What kind of plant is this and what's wrong with it?

This plant was left behind at a house I bought in 2017, and has been doing great until late last year. I say it's a bromelead but my wife says it ain't. Tips welcome.



When I inherited the plant, it was living in a smallish (probably 4" diameter) metal bucket of sorts. It was all green and waxy and happy, and much to my delight remained that way for years.

Its turn of health started late last year when I repotted it in a larger (probably 6 or 7" diameter ceramic flowerpot with a drainage hole and saucer. Its watering regimen, which is to get completely dried out and then receive a drenching, has not changed. Its soil type, so far as I know, is fine for that kind of plant. It is in the same location where it was before when it was healthy. Maybe it picked up some disease? Anyone know what's going on?

We have several of the same plant. Maybe a Dracaena. We keep ours moist, not dry, not drenched. I think maybe your watering feast or famine is doing your plant in.

Dracaena is a good bet, but if you can't find an exact match there you might look at Cordyline fruticosa.

Jim Fry wrote:We have several of the same plant. Maybe a Dracaena. We keep ours moist, not dry, not drenched. I think maybe your watering feast or famine is doing your plant in.

Thanks. I'll try more frequent watering. (Its previous container was smaller and closed on the bottom; I suppose this might have kept its soil from getting as fully dry even though I couldn't tell by my usual method of probing the soil slightly with one finger near the surface?)

By the way, do you think it could bounce back or is it too late?

Donn Cave wrote:Dracaena is a good bet, but if you can't find an exact match there you might look at Cordyline fruticosa.

I think cordyline fruiticosa is closer, though unlike most of the pictures I'm seeing in my DDG search this one has only ever just been green, never any of those other colors, and the leaves have always been trim and pointy, never round and floppy.

I think the plants sold have been selected for more colours, and that is why the images tend to turn up red leaved plants.
A web search indicates that watering is the most likely problem - both under and over watering can cause leaf browning. I don't think chlorine/ salt build up or humidity (also suggested) are likely to be the cause if your water source is the same; unless you use mains water and your supply is different at this time of year.
I wonder if because it is now in a bigger pot, which it's roots aren't quite filling, means the plant is short of water even though the pot is not completely dry? I would try watering just a little bit more often. A tip from my mum is to put a thin stick deep in the pot soil. Pull it out and you can tell from the dampness of the stick whether the soil is pretty dry or not.
I think it will recover once it is happy again - you could trim the dead bits of leaf off if you like, to make it look a bit better.

Its a Corn palm (Dracaena fragrans)

It belongs outside in moist sandy soil in a subtropical environment, where it will flower at night time with intense perfume smells when flowering.

It is said to be able to tolerate almost any indoor growing conditions, so its probably root bound (needing a much larger pot)

Its also possible that it was exposed to cold temperatures, which can cause the leaves to die...

I agree, the plant looks like Dracaena fragrans (corn plant) judging by the way the leaves join the stem.

The yellow and brown spots on the leaves look like a fungal disease to me.

Fungus spots can be a tough one to resolve naturally. Better air circulation would be a good place to start. I also wonder about root health. I would definitely check for root rot too.

The plant could be staying too damp for too long depending on the potting mix used and if the root system had a chance to grow into it's new container before winter. Cooler temperatures (especially on a windowsill) and the low amount of sunlight (if in the northern hemisphere), can cause problems when the soil stays too moist for too long during the winter months. In most cases it is better to water less during winter, especially with a freshly re-potted plant, because the root system is not large enough yet. If the new soil around the root ball stays too damp for too long, it can cause root disease too.

Thanks for these additional replies. Responding to all points raised...

The plant was repotted sometime in the last 3 months of last year, I can't remember exactly, but it had not gotten cold yet. It's been sitting in that same spot (the only south-facing window in my house) for 3 years doing fine, and this has been a milder-than-usual winter, so I doubt cold or lack of sunlight is the culprit.

