Pruning house plants

House plants need pruning occasionally—just like garden plants. Take care of your house plants by cutting and shaping them with Fiskars scissors suitable for house plants, and you will enjoy a lush atmosphere in your home.

Checklist for pruning:

  • Pruning promotes the well-being of the house plant, activates growth and makes the plant branch.
  • House plants are generally cut in the winter when the resting phase ends or in the early spring, when the growing season begins.
  • By pruning, you can trim the shoots of the house plant from the tip, remove branching shoots or trim the shape of the plant.
  • Don’t prune Norfolk pines, palm plants, orchids and certain succulent plants.
  • Always use clean and sharp house plant scissors and trimmers.

Pruning a house plant

When you are considering pruning house plants, the first thing to do is to look at your plant and evaluate the need for and method of pruning. When you prune house plants, you can:

  • Trim shoots from the tip.
  • Remove small branching shoots from woody plants if necessary-
    • Shape the plant by trimming.


Prune the plant around 0.5 cm above a leaf or a branching shoot. A healthy resistant plant can withstand pruning and usually recovers within a few weeks. After pruning, it’s a good idea to fertilize the plant with a house plant nutrient.

Timely pruning of house plants

  • House plants are generally cut in the winter when the resting phase ends or in the early spring when the growing season begins, but minor pruning can be carried out throughout the year.
  • Wilting parts of plants and dead and weak plant matter can be pruned at all times.
  • If you want to strengthen the plant and make it branch and grow thicker, it’s a good idea to schedule the pruning for the late winter, when the growing season begins. In the spring and summer, there is enough light to support growth, and the plant regenerates well.
  • As a rule, flowering house plants are pruned only after flowering to avoid cutting emerging buds, buds or flowers. Woody house plants such as figs may need to be pruned because of their growth or appearance.

Choose sharp and clean trimmers for pruning house plants

  • When pruning thicker branches with wooden stems, you should use pruners intended for house plants.
  • Plant scissors and precision scissors are also suitable for pruning thinner shoots. The pruning of bonsai trees in particular requires precision, which makes sharp and narrow-tipped scissors necessary.
  • Always use clean house plant scissors and tools.
  • Clean the scissors between each pruning or every time before starting. For cleaning, you can use alcohol-containing detergents and disinfectants, for example. If you use dirty tools, you can spread plant diseases without realizing it.
  • Use only sharp scissors for pruning to ensure that the cut surface is tidy. Blunt scissors can crush plant tissue and cause damage.

Three tips for pruning house plants

Planting, watering and fertilizing are generally enough for house plants, but pruning is also useful. Correctly performed pruning promotes the well-being of the plant, activates growth and causes house plants to branch. By pruning, you can make a disheveled house plant grow thicker and denser.

1. Remove damaged and wilting leaves and flowers

  • Wilting leaves and flowers are part of normal house plant life, and there is no need to worry about individual yellowing leaves.
  • Remove wilting leaves and flowers or shoots that are in poor condition to make your house plant look better.
  • Pruning also ensures that the plant uses its energy for healthy growth and not unnecessarily for yellowing leaves.
  • If wilting occurs to an exceptional degree, it’s a good idea to check the watering routine.

Note! Wilting is a normal development related to the life cycle of a flowering plant and a flower. Pruning a wilted flower tells the plant that it should form new buds and flowers and not focus on maturing seeds.

2. Pruning promotes healthy house plants

  • It’s important for house plants to grow appropriately dense and thick, but it’s also good to have a suitable amount of space and air in the inner part of the plant.
  • If the plant is too dense, this can damage the leaves and cause poor air circulation, making it easier for plant diseases and pests to attack even a healthy house plant. Air should be able to circulate in the inner part of the plant as well.


3. Keep the growth under control

  • If your house plants look like a jungle, pruning will freshen their appearance and bring structure to your interior design.
  • If growing house plants are taking up too much space, pruning will help you keep the plants compact. Tall-growing or climbing house plants can sometimes surprise you with their rapid growth.

Pruning instructions for different green plant species

Many plants such as figs and other woody house plants should be pruned regularly to keep their growth compact and their shape balanced. Stemmed house plants may generate new growth at the root or at the base, which should be pruned.

Herbaceous house plants are pruned from the tips of the shoots. For example, this applies to plants growing in hanging baskets, such as golden pothos and silver pothos. Cuttings, whether from woody plants or climbing soft-stemmed house plants, can also be rooted in a glass of water or pushed directly into the soil, giving you new plants.

Note! Don’t prune Norfolk pines and palm plants. If you shorten the top of these plants, they will not grow new top shoots. Individual yellowing, wilting leaves can be removed, but pruning the growing point at the top will not activate the plant to generate new growth. You should also avoid pruning many orchids, but you can remove wilting flowers. Some succulent plants should not be pruned either.

Golden pothos

  • If your golden pothos is growing long, the distance between leaves is long, and the leaves are growing sparsely, prune the shoots to the desired length.
  • Cut the shoots after a pair of leaves and a joint.
  • From the cut shoots, you can cut top and stem cuttings, which you can root in water or moist soil.
  • Always shorten the cutting below the axil and the joint. The roots are formed at the joint.

Rubber plant, banyan tree and fiddle-leaf fig

  • Prune overgrown figs by cutting off the top shoots.
  • Shorten the house plant a couple of centimeters above a pair of leaves, after a joint. The mother plant will begin to branch at the joint.
  • You can also continue to grow a single-stem fig tree by pruning the shoots and removing the side shoots growing at the bottom of the stem.

Swiss cheese plant

  • In the wild, the Swiss cheese plant grows climbing and covering the ground. If you have one as a house plant and you want to keep it dense, prune growing shoots.
  • Pruning activates branching and makes the plant grow more bushy.
  • You can grow new plants from the shoots as long as you cut off the part of the shoot that has a leaf and a joint; that is, a growing point.
  • Root the cuttings in water and plant them in soil when the roots have developed.

 

Read more plant care tips: