what should i do with my tropical plant’s leaves

Question

I have a tropical plant and it started to get yellow and brown tips, so I cut them off at a angle. It started to grow new little growths. I repotted the plant in a little bigger pot and now all the leaves I trimmed are getting brown and yellow again and the little growths are dying. What should I do?

Answer 1

Your plant is commonly known as a corn plant – Dracaena massangeana. The brown/yellow tips are a sign that the soil is too wet. Trimming the brown tips off is cosmetic, but if you don’t correct the overly wet soil, the tips will just come back. Allow the soil to dry all the way to the bottom of the pot, so that when you test it with a moisture meter, it reads almost dry. This can take a month or more, if the soil is really wet. When you trim the leaves, make two cuts, so that the natural shape of the leaf is maintained – that’s much more attractive. I don’t know what you mean by “new little growths” – mass canes’ new leaves come in one at a time from the top, out of the fold of the topmost leaf.