ToMMyBoY69,
Hi, welcome to the world of no return! Okay, not really. But you've been bitten by something we call "the love of plants" and there's no cure. I like your Dracaena and I'm not even a Dracaena person (I'm a picky plant person, is that even possible to be picky with plants?).

Nah, plants jump at me all the time. I have to put some back sometimes (I don't have a lot of room), but that's normal for them to jump at you, in your cart, etc. Plants sense it when there's a "plant person" nearby, they just can't help but want to come home with you. :)

Do you have any other plants besides this one that "glows" and your other Dracaena?

Do share if you do.

Planto

HaHa! Thanks, Planto. :)
Bitten? Nah, I must've been genetically predisposed. I've grown various plants all throughout my life. Even as a kid, I was helping my grandmother with her's. She is the one from whom I inherited my green thumb.
As of right now, my bedroom resembles a rainforest. I love growing unique and unusual plants, and just about anything that catches my eye. I grow carnivorous plants, orchids, anthuriums, a huge money tree as tall as I am (which I bought on clearance for only $10), various palms, and I just finished mounting a beautiful staghorn fern. But that's just a rough list, I know there are plenty I haven't listed. But no matter how many I do have, there's always room for at least one more.

Okay, well in that case you already know the symptoms and won't be surprised lol. I'd love it if you could share a picture. I wish I could grow Orchids, but they're one a few plants I can't seem to grow. :/

You're right about there always being room for one more. I say I don't have enough room, but I'm sure something will convince me otherwise one day. ;)

Planto

actually i just bought one that looks just like that, i killed the last one. i am going to try again, any advice?

Weird. I was just at Wal-Mart a few days ago and saw the exact same type of plant! Though it didn't go home with me.... neither did the lipstick and red polka dot plant..... Kind of regret it.
Oh and Welcome to the forums!

wal-mart is where i bought mine, i am really hoping to keep it healthy.

to many jump in my cart lol

I'm no Dracaena expert, but I can tell you what works for me. I leave my water sitting out, giving chlorine plenty of time to dissipate. Actually, I just fill the spare container up immediately after I water them, and just let it sit out until the next time I use it. One other thing I do is I fill the container up with only hot tap water. My reasoning for that being the fact that hot water doesn't hold on to dissolved gasses very well. Much like how a warm soda loses its "fizz" much faster than a colder one. This may not have any real affect, but so far it's worked great for me. And of course the hot water has had more than plenty of time to cool down to room temperature before I use it again.
I already collect and store more than plenty of rainwater for my carnivorous plants, and I would've used it as a "plan b" just in case the 1st option didn't work. But so far, it has worked just fine. My Dracaenas are doing great and growing new leaves. I worried a while back because my "Lemon Surprise" had one leaf whose tip started to turn brown. But it was just the oldest/lowest leaf on the plant dying back, and no others. *whew!* Other than that, neither plant has lost any leaves. All of the leaf tips are perfectly healthy, aside from the minor damage incurred before I bought them.
When I repotted them, I used some Miracle Grow soil. I used the "Cactus, Palm, & Citrus" variety, because it holds water pretty well, while still being fast-draining. I mixed in some extra perlite, because I had some of it sitting around, too.
I've read that others let their plants dry out some before watering, but I keep both of mine pretty well watered, but not soggy. As you can see in the pic, it's planted in a self-watering pot, which I used for all of my plants (except for my orchids). They may be self-watering pots, but I never leave any water in them. Well, at least when my plants are indoors. I find that the design works great for catching any excess runoff after I've watered them and place them back in their locations. Before I used these pots, I always had problems with water leaking onto tables, etc. But not anymore.
I also give them very bright, but indirect light. Which is kind of why I joked about how my "Lemon Surprise" was glowing. I always try to give my plants the maximum amount of light that they can handle. Just because plants are "shade-tolerant," it doesn't mean that that is what they prefer.

This post was edited by ToMMyBoY69 on Thu, Feb 27, 14 at 2:43

Welcome to GW, Tommy! I love to look at plants while backlit too, they DO glow.

I would encourage you to investigate your water situation a little further. If your water isn't chlorinated with a volatile (can evaporate) type, letting water sit can't help remove it. It is good for the water to adjust to room temp though, no matter what kind. Fluoride and lime are not volatile. Dracaenas are known to be sensitive to fluoride, and lime can alter water/soil PH.

After watching an episode about water heaters on 'this old house,' I would never give water from the heater to plants, pets, or people, any living thing. I don't remember the details about the chemicals, but it's GROSS in there! Hardly anybody is changing the anode rod annually, I'd never heard of that until that episode.

A search of 'more chemicals in hot water,' and 'drinking water from water heater' brought up tons of stuff to read.

Here's some Tradescantia leaves glowing this morning.

Thanks, purple!
Yeah, when it comes to using it as drinking water, I wouldnt. But I was trying it out on these two plants, just to see if it would work, and so far I haven't encountered any problems. I know that everyone's conditions aren't the same. Even after all this time, I still monitor these two Dracaenas very closely. I still need to look deeper into what's in my tap water, because it never hurts to at least know what I'm dealing with. Luckily, I don't have hard water. Tho, there are trace minerals dissolved within it. Which is pretty much unavoidable with any tap water source.

I know that Fluoride isn't as easy to get rid of either. Which is why I had (and still have) a "plan b," my rainwater reserves. Even if I don't encounter any problems with using my tap water, once it warms up enough to move the majority of my plants back outside, I always use collected rainwater to water my plants. That's one of the benefits of living in Tornado Alley during Tornado Season. We always get more than our fair share of heavy thunderstorms, HaHa.

Just had to chime in and say how much I love the picture of James, I'm a fan also.
Christine

We order them in the UK from Holland as "Dracaena Surprise". They make nice specimens too.