We bought a cordyline last weekend and repotted it from its plastic container. We've noticed that the tips of the leaves are starting to brown a bit and are worried we may be doing something wrong. Any advice?

We live in Los Angeles and the cordyline gets partial shade throughout the day.

Since you just bought this last weekend it may be something that was initiated before you brought it home. Perhaps it was allowed to dry out at the nursery.

Also, I have read where Cordylines are sensitive to fluoride; I really do not know if this is accurate but if your municipal water supply has high levels of it you may want to consider another source. I know rain water is scarce in your area but there are faucet water filters that remove fluoride.

Good luck and Welcome

Living in Orange county, I have to suspect the water also. It's very bad for some plants.

Hi & welcome!

When you repotted, did you trim the roots & remove the old soil, or place the undisturbed root ball into a bigger pot with more soil around it?

If you used new potting soil with fertilizer added, it may be just a little bit of fertilzer burn on the tips of the older leaves. The plant probably also already had some fertilizer in the pot that came from the nursery so it's just getting a double whammy right now. It will ease up and the new leaves will start growing like crazy once it recovers from it's transplanting.

Unless that browning continues, I'd wait a month and see how the plant does.