A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 dracena tree

I have had a beautiful dracena tree for a year and a half and it has been beautiful. It gets sun but not directly. I water it w/ only distilled water and try very hard only to do this when it is very, very dry. In the past few weeks the largest of the 5 stalks started to lose leaves and now is just a pole standing high above the others. The rest of the plant seems fine. Did I over water it? Should I cut off the tip and will new foliage begin to grow? Help please...I love this plant!

Cleo,
I wish I could help you more but the only thing I can tell you is that I water my draceneas once a week just to keep the soil slightly moist. Odds are, if you water the way you described, you probably didn't overwater. I wish you the best of luck with your baby.

overwatering isn't your problem. what i would do is cut the bare stem back to a heighth of just below where the leaves start on the other stems. if the plant is still viable, you should see new growth from the sides of that stem in 2-3 weeks, give or take. if there are any green leaves on the stem, stick it in a pot of moist potting soil and keep it moist (not wet) and you have a chance to make yourself a new plant!

Thanks for your responses everyone. I think I'll go cut off the top of my naked stalk right now. I'm thinking that maybe I watered one side more than the others and my largest stalk took in more water b/c the shoot that came up as new growth never really got started...it was brown from the beginning but I had hope. Hopefully, the other stalks will stay healthy. Thanks again.