My curiosity poll today⊠Which school of thought are you in: A) When a leaf is dying off, itâs best to cut it off to avoid the plant expending excess energy on that leaf anymore, and also thus avoiding any fungal issues etc etc that might be spread to other leaves. B) When a leaf is dying off, itâs best to leave the leaf on until itâs completely shriveled up, dry and brown, to allow the plant to re-absorb all of the nutrients from that leaf for the rest of the plant to use.
Iâve read that it helps to cut it bc then the plant isnât wasting resources. At least thatâs how I rationalize it in my head now.
1 gilla Yes, Iâve heard that too. Found this online regarding that: âPlants have meristems (apical, intercalary, lateral). So they keep growing forever until they die. If a leaf is cut, it will simply grow a few more at other places using the meristematic cells to differentiate into leaf tissues. Conclusion: No, leaf cutting will not kill the plant but if you cut all the leaves at once, the plant might die of starvation after a few days.â âŠwhich kinda solidifies my earlier thought, that as long as Iâm not cutting the few leaves that are left (preventing photosynthesis) or that its not suffering from being overwatered (yellowing), thatâs its perfectly fine to cut off. So many if/and/buts to consider! đđ€
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I cut it off
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I am loving this convo! Maybe there could be a group thatâs all about plant research/opinions/controversy etc!
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My mom always taught me to cut it off to help the plant focus on saving the healthy leaves. I feel like if we are fertilizing appropriately, and watering as they need, they donât need to rely on reabsorbing nutrients from it like they would âin the wildâ. Every year she comes and trims my day lilies back and they always look happier when she does, but I still canât bring myself to chop back the long sweeping leaves.
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