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Rescue this Cordyline Australis

richgraywahlrichgraywahl Posts: 4
in Problem solving
Hello - I am a complete novice - can anyone give me any ideas how to rescue this? I noticed the leaves going brown about 4 weeks ago. The ground was very dry so I have wtered it frequently since but still the leaves are all brown except for the very top. Thanks in advance

Posts

  • richgraywahlrichgraywahl Posts: 4

  • richgraywahlrichgraywahl Posts: 4

  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    If the crown is still alive and producing new growth, you could just remove the dead leaf stalks, give a good watering and perhaps even improve the soil in the bed or give a mulch.
    Bit difficult to tell from the photo whether or not the actual crown is alive as such so best to check that.  If the crown is mushy, then you will need to cut the trunk down and look to  encourage growth from the base - if it works you may be looking at a multi stemmed plant but you could reduce that by removing some of the new shoots as they appear.  
    There are numerous threads about Cordyline on the forum which you should be able to view by using the Search Facility - it isn't always comprehensive but you should be able to view some of them.
    Good luck :)
  • Robert WestRobert West Posts: 241
    Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen so many posts asking the same question as 'Is my Cordyline dead?' this year. Not having a go by the way, it's just been a REALLY common problem following the wet cold winter we had. I lost two in pots, and several others have barely survived. I will say though that as long as the very newest growth is healthy it WILL recover, and relatively quickly. Cut off anything that is dead within an inch of the main stem. It will look a bit bare, but will hopefully soon be full of new leaves again. 
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