hi everyone hope you're keeping safe and eating super well if
it's your first time here my name is james and i'm from sydney australia
today's video is going to be about the dracaena fragrance or otherwise known as the happy plant
oh hey hey is that a dracaena in your pocket are you just happy to see me
so the happy plant is one of the easiest house plants to look after however despite its easy
reputation i have observed some common issues and i'm here to provide some solutions on what i
think you can do to fix them i am admittedly a little bit of a helicopter plant parent
so if you are a little bit like me there are things that you should absolutely avoid
to keep your happy plant happy don't forget if you liked today's video remember to give it a
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the draceana fragrance is also known as the corn plant or the dragon plant i actually like to call
it the happy plant i was first on the hunt for a medium-sized plant from my apartment
and when i stumbled upon the happy plant here it was at bunnings and it costed about 37.50
they come in so many different sizes you can get them from really small
to about medium and to even large to extra large so i thought this was a wholesome
video to share but i actually surprised my dear friend crystal exactly one year
ago from today's date on her birthday with a small happy plant hello surprise happy 30th
it's actually a major coincidence that i'm filming on her birthday today she was already an avid
plant collector so i thought this was the perfect one to give her because of its easy care nature
my other dear friend actually bought a really big one for a living room and i thought i'd just show
you a photo on how big they can actually get so here i'm trying to illustrate that they come in
so many different sizes so i started to observe that the happy plant is quite common across
office buildings and this is due to their easy care nature and that they can tolerate low levels
of light usually office buildings can be quite dimly lit and these guys can really tolerate
low levels of light i'm stressing the word tolerate in this instance because plants
need light in some sort of shape or form the happy plant can tolerate from low medium to
bright indirect light i do find that they do much better in bright indirect light as opposed to low
so i have this happy plant usually sitting next to my couch which receives about medium to low light
it has done okay but if you do want optimum growing conditions consider bright indirect light
so the happy plant is one of my OG (original) plants and it's one of the first plants that i
ever purchased when i first got into indoor plants i remember i struck a conversation with the staff
at bunnings and asked her what are one of the easier house plants to look after and she directed
me to the happy plants she said this is a happy plant and it's called happy because
you don't really do much to keep it happy i only water mine every three to four weeks
so now i might disagree a little bit with that statement because there are a few things
that i think you should do because i have been experiencing some problems in the past year or so
they are easy plants granted that you're setting them up in the right environment
now let's get into some common problems and how to rectify them number one browning or yellowing
tips now browning and yellowing tips is a common occurrence for the dracaena sometimes this is
considered normal however if you're finding that it is excessive browning and yellowing
this could be an underlying issue that you need to diagnose naturally dracaenas will yellow and
brown their tips over time and if you don't like this aesthetically what i do is i generally just
snip the browning off i'll usually find that once i snip them off and if there's no further issues
the browning will stop so here's a couple of questions to help diagnose utrecina where is
it placed is there too much direct sunlight they can tolerate between low medium to bright indirect
light however i'm finding that bright direct light will scorch their leaves so it is best to
keep it away from direct sun rays how often are you fertilizing i find that excessive yellowing
can be caused by too much fertilizer i personally find that if you've got them sitting in low levels
of light they don't need much feeding at all so sometimes i'll have some excess fertilizer from
watering my other plants and unfortunately my happy plant was getting the remnants of it i'll
be sure to be fertilizing less in the future are you neglecting your watering or over watering due
to the reputation of it being easy i found that i was watering it quite infrequently and also
sporadically and usually my dracaena will get in the trail lens of the rest of the watering can
of course this can be fixed by correcting your watering habits remember to check the soil with
your finger or your moisture meter on when it needs to be watered number two splitting
leaves now i find that this is an extremely common occurrence for people who own dracaenas
i know that in my case the splitting of the leaves is caused by a little bit of the physical impact
that i am imposing on it so normally my dracaena sits next to my couch and sometimes when my guests
come over they'll kind of ruffle a little bit of the leaves because it is growing quite large
and quite sparse over my couch i find that i'm constantly moving my dracaena around which is also
contributing to that physical impact so splitting up the leaves can be caused by minor physical
stress in this case however if you're starting to notice excessive splitting you should start
monitoring your watering patterns to make sure that you're not under watering or over watering
just remember dracaenas have their basic needs as well a lot of neglect can send it down the wrong
path number three leaf curling leaf curling can be contributed by a number of different factors
this includes exposure to extreme temperatures i know that i'm personally a little bit guilty of
this one because i leave the balcony door open to air my apartment out especially during winter time
this is actually fluctuating the temperatures in my apartment quite drastically a number
of other reasons could include excessive light improper watering lack of nutrients
too much nutrients and finally any infestations of diseases of course if there's any infestations or
pests you should be treating them accordingly and immediately number four leaf twisting now
leaf twisting is a measure of self-defence and it can be caused by a number of reasons if the
air is too dry in your home or if the plant is too warm or if the plant is not receiving enough water
this is because it reduces the surface area of the leaf so that less water evaporates from it
so as mentioned i'm guilty of underwatering my happy plant so i just need to correct my
watering patterns in this case just make sure that you're saturating the soil completely and watering
it all the way to the bottom dracaenas will do better in a soil mix that has some water retention
so if you are noticing the water is draining a little bit too quickly to the bottom you may
want to add some coco choir or some peat moss to the mix number five leaf drop so leaf drop
is considered normal granted that the lower level leaves are dropping off to make way for new growth
if you are noticing excessive amounts of leaf drop ask yourself the same questions is the spot that
i put it too bright am i fertilizing this too much in my case i was fertilizing it a little
bit too much and all i need to do is cut back on it in under watering or over watering it ask
yourself those same questions once you have all these things corrected you'll be on the
path to a happier happy plant in no time once you find the spot and have corrected everything make
sure you leave it alone unfortunately my happy plant is looking a little bit like sideshow bob
at the moment the growth is quite sparse because i had kept it in low light for quite some time
and due to low light the leaves start stretching out however i have moved it closer to the light
source and i can report that i am seeing signs of new growth which is awesome you too can correct
your dracaena so i thought i'd consolidate a quick summary on four simple checks that you
can undergo to diagnose your issues firstly check your location secondly check your watering habits
thirdly check your fertilizing frequency and finally check for pests and infestations and
treat them asap if you've made it to the end of this video i just want to say a huge thank you
for watching remember to smash that like button if you liked today's video it'll tell me that you
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plant rants and bands coming up so stay online because we've got some cool content coming ahead
welcome to plant bands and rants where i showcase some cool funny or interesting plant content that
i find online so i'm really excited to show you all this one someone slid into my instagram DM's
the other day and propositioned me look at this hey cutie are you interested in
being my sugar baby 500 daily allowance up for a grab so of course i jumped onto the opportunity
and here's my reply only if i can have your monstera sadly liz hasn't replied to me since