A surprise at the dentist’s office

Lynn and I have been going to the same great dentist (Dr. Paul Spence in McKinney) for many years. So, apparently, has this corn plant dracaena that sits in his waiting room, but I don’t recall it being quite this tall 6 or 12 or 36 months ago at my prior visits. Somebody’s been pouring something more than cold coffee on it. It’s a happy plant.

Now it’s outgrown its bounds. It’s knocking on the outdoors, and Paul and his team have no choice but to move it to a conservatory or give it a serious haircut.

It sounds like the haircut is at the top of their list, so he and I were chatting about where the cut of the one tall trunk could be made. It’s pretty simple: cut it with sharp shears halfway between the two shorter canes. That would put all growth beneath the picture, and that would be good. The cut stalk would send out several new shoots to fill in the void.

It also would leave Dr. Spence and team with a long piece of the top that could be rooted as several cuttings to share with the assistants. Or they could be potted and used in their several rooms.

Dracaena cuttings should be 6-7 inches long. Some people stick them in flower vases filled with water. I prefer to root mine in terra cotta pots filled with a loose, highly organic potting soil. I’d probably mix 60 percent sphagnum peat moss with 40 percent perlite for the rooting.

Strip the leaves off the bottom two-thirds of the stems before inserting them into the wet potting soil. Many people dip them into rooting hormone powder before they put them into the potting mix. In that case, you should use a stick or your finger to make an insertion hole so you don’t rub off the hormone powder. Firm the soil around each cutting and water the potting soil one more time.

You can also root the bare pieces of stem. Keep the proper ends up and down as you do. I find that it helps if I cut the bottoms of each cutting at a 45-degree angle and the tops square across.

It often takes dracaenas a couple of months to form roots so that you can repot them into regular potting soil. Spring is the best time to undertake all this process, but if you have a warm, bright spot that’s out of direct sunlight you can succeed at any time.

Finally, back to the mama plant – after it’s done all this growing, its potting soil is probably pretty well depleted. This might be a good time to lift it out of its old pot, put it into a new and slightly larger pot (with a drain hole) and give it some fresh potting soil. It will appreciate the new surroundings. You can do that work out on the patio or driveway before freezing weather moves in. Take care, however, not to expose it to direct sunlight in the process.

Want to see and read more? Google “Propagating corn plant dracaena” and you’ll find dozens of stories, videos, and other tidbits. I didn’t find any that I liked enough to include as a link here. I’m reluctant to recommend unfamiliar sites, but it appeared there were some very good stories.