized twice a month. During the dormant period, dracaena is fed once a month, using half the dose.
Fertilizers are applied after watering, strictly following the manufacturer's recommendations.
Transfer
During the first 3-4 years, the plant is replanted annually (preferably in early spring). After the end of active growth, the top layer of soil can be renewed, and replanting can be done after 2-3 years, when the roots become cramped in the old pot.
The diameter of the new container should be 5-6 cm larger than the old one. A drainage layer of expanded clay or broken brick should be placed on the bottom.
If it is not possible to purchase a ready-made soil mixture for dracaenas, prepare it yourself by mixing 2 parts of mature compost, 3 parts of leaf soil, 1 part of peat and 1 part of coarse river sand. Sometimes gardeners add vermiculite or charcoal to the soil mixture.
When replanting, you can rejuvenate the root system by cutting out old darkened roots and leaving light yellow roots.
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Propagation of Dracaena Janet Craig
Dracaena can be propagated by seeds, but the simple and reliable vegetative method is more often used.
It is better to take cuttings in the spring, after feeding the dracaena with mineral fertilizers.
By lignified cuttings
If you need to get several plants, a stem with a diameter of 12-13 mm is cut into fragments about 15 cm long. The cut is made with a sharp knife or pruning shears along the line of the leaf scar.
The cuttings are immersed for several hours in a solution that stimulates root formation (Kornevin).
Then they are placed one third of their length in peat pots or plastic cups with loose soil (sand, peat, leaf soil in equal parts).
The cuttings can be placed horizontally, with the middle sprinkled with soil. In this case, both ends will produce young shoots.
To speed up rooting, cover the glass with film or glass.
Part of the stem with a rosette of leaves
A new dracaena can be grown from a well-developed rosette. In this case, the cut is made slightly below the first leaf (1-1.5 cm). The leaf rosette is placed in a container with water for 1-2 weeks, and after the roots appear, it is transplanted into a pot.
Growing problems and diseases
Dracaena Janet Craig is a hardy plant, but violations of care rules quickly affect its appearance.
If there is insufficient watering, the leaves lose their shine and elasticity, and the top dries out.
If there is too much moisture, the roots rot, the tips of the leaf blades turn black, and the lower leaves die off.
A weakened plant is more easily affected by fungal and bacterial diseases.
Pest infestations most often occur outdoors, but sometimes parasites enter the home with new flowers that have not undergone quarantine.
The presence of scale insects can be determined by the sticky coating on the surface of the leaf, and on the back side by the accumulation of black dots-larvae.
The spider mite settles along the veins on the underside of the leaf blade. Light spots appear in places where the mite sucks out nutritious juices. A thin web can be seen deep in the rosette.
It is easier to fight pests and diseases at an early stage, so it is necessary to regularly inspect the plant and, if necessary, use insecticidal or bactericidal preparations.
