Will repotting this distressed dracaena marginata make things worse?

Question

I've been trying to rehab this plant for the past couple months. I live in the Midwest of USA and it is now winter here. The leaves on one stalk have drooped quite a bit and the leaves on the other stem have brown tips. I think I may have watered it too much and it might be in too big of a pot? I recently purchased a sun lamp and noticed the one leaves perk up on one stalk but the other is still droopy. I'm thinking the soil is retaining too much moisture so I plan on repotting it. I bought a highly recommended fast draining soil mix and a smaller pot but am worried repotting during winter will make things worse. What do you think?

Answer 1

The usual problems with marginatas are:

• insufficient light
• too much water leads to waterlogged soil
• spider mites

Here are my suggestions:

• move to higher light: next to a south/east/west window without drapes or sheers
• only water when the top two inches is dry. Usually that means watering every week or two.
• do not repot now, wait till spring

Spider mites can be seen with the eye or a cellphone photo. They look like tiny grains of salt and like to live on the underside of the leaves. I don't see any on this plant.

Check the weakest stem. It looks like it is dying. You can tell by grasping the stem. If there is some "give" then the part of the plant that moves water up to the leaves is dead. Consider cutting this plant back. It will take a while to regrow but should grow multiple buds from the stems.

The stems die from the bottom up. Try cutting it just above the green tape. A stem that will bud out is firm with no spaces between the "bark" and the inside. Take the cutting and shorten the stem to a foot or less and propagate in water. Change the water weekly and provide strong but filtered light.