Should I chop that leaf right now?
Here I’m removing spent leaf structures from Anthurium papillilaminum ‘Ft. Sherman’ in my garage in North Carolina.
I get it, that unsightly leaf has to go… it’s dead.. it’s yellow, it’s brown, it’s smaller than the previous leaf indicating my inadequacy as a grower and I’m about to post this to my favorite platform where it will be judged by fellow hobbyists; whatever the reason, you’re standing there scissors in hand ready to hack that POS right off, but let’s pause just a second…
How about we examine this process before you make the chop, or if you already chopped it bc I haven’t gotten to the point yet then maybe it will help next time?
There are many reasons one may decide to remove (aka prune) a leaf, flower, branch, or other part of a living plant, but there are also reasons to leave those plants alone and let them do their thing.
Chop it:
has turned yellow starting at the petiole or stem all the way to margin (edges) of leaf blade
if it is a net negative to the growth of the plant or the plants that are in the area/impeding production- you have very limited space
has pests especially if you have recently gotten rid of a particularly bad infestation (always consider partial removal if possible, but don’t jeopardize the spreading of visible pest-including visible pest damage to save one leaf)
has verified fungal or bacterial issues
you have propped the plant and the remaining roots cannot support the leaf count
Don’t chop it:
it has yellowing on the margins
is turning crispy in small areas
turning brown in little spots
“ugly”
smaller than last leaf
hard water marks
oriented funny
starting to die
Leaf senescence- 3 step process of leaf death
1- plant determines leaf is no longer viable and cuts off growth hormones completely at which point you’ll begin seeing yellowing petioles, but this means the plant has started a vital and often overlooked part of the process in which the elements and energy already stored in the leaves can be absorbed and redistributed throughout the plant; specifically to developing or struggling cells.
2- leaf yellowing- when the leaf has completely turned this indicates the actual time to remove the leaf bc it is now just a sack of sugars ready to be compost/leaf litter.
3- falling.
Facts and circumstances
The prim and proper greenhouse look originates in Victorian era home conservatories.
This applies to hobbyists interested in keeping neotropical Aracacea.
Most houseplants (all Anthuriums) originate from the Neotropics and grow in a dense rainforest, cloud forest, or riparian locales in which air flow, sunlight, and rainfall are variables they have adapted over millions of years to deal with.
Pruning shears developed in 1810.
Flowering plants evolved 130 million years ago.
Homo sapiens evolved 250k years ago.
First recorded houseplants… well I’m sure our ancestors have been dragging a pretty flower or two back to their caves and hollers since the cognitive revolution 70k years ago, but the first to have them, cultivate them, write it all down, and (this is an important part)history was kind so that I was able to easily find said records with a google search are these little gardens perhaps you’ve heard of: in Iraq, called the Hanging Gardens of Babylon around 3k years ago. {story goes:The king built a massive garden that was watered and cultivated containing things like Date palms and figs. This boss move was copied by other elites and then trickled down to common folks even keeping plants in terra cotta pots. And I mean sure but no way this King just had an out of the blue epiphany.}
Pruning for a professional-artistic agenda, or cultural value are not being discussed here.
Also not applicable in production greenhouse settings in which profit and plant-spacing algorithms rule the day.
Human hair and nails are not an organ.
Leaves are a plant organ.
Human skin is an organ.
This is a proposed argument for the overall value of allowing plants to carry out the life cycle of their leaves as opposed to what humans deem best based on the premise that plants don’t always look pretty in nature but thrive.
I’ve been growing these types of plants since 2018 indoors (not in a greenhouse or shade house in a (semi)tropical environment).
This goes for premature basal cutting done in the Anthurium community as well. Some plants can thrive after being stem propped early on. Also there is no support to this theory as my experiment is not complete: I have a handful of plants that I’ve never taken basal cuttings from (I have separated out offsets that crowded the pot but not anything that involved stem cutting) and these plants have produced abundant seeds when bred with and in stark contrast to other online examples of pristine- one-leaf-wonders, my plants hold dozens of leaves in various conditions.
This isn’t always pretty bc I’m not a magician and my plants still “plant” and they get pests along with mechanical, cultural, and environmental stress… but guess what? They encounter all these things and more in nature too and somehow they’ve existed for hundreds of millions of years without us coming along and chopping off their butts and every sub optimal leaf we see.
This natural approach also aligns with using a Biological Control Team, and an acceptance that pests are a part of collecting so might as well not use a bunch of nasty unnecessary chemicals in a futile effort to combat houseplant pests.. no matter how expensive the plants are! It’s like Sisyphus pushing a sloshing cart full of pesticides with no PPE up a hill slipping on loose dirt that has eroded bc all the plants were poisoned.
Things to do instead of beauty pruning:
1- tieback with velcro tape or other method to bunch unsightly leaves together and make less visisble for aesthetic purposes
2- partial trimming of leaves
3- consider that MOST popular Aroids obtain massive, truly massive sizes in about 3 years of decent indoor cultivation. Anthuriums I grow commonly get 3’+ wingspans. They seem attractive as 2” pots but they will be in 5 gallon buckets one day! This is not completely unlike wild animals that are cuddly as babies but will not be happy if they go to an ill informed hobbyist. This brings me to an important final point:
Final note:
No need to pick a side. Everything does not need to be black or white here. You don’t have to be a Victorian era Duke of Deuchewaddery or a treehugging animist.
This is not an argument for plant sentiency. Plants do not scream and cry nor need to be anthropomorphic.
