Should You Cut off Dead Leaves From an Indoor Plant?
Gardeners often ask themselves this question, so how do they know if the answer is correct.
What are the benefits to cutting off dead leaves from indoor plants? Also, what are the disadvantages? In addition to adding beauty to a room, plants also help to purify the air, so it is important to take care of your plant.
Yes, you should remove dead leaves from indoor plants because it is beneficial for them. It does not matter whether you are removing dead roots, dead limbs, dead leaves, or dead flowers. Remove browning and dying leaves as soon as possible from your house plants, but only if the leaves are 50 percent damaged.
In the process of growing, your indoor plant will undergo the process of elimination. Old leaves, branches, flowers, and stems will die off as new growth emerges. By removing the old growth, the plant will be able to continue growing without losing energy.
It is important to know that sometimes the foliage does not die because it is old and this serves as a way for the indoor plant to introduce new growth. There are a number of reasons for this this, including excessive or inadequate watering, insects, and diseases. These are the types of problems your plant must be taken care of otherwise it could suffer more dead leaves and such.
It may seem simple enough, but you have to consider more than just eliminating the damaged leaves. You need to ensure that your plant’s health is maintained by determining how much of the leaf needs to be removed.
Why You Should Cut Off Dying Leaves
Getting rid of dying leaves is recommended for three main reasons:
- So that nutrients can be released and new growth can occur
- The best way to prevent diseases and pests
- In order to enhance one’s appearance and health
Removing dying leaves allows nutrients to go to the plants that need it most – healthy leaves and flowers. Dying leaves also leach out nutrients that are better used elsewhere in the plant. It is not a good idea to maintain non-viable leaves at the expense of plant resources.
In plants, it may be advantageous to remove dead leaves during the active growing season to encourage new growth.
A plant’s leaves are damaged by a disease or insect problem and should be removed as soon as possible in order to reduce the chance of spreading the problem elsewhere on the plant. Inspect any leaves you remove. Apply treatment immediately if you suspect a pest or disease infestation.
Additionally, dying and brown leaves do not look good. They look unhealthy and unattractive. They should be cut off to make them healthier and more appealing. When plants fail to remove brown leaves from their leaves they can tend to decline more rapidly.
When to Remove Dead Leaves
Occasionally you just have to cut off the brown tips to bring the plant back to life. If you see dying leaves on your plant, remove them only if they are 50% damaged. The leaves should only be permitted to stay on the tree until the leaves naturally fall off, unless there is an insect problem or a disease present. The leaves in this case need to be removed immediately.
How to Remove Dead and Dying Leaves
The dead leaves and dying leaves should usually come off quite easily with just a gentle tug. If not, then you can wait a few days and they will come off on their own. Leaves that are not removed by gentle tugging should not be pulled off by pulling them. This can damage healthy branches or stems. You should cut the leaf as close to the stem as possible with clean pruning shears or scissors. Make sure not to break the stem. Do not leave dead leaves on the plants, as they are a breeding ground for diseases and pests.
Cutting Off Brown Leaf Tips
Without removing the entire leaf, you can trim off brown tips or edges of the leaves. Use your sharp plants shears, and follow the natural shape of the leaves. If you cut bluntly along the length of the leaf, the cut will appear unnatural. If you follow the leaf’s natural shape, the cut will appear natural.
Use disinfectant spray on houseplant shear or scissors blades every time you use them to prevent the spread of disease and maintain their good condition.
In general, your plant’s leaves will occasionally turn brown as it ages. Sometimes, though, brown leaves point to a problem with light, water, nutrients, or disease. If leaves are constantly turning brown, make sure your plant is getting enough sun, water, and fertilizer.
Benefits of Removing Dead Leaves
Landscape effect
Though your plants are indoors, they offer a sense of a landscape when viewed from a distance with the way they are arranged, how the different species complement each other, even the colors coordinate.
A dead branch or part of a plant can take away from the tranquility, which is important to an arrangement, or a landscape. Often a dead branch demonstrates a weakness in the structure. Additionally to the aesthetics of the plant, leaving dead branches there is a breeding ground for insects, decay, and disease. Remove dead branches immediately upon discovery.
Health of plant
By removing the dead parts of your indoor plant, you keep the plant’s healthy parts from being attacked by decomposing organisms and insects. When an infestation of insects is the cause of the death of the leaves, removing them will prevent the infestation from spreading to other healthy plants and protect the rest of the plant from becoming sick or infested. It is possible for the plant to decline at a faster rate if you leave on old or dying leaves.
Protect people and property
The dead parts of plants allow poisonous insects and stinging ants to bore into the plant and build their nests. Unless your plant is extra-large, you won’t have to worry about the branch breaking off and hurting anyone. Animals and children could be playing around the plant and be unaware that these insects exist. Such bites could be deadly if the pet or child is allergic to the insect or the insect is poisonous.
Growth and yields
To make sure that new flowers and leaf buds get an extra boost, you will need to cut away dead flowers and leaves that have become yellowed, wilted, or is turning brown. Simply use clean pruning shears to pinch them off.
Nutrients will no longer be provided to the dead parts of the plants and instead, they will be passed to the healthy parts. Moreover, removing dead stuff contributes to the preparation of the plants for sunlight, which increases air circulation. In addition, releasing nutrients to the other growing parts of plants will stimulate leaf production.
Conclusion
Dead leaves or flowers, as well as dead stems and flowers, may need to be removed. You may be able to pluck them off without the need for shears, but more often you will have to use scissors.
You should also clean your shears before you move on to clip or cut off more leaves. This is because if the dead leaves were due to an insect infestation, you may not be reintroducing the insects into another plant or into a part of the plant that is healthy.
Please make sure to tug the leaves or flowers off gently. If you pull them, they may break or injure the plant. As with anything that grows, your indoor plant is shedding its old leaves and flowers to grow new ones. You need sunlight and water to let your plant grow and thrive. It also keeps your plant looking nice too and gives your plant a pleasing appearance.