Go Artsy by Giving Your Plants a New Look
When a plant becomes leggy and is branching out a substantial distance form its base, its time to trim it back. Select the stem you plan to cut and use a sharp razor blade or quality pruning shears to make a horizontal cut straight across the stem directly above a node. If you can manage a four or five inch stem from the section you’ve just pruned, you can use that slip to begin a new plant.
Pinching the process by which the center growth of a young plant is kept low and forced to grow outward rather than up. The center portion of most all plants will grow stronger because it’s in direct alignment with the roots and thus obtains more nutrition. If center growth is removed, that nutrition is transferred to the outside growth. If pinching is to be effective you must do it early. Waiting too ling will create the need to cut the plant way back and you won’t get your desire effect.
An alternate type of pinching that’s done on flowering plants is meant to increase the size of the flowers the plant will produce. If a plant has a large number of buds, you can assure yourself a heartier and more attractive flower if you pinch off some of the excessive buds. This process is meant to produce ‘quality over quantity’ by allowing the plants nutrients to be divided among a fewer number of tasks.
Air layering is a type of tropical plant propagation that focuses on the appearance of a particular plant instead of increasing the number of plants available. This can be done even if your are planning on a certain landscaping design for your garden.
Air layering, sometimes called Chinese air layering, is a method used to cut back long-stemmed, leggy tropical plants. Several inches below the lowest branches on the plant, you should make a vertical incision about two inches long. This incision should be made in the stem and should be as deep as a third of the stem diameter. Use a plastic paper as a cover (polyethylene bags in which potting soil is distributed are excellent for this function) and bind sphag-num moss around the cut. After you complete the steps, water the plant thoroughly.
Keep the cut covered and keep the plant thoroughly watered for around eight weeks. You will notice that new roots have formed at the sight of the cut and the plant can be pinched off just below that point. You may then plant your new growth in a pot of regular potting soil. The old plant can be discarded if you so choose. There is no set time to perform this type of propagation, most gardeners agree that spring and fall are the best times, but in general, the success rate is steady year round.
