How to Prune Spider Plant Leaves That Have Grown Too Long

1. Reasons the leaves grow too long

(1) Too much fertilizer: This is the most important reason. Applying too much fertilizer, especially nitrogen fertilizer, easily causes the plant to grow leggy, and the leaves become very long, affecting the ornamental effect.

(2) Too much light: When the light duration is too long, the plant carries out more photosynthesis and grows very quickly, which ultimately causes the leaves to become too long.

2. Pruning methods

When the leaves are too long, they must be pruned, otherwise the overall shape will be greatly affected. First prepare the tool - a sharp small knife will do. Before pruning, it is best to sterilize it first. The first step is to cut off the dried-up leaves and yellowed leaves on the outer edge, so they do not get in the way of the following steps.

For leaves with a small withered part at the tip, it is best not to keep them either. Then comes pruning the overly long leaves. Be careful not to cut straight across, but at a slant, preferably making one cut on each side. This way it looks more natural. Note that you can mainly choose older leaves as the targets and keep the newly grown leaves. Spider plants have strong growth ability; after pruning, they will be encouraged to grow new leaves and small spider plantlets.

3. Pruning the root system

Not only the leaves need pruning, the roots also need regular pruning. You can prune when repotting or when the plant is growing poorly. The main task is to cut off diseased roots, old roots and rotten fibrous roots.