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purpleinopp

Dracaena marginata suckers? Aerial roots?

It's only been about 6 months since this tree was repotted but the tips are going yellow. Sure enough, the pot was crammed with roots, and one root coming out of a drain hole was turning green. Is this a sucker, like on a lilac shrub? I broke that one off, trying to turn it so I could put it back in the pot with that green nub exposed. But there were a couple other strange roots that looked like they had similar potential, so I did leave a few of them exposed to see what happens.

Comments (11)

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The whole plant. The green nub is at the bottom of the pic. You can also see another strange thing at the crown, in front of my ring finger, doesn't look like a normal root.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Here it is repotted, and there's a thing on the trunk that looks like an aerial root to me.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    These are the strange roots I was able to bend so they would be exposed.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Closer shot of what may be an aerial root. When these plants sprout a new top from the trunk, it's pointed and looks like tiny leaves almost immediately. This is definitely not that.

  • PRO
    The Ficus Wrangler
    11 years ago

    I think your things are new roots. Sometimes, when the roots down in the pot are damaged/dead, the marginata starts growing roots from farther up the stem. Means that the rot (fungaluglies as Al calls them) has not got into the stem tissues, and the prognosis is good.

  • greenlarry
    11 years ago

    Looks like an ariel root to me. Not sure about the green root, do these plants sucker?

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks, FW. I didn't see or feel any signs of rot in the roots, but as I said above, the tips were going yellow the past couple weeks, so that's what inspired the peek into the pot.

    Never seen a root turn green after escaping a drain hole but I'm a regular at repotting, so it doesn't come up that often...

    Larry, that's what made me wonder, that greenness, if suckers are possible. Only been a few days, but no signs of green on the exposed roots yet. The ones I chose to expose looked the same (structurally, size) to me as the one that turned green (that I broke,) but they may not be.

  • greenlarry
    11 years ago

    Roots exposed to light on some plants will often turn green if allowed to see light, its not always good for the plant, hence why I wont use see thru pots.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    That's cool, but this particular scenario isn't about what's good for the plant. It's about experimenting, seeing what it can do, plenty of pieces to experiment with. And hey, it was the plant's idea. Which reminds me I forgot to mention, I'm anticipating the lateral placement of the trunk just under the surface will result in several new tops along its' length. Curious to see how it responds to this treatment.

    Any other ideas?

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    This plant seems to be doing well and, strangely enough, losing the fewest leaves of all the Dracs I repotted that same day.

    As is custom for almost all posted pics that include even the tiniest spot of "soil," I took a pic right after watering, caught with my moist on. The exposed roots are turning green...

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Brought this up searching for something else, so might as well offer some closure. Sideways orientation never did yield new tops along the stems, although I only gave it less than a year. Nothing interesting ever happened with those roots. They eventually shriveled, when I repotted again, I put that plant back in a 'normal' positon.

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