Keep your houseplants looking their best with a bit of pinching, trimming and cleanup. A few well-placed snips can improve a plant’s appearance and create cuttings to start new plants.
Start by removing any dead stems and leaves. Improve the overall beauty of spider plants, dracaenas and palms by trimming away the brown leaf tips caused by fluoride from tap water accumulating in the leaves. Avoid the problem by using rainwater, well water or water treated by reverse osmosis.
Trimming to improve the plant’s growth habit and size can provide immediate and long-term benefits. Removing a small or large portion of the stem tip encourages the plant to form more branches and compact growth. When you remove the stem tip you reduce the amount of the growth hormone auxin that promotes upward growth and discourages branching.
Encourage more branching without greatly reducing the plant’s size with a soft pinch. Remove just the uppermost portion of the stem where new leaves are developing.  Use a hard pinch to remove the tip and several inches of the leafy stem when you want to reduce the overall size and promote fuller growth on leggy plants.
Make a clean cut using sharp micro snips or pruners like Corona’ Tools’ houseplant pruners. The rust-proof, stainless steel blades can cut up to 1/4 inch in diameter and are shaped to make it easier to cut the intended leaves and stems. Your plant will look better, and the wound will close more quickly.
Avoid leaving stubs and keep the plant looking its best by making cuts above a set of healthy leaves or a node, the place where leaves once grew. Pruning elsewhere distracts from the plant’s appearance and the stubs create entryways for insects and disease.
When you finish pinching and pruning, do a bit of cleanup. Use a dry or damp soft cloth to wipe away any dust that accumulates on the leaves. Use a cosmetic brush to clean fuzzy leaved plants like African violets. Or give your plants a gentle warm shower in the sink or tub. Wrap the pot in a plastic bag if needed to keep soil out of the drain and plumbing. Removing the dust allows more light to reach the leaves for photosynthesis, which is essential for plant growth.
Use the trimmings from heirloom and unpatented plants to expand your houseplant collection. It’s easy to start new plants from leaf stem cuttings of various houseplants like inch plants, philodendron, pothos, dieffenbachias, dracaenas and many more. Use a sharp knife, snips or bypass pruners to cut 3- to 6-inch-long pieces from firm, mature nonwoody stems.
Remove the lowest leaf or two from the stem where roots will form. Stick the cutting in a small container filled with vermiculate, perlite or a well-drained potting mix. Loosely cover the potted cutting with a plastic bag left open at the top to increase the humidity around the cutting while it forms roots. Set the container in a bright location out of direct sun for several weeks as the roots develop. Once rooted, pot it up and place it in a space that receives the sunlight it prefers.
You’ll be amazed at how a bit of grooming and propagating can perk up a tired indoor garden. Share or trade extra rooted cuttings with family and friends so each of you can grow your indoor garden and memories.