BTW, just out of frame below the plant is a radiator-style space heater which keeps that room quite comfortable in winter except on the very coldest days, when it probably dips as low as 66 or 67 F in there. The little table where the plants are is as close as you can get to being right over the heater.

I don't remember what type of soil was used to repot it--might have been advertised as "potting soil" or as "cactus and succulent soil"--but I am certain steps were taken to make sure it could drain well.

I do tend to water less in winter.

Fungal disease/root rot is a scary proposition...I have no idea how to address that!

Critically, I have now been advised to water more and to water less. Who's right?

By the way, do you think it could bounce back or is it too late?
 Ned, try a couple tablespoons of worm castings. Top-dress the plant, give it some water and some sunshine. You should see some improvement within a week;

Check out the App - PlantNet. It is a FREE service, assuming that you will allow the App to retrieve your 'plant info' to help fill and/or correct their database, which is what YOU use to help identify any plant that you have growing around.

Check it out on a few of the plants that you have and KNOW what they are and then check the one that you are trying to ID. It is a GREAT little App!

I am an agriculture teacher, and people always come to me with plant problems. The #1 reason people kill their plants is overwatering. Literally every time. I am not saying you are doing this now, I am just telling you my personal experience. That is what it is, always.

My suggestion is to stop everything. Stop touching it, stop watering it, stop repotting it. For at least 2 months. Ignore it. If it still looks like this in 2 months, THEN investigate another issue like a fungal problem or adjust the soil.

Yes, it might drop a few leaves, it is obviously unhappy. That is what plants do when they are unhappy. But 2 months will give it time to recover if it is overwatering. If it is something else it will continue to go downhill, but if it is just a soil moisture problem it will bounce back. 2 months is not going to kill it if it is a fungus (or if it is, it is dead by now anyway, you just don't know it yet).

Its definitely a "corn" plant, dracaena fragrans.  Mine got like that when it wasnt getting enough sunlight during winter.

They like  sunlight, also like being warm but not really hot (not on the radiators).   Mine was happiest living putdoors during summer.  

I have a piece thats been thriving in a jar of water for two years.  
They can get very large, mine was over 6 feet tall at one point.  That was too large for my house so I cut it way back into multiple little plants.    

I agree about corn plant.

Sadly, there are a number of problems that can result in the symptoms you're seeing. (I think you got a good list of them above.) So I don't know what's ailing your plant, but I know a little about what went wrong for me. (That your post reminds me of.) I used to take whatever plant I got hold of and put it directly into the biggest pot I thought it could ever want. Sometimes I'd get away with it for a while. If they didn't die right away, it was usually winter when I'd lose them. Now I have better success by letting them get at least kinda pot bound, then potting up into a slightly larger pot.

I think the punch line is that most plants like to be thoroughly watered, then let their soil get (if not dried out) at least well beyond drained. I think my huge pots held so much soil that the roots didn't reach, that water sat in there too long. Maybe my better success in summer was due to evaporation and/ or faster root growth?

Why did they hate that? Did it promote the wrong fungus? The wrong bacteria? Do plants resent when you mess up the oxygen flow around the roots? All of the above and more stuff I don't even know about? I don't know. I just know my success rate went up when I changed how I pot up. Hope that helps.

I suggest gently removing your corn plant and seeing how well the roots fill the pot. I think (assuming the root zone is centered in the pot) that if the root zone is more than about an inch and a half from the pot edge, I'd consider potting it down. Then I'd clean up the leaf damage, make sure it's getting the same light as when it was happy, and resume the watering regimen that made it happy. Observe it for a while. A little mild fertilizer may be in order, but some people prefer to avoid that during winter or during dormancy. I'd probably hold off on the fertilizer until spring, or at least until I see it trying to grow. But observation might change my mind. I think it'll find a way to tell you if it needs that.

