Draceana Janet Craig (Draceana Deremensis)

Today I'm going to talk about the amazing Janet Craig or Draceana Deremensis. When I picked this plant up from my local Home Depot it didn't have the correct name or care instructions on it. So needless to say I had to do some research to see exactly what was this beautiful dark green plant I  brought home. I contacted Costa Farms to find out the name of this beauty and little did I know I found a jewel of a plant. I fell madly in love with it's dark green foliage and liked that it had a nice kind of waxy feel to it. I'm happy to say that this is another easy to grow plant that needs minimal attention to thrive in a home or office. This plant will start off with full upright leaves but as it matures it will form a cane-like stem with clusters of leaves at its top. Just remember that because the leaves are naturally shiny and are dark green in color they can become dust-catchers. So always keep the leaves clean by wiping them off with a damp cloth.

Light: This is consider a low light plant but in my experience it does well in moderate to bright light. With this plant I would recommend that you give it as much as indirect sunlight as possible. I let many of my plants get direct sunlight and had great success. I have yet to try that on this plant if you decide you want to try it I always say test it out for yourself. Just remember if you notice brown marks on the foliage its getting to much light. However if you find that the leaves are pale in color that means that your plant not getting enough light. Low light plants still need some type of light to really take off and thrive.

Origin: This plant is from the region of East Africa and can grow up to 10ft tall if you don't prune it back.

Water: This is a pretty hardy plant but one thing you want avoid doing and that's over watering this plant. It won't do to well in soggy soil so you always want to let this plant dry out between waterings. I personally let it get almost bone dry and then I will give it a good watering and I make sure that the water leaks out the drainage holes at the bottom. That's a good sign that you are giving your plant enough water. You also want to make sure that your plant don't stand in water so empty out the saucer as soon as possible after you water it.

Humidity: From much research this plant like humidity that's around 40%-60%. To help with that I keep this plant on a tray of wet pebbles and I mist it often. Another thing I love to do is group this plant with other plants to try to help with bringing on extra humidity.

Temperature: This is one of the great things I love about this plant it can take average room temperatures without a problem. It do well in temps between 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit. I also notice when I have my windows cracked and the temp outside below 60 degrees my plant don't seem bother by it at all. So maybe just maybe this plant will tolerate temps below 60 degrees for a short periods of time.

Soil: Just about any good well draining potting soil should do. I personally like Baccto potting soil. It's very light and do a wonderful job at draining but also holds just enough moisture that the plant need to thrive. I highly recommend this potting soil to anyone who's interested in trying it out.

Fertilizer: It's recommended that you can feed this plant year round with a balanced liquid fertilizer diluted by half the recommended amount. Now with all my other plants I've been feeding them since spring time and don't plan on feeding any of my plants during the winter. However I would reconsider that if my plant starts showing signs that it's stressed about something. The only thing I used with this plant so far is the miracle gro ready to go liquid plant food.

Propagtion: This can be done by taking 4 inches off the top of your plant kind of like a tip cutting basically. It's recommended that this is done in the spring to help promote new growth so you can root them in moist soil.

As you can see this plant don't want much attention but still need some TLC. A few more things about this plant that I want to mention is it don't have many pest that like to attack it but I would still watch out for those annoying spider mites. If you notice any webbing what so ever remove the plant from any other plants and spray it down with some soapy water. Let that sit for about an hour and give it a nice long shower to help get rid of any pest. If you notice that your leaves are dropping you may be over or under watering it. Which ever one it is you know to do less watering if it's over watered and try to water it a little more if it's under watered. Brown leaf tips are signs of soluble salts that's building up in the soil. So what you want to do is give you plant a nice shower to flush out all that salt that's caused my fertilizer and tap water. If you don't correct that problem it can cause damage your foliage and root system so you want to give it your all to keep your plant nice and healthy. If you have any other questions about this amazing plant please feel free to contact me on here or google+ and remember to always do your part to keep this world green.