Cool plants! I thought about getting one of these at Lowes, but didnt know their lighting/humidity requirements. Let me know how they do for you : )

Jen

Have never seen them at Lowe's....this nursery is the only place that has them in our town....

Maybe you are thinking of the green/red striped on the tall stems?

These stay low (no trunk).

I plan to put them outdoors for the summer and they can simply overwinter indoors.

I think I've seen them at my local Lowe's too. I didn't realize that they don't develop a trunk. Very attractive plants!

Randi

I got some at Walmart last year and they are incredible outside. don't know how long they would retain this color indoors. Red cordylines may stay relatively compact for a cordyline but will eventually trunk. The green ones can reach 15' in time and are surprisingly cold hardy. Down to the teens at least. I don't think the reds are as hardy.

Those are wonderful, I purchased mine at Wal-Mart and have it outside here in the Pacific Northwest. I was wondering though what might cause the center leaves to simply "gray" over turn white and fall off leaving new foliage in the center? The rest of the leaves seem to be fine, but just the ones aroung the center new leaves have just fallen off, they look almost like something has eaten away at them and left a white end (they are also really dry on the white ends) Any suggestions, help please!!

I posted a similar thread when I bought my Cordyline a month or more back..this is the first year I've decided to attempt growing one indoors.
Here in Il, any store that sell annuals/perrenials sell Cordylines..Spikes..in both red and green.
They had a huge Cordyline at the store I got mine..it was in a humongous container, about 23-24"..
The plants diameter and height were unbeliable...4-5' wide. Deep pronounced color. Several feet tall.
Let's hope it works..I plan on keeping mine in a cool room in the brightest light. Let us trying to overwinter this plant indoors, keep our fingers crossed..Toni

Gorgeous plant, Webkat. I also love the pot you chose for it. It has a very southwestern flair. How has it done for you so far?

GH

Even more good news, the reddish-brown variety is also fairly cold hardy. I don't think they would have any problem overwintering in a zone 8 and maybe even in a zone 7 microclimate with a little protection.

Cordy's are very sensitive to water quality. They do NOT like water that has be flouridated by the city and are quite sensitive to fertilizer salt build-up. The first sign of tainted water is discoloration of the leaves. Used bottled water or spring water, and leech soil regularly. :)

Is anyone else going to try overwintering the Cordyline indoors this winter? If so, or if you've done it in the past, did you fertilize in winter?
I've one book that discussed outdoor annuals/perrenials being brought in during winter, and the author states feeding them every 2 wks..This doesn't sound right to me, at least in areas that are cold and most days are cloudy. If you do fertilize what type is best? A foliage type or something else? I don't know if Cordyline flowers since most are grown for foliage..In fact, thousands of green and purple Corydy's are sold each spring..ppl use in the center of baskets/containers then surrounded by hanging annuals. So, I'm assuming since Codyline is a relative or in the family as Dracaena, it should be able to grow indoors, right? LOL..Toni

Yes, it will grow indoors. I would suggest a cool location. I used to overwinter my green ones in an unheated (but attached) garage and they never had a problem (temps would range from about near freezing to 60 F in the winter. To tell you the truth though, I have never overwintered them at more typical room temperatures so I don't know if they pose any special problems. Yes, cordylines are closely related to the dracaenas. Like the dracaenas they are flowering plants but we tend not to grow either for their flowers. I would agree that you should lay off the fertilizer during the the shorter days of the year. I generally stop fertilizing in October and begin light fertilizing in February. Go with a fertilizer high in nitrogen as you're growing for foliage and not flowers. Good luck!

NJ, how long did you have your Cordy's? Do you think the green need different care than purple?
Actually, both indoor plant rooms are semi-unheated..in other words, there isn't any vents in either room. I also use a humidifer, so humidity shouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure which room I'm going to place the Cordyline yet..Whichever is the coolest and brightest. Both have south windows, but they're pretty filled or will be once plants are brought in..LOL..

