Pruning Dead Leaves and Flowers Off Of Houseplants
March 13th, 2009 | By: Jamie Jamison AdamsAsk the Expert: How to prune or trim dead leaves and flowers?
Hi, I'm not sure what to do when a leaf or a flower dies on your houseplant? do you pluck it off, or are you meant to cut? where abouts would you cut it so you don't accidentally stop things growing there ever again? Will the part you cut grow leaves or flower again?
right now, i have a peace lily with a few brown leaves and flowers which have bent right over. Haylee
Reply:
If a leaf is dead you need to remove it, by cutting it off or simply plucking it off the plant. The key is not to tear into the healthy flesh of the plant. I usually cut the leaves off as close to the stem as I can. I find cutting to be the easy way to remove leaves without fear of damaging the plant. As for flower removal, it depends on the plant. Most blooms on houseplants have bloom stalks. I usually follow the bloom stalk to the bottom of the plant or at least to the stem and cut it off. Some plants like geraniums have a bloom stalk but I don't cut them. Instead I follow the stalk until I feel a little bump, then I snap the stalk off at the bump. If you are unsure of where to cut the flowers, send me a picture or tell me which type of plant it is and I will tell you where to make the cut. For example, you need to follow the peace lily bloom stalk to the base of the plant and cut it off.
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October 1st, 2010 at 5:31 pm
I have a plant that is on the med-large size. It has large dark leaves and pink leaves (these are on stalks by them selves and they have like a light green stalk in the fold of the pink.) the pink may be a flower but appears to be a leaf. I do not know what it is. Orignally $20.00 at Wal Mart. It is a shade plant and I love this plant and wish for it to do well. I moved it out of the dining room and put it right in front of the window for about 4 or 5 days. Now about half of the large dark green leaves are dying and curling on the end. Do I trim or cut these? Being that they are such large leaves I thought trim, at least for looks, but what is good for the plant is what matters most. I don't know if I did a good job being descriptive or not. I'm going to try to google it. Maybe I'll get lucky. If I do I'll be back to update you. Thank you in advance for your advice and help.
October 4th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Yes, you can trim the dark leaves off. If you upload a picture of the plant I can try to identifiy it.
November 23rd, 2010 at 10:42 am
Hi, my name is Ben. All of the questions on here I have seen are concerning leafing plants. I have 3 Norfolk Island Pines, they are still quite small, and are indoor potted houseplants. It is a plant with needles. Do you still trim dead "fronds" for lack of a better word?
November 23rd, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Yes you can trim the dead "fronds" or branches. However, Norfolk Island pines really won't need any pruning maintenance to speak of. They are a temperamental plant. So, you will need to find a place they like and won't need to be moved once they become accustom to the location.