My corn plant (Dracaena fragrans) has black mold on the stalks & the leaves are dying. Help! Please! :-)?

Question

The plant is 2years old composed of three stalks. Over the past 3 or 4 weeks, it has progressed with the following: leaves turn yellow then dried & brown. (I trim but more die) small ammt. of black spotty mold on stalks. new growth stunted. leaf stem truning yellow/brown & mushy. top of stalks look pasty & is begining to get soft. pulled bark from this area & noticed clusters of white mold looking stuff.
I live in a aired region, spry leaves with water & water near stalk base when 1st few inches of soil is dry. Nothing environmentally has changed. Any suggestions of possible causes & solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You

Answer 1

This sounds like mealybug infestation. Mealybugs often look like small pieces of cotton and they ten to congregate where leaves and stems branch. They suck the sap out of plant tissue and weaken a plant leading to yellow foliage and eventually leaf drop. They also secrete a sweet substance called honeydew which can lead to black surface fungal growth called sooty mold.
Prevention - isolate the plant so it can't spread to other plants. Consult your local nursery or Cooperative Extension for a legal insecticide/chemical recommendation (Marathon II is particularly effective against the mealybug.). Ladybugs love these critters but I am assuming this is a house plant so that wouldn't be practical.
Hope you find something to get rid of the mealybug. The Dracaena plant is one of the best indoor plants for removing chemical toxins from the indoor environment.

Answer 2

There are diseases that clog the vascular tissues in the plant's stems. Once they are clogged water and minerals cannot get up the stem to the leaves where they are needed. Unfortunately most all of these diseases there is no chemical cure for. The one thing I might do, rather than just throwing in the towell, is cut everything off that is above where the black is. If you're lucky you will cut off all the diseased pasts and the plant will have enough reserve to come back. If not, you didn't lose anything by trying.