When grown as a houseplant in lower light situations, the Dragon Tree will usually have a weeping or drooping growth habit but when grown in higher light situations (like the one in the photo below showing a tree in my backyard) the leaves will attain a more upright growth habit.


Whether grown indoors in containers or outdoors in the ground, as the plant grows taller it's common for the lower leaves to turn yellow and fall off, leaving tall lanky stems with leaves only at the top. To force branching and for a fuller look, the stems can be pruned. The photo below shows the same plant in my backyard before I severely lopped it back.


This outdoor container plant in very bright light also shows the more upright leaf growth.


For container grown plants, it's extremely important to use pots with drainage holes in the bottom. Proper aeration at root level and adequate drainage are important requirements for the health and longevity of a plant, and when watering it's important to water the entire soil mass until the water is freely exiting the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot and then empty all excess water from the catch tray. Ideally, the potting medium should be kept just barely moist throughout, never allowed to stay excessively dry for extended periods and especially never allowed to remain soggy wet, which will deplete oxygen, causing root suffocation.

Watering intervals should be scheduled by how quickly the soil dries, and how quickly a soil dries can depend on things like light availability, humidity, temperature and the type of soil being used. An airy potting medium will drain and dry out fairly quickly, requiring more frequent watering, whereas a dense, slow draining soil will require a longer drying time, requiring much less frequent watering intervals.

Brown leaf tips on the Dragon Tree can be due to underwatering but a more likely cause is dry air. An easy way to increase the humidity is to set the pot atop a tray of moist pebbles, always keeping a small amount of water in the pebble tray.

Reply to this comment