Waterroots, so you haven't any problem w/your Cordyline? That's good news..Because of its leaves, it seems this type of Cordyline doesn't require a ton of humiidty like their cousins. But I'd think to keep purple color it'd need a good amount of light..Which window do you keep yours in?
The day we went plant shopping, we saw a huge version..Oh it was a beauty..I wanted to ask the clerk questions about it's age, etc, but nobody seemed to know much..And some ppl didn't speaking English. I wish us all luck this winter..Toni

Hi Toni. Yes, I have had no problems with this plant; it's an amazing little thing. And you are right about the light. Up until a little while ago, I had it sitting right in front of a southeast window where it basked in the morning sun. Recently I transferred it right in front of a south, slightly west one. I want to see which window will be best. So far it seems as though it's thriving in both locations. Both windows have sheer curtains, which the Cordyline seems to be happy with. So up until now I've been thrilled with this precious plant. But...I haven't gone through the winter with it yet. So you are right...let's hope all of us have luck with the winter season!

You know what's weird? In all the years growing plants, and chatting on GW, this is the first time I've heard any talk about growing Cordyline's (spikes) indoors..LOL..It's not like this common Spike is new, because they've been around for years..Mainly used as annuals then tossed in fall. Then suddenly a group of us are talking about overwintering it inside..I hope we all keep track of each others Cordy's. I'm sorry I didn't buy more since they're inexpensive..Especially at Walmart.
I'm curious as to how ppl grow theirs..who fertilizes, amounts of water, etc. I think I'll halt on fertilizer in late Sept/Oct, but use Superthrive and see how that works. One last feeding in Sept..keep soil on the dry side during winter months. Set in a cool room w/the most light..Yep, I hope everyone's does well..Toni

So? How did this plant variety do over the winter? Will it be going out again this summer?

One year, after a light frost, my cordylines (2 - regular green) still looked good, so I thought I'll try to keep over the winter - maybe I'll have a HUGE spike to plant out next spring with my geraniums. Everyone here calls these plants 'spikes', they are sold in masses in the spring, in teeny 2" pots, the plants have only 4-7 leaves, and that's what mine had started out as. But it grew well, so after this frost, I semi-carefully dug it out of the pot, it had lots of long roots, which I trimmed off so I could fit it into a 1 gallon nursery pot to bring indoors. With all the root pruning, and I only had to trim back a few older leaves that were dying, I did not lose any growth after bringing it in.

It continued to grow over the winter, so much so that it's diameter was 4 feet, and I could hardly wait to take it back outside 'cause it was taking up valuable living space. It was placed in a large 6 foot SW facing window, and got good sun. I watered it as little as possible, no fertilizer until late in February.

In the spring, the special treatment I had to give it was that I fashioned a 'cast' out of paper, sort of like a narrow toilet paper tube, to put around the newer center leaves, since we get strong winds in the spring, and the new growth would not be strong enough to handle that. After I couple of weeks outside I could remove his paper cast (there would have been new outdoor leaves coming up) and he grew happily, though this big cordyline did not leave a whole lot of room for my flowers! But he looked majestic beginning of June, whereas most years they look that way come the end of August. The other thing is that I would have originally paid $1 for him when he was little, for the size I stuck out the following year, those ones ran at $10 in the local nurseries, and they still weren't near as big as mine! Since I would never fork out that kind of moola for a 'spike', it was satisfying to me that I could have a big one at the cost of reusing a recycled nursery pot, and some potting soil - cheap....kioni.

hehe. i just received my 6' red cordylines (as they're called in finland) from a greenhouse in helsinki. they do grow trunks. you have to take them indoors in the winter in the northern states. the lower leaves will continue to die and devolop a trunk.

Six feet, eh? I wonder what the price is for one of those? (and I'm whining about the $7 I paid today for my red star in a 4 inch pot!).

Just did a search on the internet, it said Cordyline australis can be propagated by it's "toes" or "knees", those are the knobby growing points on it's roots. Anyone try this? Would it be worth it? I know someone who ran a greenhouse quite a few years back, she said the tubers (or corms - it didn't sound like she used seed) had to be started 6 months in advance for the green variety to be ready for sale in the spring (and those were the little ones). I'm just thinking it would be nice if a cutting could be taken and have a much smaller plant growing indoors over winter for the next summer's planting. If not, then paying the greenhouse is the way to go!

Too bad these aren't as easy to make new plants from as is Cordyline glauca?

We have Cordyline that sell in New England as "Dracaena spikes", as annuals, and they survived some exceptionally mild winters. I planted the red variety next to the driveway
and I tried protecting it with an overturned nursery pot with straw around it. It died to the ground but sprouted from the roots in the spring; the next winter it succumbed.