The good news is that you don’t need to prune your indoor plants regularly as you would your outdoor plants, but at some point, if you need to, you will need to use your pruning shears to snip off some stray hairs. Perhaps you should remove some dead leaves or branches from the plant to keep it looking good. If you would like to encourage a more balanced pattern of growth, perhaps you should do so. There are likely some plants that take up a disproportionate amount of space in your living room. While others might be slender and in need of a trimming. Regardless of the reason, it is critical to understand how to properly prune your houseplants, so you do not cause stress to your window sill neighbors.
The Benefits Of Pruning Your Houseplants
Gets Rid of Damaged Leaves and Stems
It is crucial to keep damaged leaves and stems away from your plants because they can actually drain them of energy. You can free your plant from some of that work by removing dead parts and allowing it to focus its energy on healthy leaves and new growth!
Likewise, if you find that part of your plant has been infected with bacteria or fungi, it is best to remove those leaves so the problem does not spread throughout the whole plant. Keeping up with good hygiene is just a good idea!
Keeps Your Plant from Getting Too Big
It is possible for trees and climbing plants like indoor trees and climbing plants to grow aggressively toward the sun, which can make them too tall or large for the location where they grow. Getting your plants pruned prevents this from happening and gives them a more compact appearance.
Give Your Plant Balance
Depending on where your plant receives its lighting, it may grow sideways in the direction of the nearest window, making it lopsided and out of balance. (The last thing you want is to see your plant tipping over!)
This can be prevented by rotating your plant regularly so that it grows symmetrically. However, plants can still get out of balance, and pruning will prevent growth from becoming lopsided.
Decrease Crowded Areas
In order to remain healthy, leaves need to be able to breathe. When you have too many leaves on your plant, they can rub against each other and damage them, or reduce airflow, which puts it at risk of diseases like mildew. In densely populated areas, you’ll want to prune.
When To Prune Houseplants
For many varieties of houseplants, pruning is best done at the beginning of the growing season, which is usually late winter or early spring. In fact, woody indoor plants require constant pruning to remove dead leaves and branches throughout the year, which is an exception to the seasonal rule. When pruning flowering plants, one should prune them soon after they have finished blooming. When you prune them just before they flower, you will remove buds that would otherwise blossom.
What You’ll Need
Equipment / Tools
- Pruning shears
- Kitchen scissors
- Gardening gloves (optional)
Materials
- Mature, overgrown houseplant
Instructions
- Observe the Plant Observe your houseplant from a distance and pay attention to the shape and structure. If the leaf appears to be growing spindly, fuller on one side, or is diseased or dying, pay attention. Observe also the areas of potential new growth, known as “latent buds.” These typically occur where the leaf joins the stem of the plant.
- Determine Your Tools You should use pruning shears if the plant’s branches are thick, such as on an indoor tree. You may be able to get a cleaner cut with kitchen scissors if they are slender.
- Remove Dead Matter Leaves and stems that have turned yellow should be cut off. Pull away rotted stems from the roots and make sure the soil dries out before the next watering.
- Deadhead the Plant A flowering houseplant should have all its spent flowers removed by pinching them off or clipping them away from its main stem as closely as possible.
- Make Your Cuts To promote new growth, you should make judicious cuts. The cut should be made just before a leaf node. Alternatively, cut it as close as possible to the main stem when cutting back larger stems. Keep the plant, however, from being taken out more than 25 percent.
Houseplant Pruning Tips
A thorough understanding of the plant’s growth pattern is necessary for proper pruning. Plants grow from the tip down, which means new growth originates at the dominant bud at the end of a branch or stem.
To prune a plant so that new growth will be bushy, remove the dominant buds on select stems, staggering the cuts to encourage varied growth. A quarter of the branches should be trimmed back, a half of them, and others should be trimmed all the way to the base. So when the plant leaves out again, the pattern of random growth will fill out the plant.
Deadheading is simply the process of removing dead flowers from a plant. Plants that bloom spend a lot of energy on their flowers at the expense of new growth. Flowers consume energy from their plants even as they are dying. In order to prolong the blooming period and promote healthy growth, deadheading is often necessary.
The importance of cleanliness when pruning cannot be overstated. A plant can be infected by any cut made to its tissue. You should keep your pruning tools sharp, and disinfect them with a mild bleach-and-water solution between each use.
You can save houseplant cuttings, re-root them in a cup of water, and then plant them again to grow a new plant. It is possible to propagate succulent clippings directly in soil and keep them moist by planting them in a pot of soil. It shouldn’t take long for new plants to start growing.
How Do You Prune Plants Without Killing Them?
You should avoid being overly aggressive. It is important not to become too forceful when pruning. Cut back dead, diseased, and damaged parts of your plants rather than simply trimming them back as if you were styling a person’s hair. It is possible that some plants will accept this kind of treatment, but in general, do not be too forceful with them – treat them gently.
Can You Cut Dead Parts Off Leaves?
If you notice dead fronds or leaves on your house plants, cut them off as quickly as possible. By doing this, the plants will be able to direct their energy toward making other areas grow and bloom. Plants will spend a lot of energy trying to revive areas that are already too far gone when they direct their energy toward dead areas. Leaves, stems, and branches which are dead, diseased, or damaged must be removed as soon as possible.
Plants That Shouldn’t Be Pruned
Pruning is rarely necessary for some houseplants, while others should never be pruned at all. The Norfolk Island pine and the palm both form a terminal dominant bud; however, they lack latent buds. In this case, removing the dominant bud will kill the plant, so this species should be left alone.
It is also impossible to prune many varieties of orchids beyond removing dead flower spikes. Ideally, you should cut at the point where the spike emerges from the leaves, and hopefully you will see blooms again after several months.
To sum it up…
A large part of gardening, whether indoors or outdoors, involves pruning. Pruning dead, damaged, or diseased plant parts will keep your plants healthy. It is possible to trim plants in general, but you need to be very careful and research what is best for the plant you are pruning. Be careful not to trim too aggressively. Trimming and pruning might seem frightening at first, but as you practice, you will learn how to support the plants in the garden as gracefully as possible.