How to prune succulents? Teaching you the correct pruning method

Shaping and pruning, in most cases, should be applied to trees and shrubs or woody and herbaceous flowers. Ordinary succulents have no obvious main trunk and no obvious branches. So shaping and pruning work is not very important, but timely and reasonable pruning can lower the plant shape, promote branching, make succulents grow more robustly and give them a more graceful shape. At the same time, the branches cut off during pruning can also be used to propagate succulents again. Now let's learn with Succulent Jun how to shape your succulents!

1

Pinching

Through pinching, succulents are encouraged to branch more, form more flower buds and bloom more, making the plant shape more compact and dwarfed. Pinching means cutting off the top of the succulent's stem, above the leaves. It is suitable for Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, Cotyledon tomentosa, Tradescantia sillamontana, Brugmansia, Ceropegia woodii, and so on.

2

Thinning branches

The main purpose is to keep the succulent's appearance neat. Generally speaking, the focus is on pruning overly dense overlapping branches, irregular crossing branches, leggy branches that are not worth keeping, sprouting shoots at the base, as well as dead branches and diseased or pest-infested branches. It is suitable for plants of the Crassulaceae genus Thompsonella and plants of the Geraniaceae genus Sarcocaulon, and for Euphorbia tirucalli. The pruning period is best after flowering or after leaf fall.

3

Hard pruning

Also called heading back, it involves cutting off the entire plant or pruning 10-20 cm from the base of the main trunk, to encourage new branches to sprout from the base of the main trunk or from the roots. It is often used for succulents that are too tall or whose growth vigor is extremely weak, and is suitable for Euphorbia tirucalli, Euphorbia trigona, Pachypodium lamerei, Pedilanthus tithymaloides, and so on.

4

Removing spent flowers

For succulents whose seeds are not being kept, spent flowers should be cut off promptly, so as to avoid consuming too many nutrients in setting seed and to help the formation of new flower branches. This is too broad, so I won't give examples.

5

Bud removal (including shoot removal)

During the growing season, remove excess side buds or new young shoots from the plant to reduce nutrient consumption and concentrate nutrients for the development of the main bud. Bud removal generally means peeling off the side buds so as not to affect the growth of the main bud. It is often used for Lithops, Sempervivum 'Red Rolled Leaf', Haworthia cooperi, Hoya, and so on.

6

Root pruning

It is often done when transplanting or repotting succulents. When transplanting, trim and tidy the overly long main roots or damaged root systems. When repotting, properly thin out and tidy the old roots, rotten roots and overly dense root systems. After root pruning, if conditions permit, apply sulfur powder; if you can't buy it, you can dip the roots in diluted fungicide.

Before root pruning:

After root pruning: