Hey guys and gals. I bought a Dracaena fragrans Massangeana aka Corn Plant maybe 6 months ago, and I have a few questions that I'd love some answers to.

First - For the first time, I wiped down the leaves, and realized they were covered in a whole lot of soot. The plant I bought came with 4 trunks, 3 of them I keep outside (but out of direct sun), and 1 inside. I live in a pretty traffic-heavy area, so the leaves got covered with a lot of soot. Is this soot harmful? Should I wipe the leaves more often? Or is it just aesthetically annoying?

Second - The plants I bought came with the tops of the trunks covered in a brown wax. What's the purpose of this? Does it stop the trunk from growing? If so, if I cut the trunk below the wax, will the trunk start growing again?

Third - On one of the trunks, there were 2 stems with leaves growing, but I was out of town and one of the stems died. Is there any way to grow a new stem? Get more leaves?

Any help is appreciated!

-dny

The soot may be caused by two different things. First, does it seem like it is just dirty and caused by air pollution? If so, then you will have to wash the plant quite often. The plant leaves need to be free of dust to allow the normal process of respiration(is that the right word?). You also do not want to ever use any type of leaf shine. This will also block the normal leaf function.
The other possibility is a type of fungus. I don't remember exactly what it is called, but it causes some type of black soot. You may want to look into plant diseases and see if this is the cause.
The wax at the top of the plant is probably to prevent stem rot and damage to the trunk. I've never had to cut it off and my plant grew fine.
There is nothing right now that you can do about the lost leaves. The plant will eventually start to grow new shoots, but it may always be unbalanced. If you still love the plant, don't worry about it too much.