Dracaena draco - how long to root cuttings?

[Xanthoria]

I got three lovely branches from a tree a friend was rescuing/removing, and potted them up. I'm scared to depot and check the roots - how long before they root do you think? I'm scared to water them.... it's been a few months.

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[mcvansoest]

Any new growth?

[Luc]

Depot the plant is not a good idea, check the holes of the bottom you will probably see new roots if any. Why the plants are they leaning, this might make fall them and/or break new tender roots.
By the way they look fine, since how long are they in the pot ?

[Xanthoria]

No new growth - in fact quite a few lower leaves dropped.

They're leaning due to carelessness - my husband put them inside the bigger pots with chunks of concrete to support the inner pots a bit crookedly. Yes, should straighten them up.

They have been in there about 4 months.

[Viegener]

I've tried this a few times & haven't had any luck. I wonder if anyone else on here has...

[Stan]

I paid good money for a large cutting. I thinking like any succulent it should root in the ground..put it in,watered and waited. A year later,with no new growth,I dug it up. Not a root or even as much as a bud on the buried trunk. A few weeks later it collapsed. It was like Supermarket Jicama's or Taro tubers treated not to sprout. Over a year..nothing.

[Viegener]

That's pretty much how it went for me, but at least I didn't lose money on them.

A friend had a row of these in pots in front of her fancy new apt building in Brentwood, and all died because they were just stuck in pots. But they lasted long enough for them to sell some nice apartments...

[Stan]

If you get them for free...then try rooting powder,maybe a heating mat. OR...wrap in Sphagnum moss used for ORCHIDS..keep moist and warm. Its a given now that the usual plant and forget cuttings succulents usually are, don't work for these.

[Viegener]

Next time I get some I will try a heating mat. It all depends on when/if my friend choses to prune his giant D. draco.

[Xanthoria]

Humph. Well they will get watered and are in plastic pots in full sun so hopefully that's warm and wet enough for them...

[Stan]

You would get better results if you went as far as to cover them and pot them up in a 90% perlite mix..AND keep warm in a bright light- but not sun. You don't want to cook them. Another very hard to root from cuttings is Dorstenia gigas...no way,just putting them in a media and wait for them to root. I read the only way one has got them to root is to cover them,perlite only..and warm.
Both they and drago come from hot dry climates....but cuttings need warm humid air to root is the lesson?

[Stan]

Now,let me add,I never said D.draco cannot be rooted from cuttings as some implied. I said that if you think they can be propagated like other similar looking plants- stick a cutting in media and stand back- THESE ARE NOT like that. I had no idea back then. I have rooted many hard to root plants like Huperzia and Lycopodiums. I knew what I was getting into.

With D.draco,you wont find many propagating articles..or many warnings to get a warm greenhouse and misters,etc. ,My point is,they are a tough grow from cuttings. Nothings impossible. A Mango with full sized fruit grows in Hayward. In my yard.

[Xanthoria]

Well the update here is they died. It took 6 months but they rotted.



Next!

[Stan]

I know the feeling. Dry Garden sometimes has them in gallons...larger are way out of my price. Triple digits in 5 or ten gallons ( both sizes look the same to me)