Pruning & Fertilizing

Be sure to understand each plants individual growth habit as each will be different and some plants don’t need to be pruned to “train” desired growth, for example Palms, Bird of Paradise.

• Removing lackluster/dead leaves - Removing any dead or lackluster plant material can help “refresh” your plant and enhance the appearance.
• Pruning to train - Some plants can benefit from light pruning at the start of the Spring to help encourage desired growth. For example, if you want your Fiddle to branch out it’s best to prune off the top (“behead”) to help facilitate more branching. Same applies for a trailing Pothos or Philodendron that you want to grow in more of a bushier appearance. Pruning off the tips of stems can help to facilitate it to branch out into several branches which adds fullness.
• Pruning for aesthetics - This is basically just pruning off dead leaves or brown leaf edges to enhance the appearance of plants. This doesn’t impact or improve their health and is strictly for aesthetic purposes.

Replacing essential nutrients - When plants actively grow but aren’t ready to be fully repotted fertilizing can come in to help replace essential nutrients that were lost until you are ready to provide fresh soil for your plant.

• Newly Potted - Newly potted plants should already have the micro/macro nutrients they need in order to grow. Therefore, it’s best not to fertilize freshly potted plants until about 2-3 months after and during the growing season.
• Use Sparingly - Since fertilizer isn’t food, it’s best to only fertilize on a bi-weekly to a monthly basis depending on the fertilizer you’re using. Fertilizing too often can lead to nutrient toxicities in the soil and can easily kill a plant when they get too much.
• Low Light - Plants that are placed in low light do not need to be fertilized since there metabolic activity is slow due to the lack of light. Therefore, they really won’t make much use of fertilizer without enough light and it’ll just remain stagnant in the soil- possibly causing fertilizer burn to the leaves.