Whatever it is, it looks diseased and often the recommendation I’ve gotten from the below mentioned app is to spray with a baking soda mixture.
I highly recommend the plant ID app Picture This. More reliable than others I’ve tried. I use when wild foraging. Worth paying for even for personal diagnoses and remedies for ill houseplants. I don’t promote, let alone purchase many apps.
Some people have the ability to communicate with plants and ask what they need. This evidently works better with the aid of an ethneogen. 🌿

It doesn't matter if it's Cordyline sp.or Dracaena sp. This is a tropical plant that lives in wet areas. I don't think flood and drought is what would make it happy. Nor would a prolonged drought.

If this were my plant I'd give it small frequent sips of water. I don't know what your humidity is like but if it's low it may appreciate an occasional mist, or a home in a bathroom with a shower for humidity. At least until it recovers.

It also looks weak so I would give it a tiny bit of highly diluted fish amino acid (1:1000).

In a proper habitat, they are completely maintenance-free, so other than that I would leave it alone.

...if it were my plant

You might look at this site to see if it can help you.  https://plantcaretoday.com/dracaena-leaves-turning-yellow.html

It looks like a dracaena to me.  

How cold do you get there?  I'd be cold.  Try giving it some hot chocolate and a blanket.

Haha, just kidding...sort of.  Has your weather been colder this year than in previous years?

I assume you've checked the underside of the leaves for any bugs?  

What kind of water did you give it?  Tap or well water may have contaminants such as fluoride, that would cause discoloration.

Not sure if this can be propagated by cuttings, like Hawaiian ti leaf (Cordyline species).  If so, I'd cut the top off and try to start another plant from that cutting, so you double your chances of it surviving.

Here's a site with info and pictures of both Dracaena and Cordyline:  https://www.south-florida-plant-guide.com/cordylines.html

Might help you identify it.  Once you get a likely species, I'd search for it by name, and see if you can find a forum with pictures or something else that matches.  If it's a plant forum, you'd likely get very knowledgeable help there.

Some knowledge from a university, with descriptions that may help you narrow down the problem:  https://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/foliage/folnotes/cordylin.htm

It does look like a Dracaena. Do you have fluoride in your water?

When I had my plant care service, eons ago, flourish toxicity was very common with Dracaena.
I’ve been trying to remember the garden chemical we used to fix it, but for the life of me I can’t
remember it.

So I looked it up and this is what I found. Turned out it was Calcium.

https://plantcaretoday.com/dracaena-fluoride-toxicity.html

One very useful practice plantscapers did was to leech out the chemicals in the soil at least once a year.

I would put the plant in the shower, washing off the leaves at the same time and give it lots of freshwater to leech out the chemicals in the soil. With your plant, you would want to add the calcium in the soil before you wash it.

Best of luck with your plant.

L Amborn wrote:I am an agriculture teacher, and people always come to me with plant problems. The #1 reason people kill their plants is overwatering. Literally every time. I am not saying you are doing this now, I am just telling you my personal experience. That is what it is, always.

My suggestion is to stop everything. Stop touching it, stop watering it, stop repotting it. For at least 2 months. Ignore it. If it still looks like this in 2 months, THEN investigate another issue like a fungal problem or adjust the soil.

Yes, it might drop a few leaves, it is obviously unhappy. That is what plants do when they are unhappy. But 2 months will give it time to recover if it is overwatering. If it is something else it will continue to go downhill, but if it is just a soil moisture problem it will bounce back. 2 months is not going to kill it if it is a fungus (or if it is, it is dead by now anyway, you just don't know it yet).

I love this…just leave it alone!!! Sounds like the advice for my sourdough starter too!!! Lol!

The dracaena doesn't seem to be vigorous in the first place as a 7year old. With the widespread yellowing and browning, which is not reversible, I am wondering if there is root rot going on to eventually spread to the stem. If it was my plant, I would take drastic measures and cut the top off to root a new plant. The bottom stem with some leaves remaining will grow new bud if there's nothing wrong with the roots.