Looking for advice for my 3 new plants (lemon tree, Dracaena Marginata, Monstera)

[Kiwi_in_China]

Hello everyone!

I recently bought several new plants for my apartment, but unfortunately I have not had very good luck with them so far. The lemon tree and monstera both suffered extreme cold damage during shipping (luckily the shop has agreed to send new plants once the weather warms up). However both of these plants are starting to show signs of new life. So I'm looking for some advice on what would be the best thing to do with them now.

As can be seen in the photos, all of the leaves at the top of the lemon tree are dead or dying, but there is new growth near the base of the tree. So I'm wondering if I should just top this tree, and if so, at about what height?

Also as can be seen in the photos, all the original leaves on the monstera were quite damaged by the cold, and I pruned quite a few that were completely brown, but fresh new leaves are starting to emerge. So I'm also wondering if I should prune all the original damaged leaves, and if so, should I cut them near the base or higher up?

Finally, I also bought a dracaena marginata from a different supplier, which arrived in pretty good condition. However since I've potted it up the leaves have quickly started turning brown... Does anyone have any advice as to what would be causing this? I thought it was possibly sunburn, so tried moving it to a spot with less direct sunlight. I've potted it up in a organic soil with added sheep manure, which seems to be very dense and does not drain very quickly, so I'm wondering if that could be the problem... TIA!

 

[oneeye]

Thank you for the post. You have a great start and can learn from the plants. It won't be long before everything is growing well.

If the lemon tree is grafted the new sprout may not be the same as the original plant. Any green you can save is in the best interest for the plant.

I would remove all the dead stuff and keep it removed. Anything dead won't grow again and will attract insects or diseases.

When you up-pot a dracaena marginata into too large of a container with fresh potting soil it can cause 2 problems. It increases the water holding capacity ( overwatering) and in increases the nutrients (over fertilized) from the new potting mix. When you overwater and have too high of an EC the plant will have problems. I would get it out of the new pot and put back in the original pot to recover. When the plant adapts and is growing well you can up-pot only 2-inch size pot increase at a later date.

Keep us posted on the new arrivals and how your plants do in a few days or weeks.

 

[RockyAldo]

Trim dead growth and MUST avoid overwatering.

 

[cpp gardener]

On the Monstera, only remove the brown part of each leaf. It won’t look spectacular, but the plant needs all the green photosynthesizing material it can support. That’s where all the food production happens.

 

[Kiwi_in_China]

Thank you for the post. You have a great start and can learn from the plants. It won't be long before everything is growing well.

If the lemon tree is grafted the new sprout may not be the same as the original plant. Any green you can save is in the best interest for the plant.

I would remove all the dead stuff and keep it removed. Anything dead won't grow again and will attract insects or diseases.

When you up-pot a dracaena marginata into too large of a container with fresh potting soil it can cause 2 problems. It increases the water holding capacity ( overwatering) and in increases the nutrients (over fertilized) from the new potting mix. When you overwater and have too high of an EC the plant will have problems. I would get it out of the new pot and put back in the original pot to recover. When the plant adapts and is growing well you can up-pot only 2-inch size pot increase at a later date.

Keep us posted on the new arrivals and how your plants do in a few days or weeks.

Thanks for the replies and encouragement! I actually used to grow a lot of plants in NZ, but nearly all cacti and succulents, so this is a bit of a learning curve for me. The lemon tree isn't grafted, so should I consider topping it, or just trimming the dead foliage on top? As for the dracaena, it was shipped without a pot, so I needed to pot it up as soon as it arrived. I'm fairly sure the soil may be the problem though, it seems incredibly dense after watering it, almost to the point where it's difficult to push my fingers in. I've bought some new soil and also some peat moss and perlite to mix in

 

[Kiwi_in_China]

On the Monstera, only remove the brown part of each leaf. It won’t look spectacular, but the plant needs all the green photosynthesizing material it can support. That’s where all the food production happens.

Thanks for the reply! So its ok to just cut out the brown parts the leaves with a pair of clean scissors?

 

[Kiwi_in_China]

Thank you for the post. You have a great start and can learn from the plants. It won't be long before everything is growing well.

If the lemon tree is grafted the new sprout may not be the same as the original plant. Any green you can save is in the best interest for the plant.

I would remove all the dead stuff and keep it removed. Anything dead won't grow again and will attract insects or diseases.

When you up-pot a dracaena marginata into too large of a container with fresh potting soil it can cause 2 problems. It increases the water holding capacity ( overwatering) and in increases the nutrients (over fertilized) from the new potting mix. When you overwater and have too high of an EC the plant will have problems. I would get it out of the new pot and put back in the original pot to recover. When the plant adapts and is growing well you can up-pot only 2-inch size pot increase at a later date.

Keep us posted on the new arrivals and how your plants do in a few days or weeks.

I've added a photo of the whole lemon tree for reference, as well as the much healthier and happier replacement that was delivered yesterday.

 

[cpp gardener]

Yes, a clean pair of scissors is perfect (I used to use them when I had a business taking care of plants in offices).
You can start at the top of the lemon and cut off the stems until you get to green wood. Then you can get new growth from there.