I got this plant today from my friends grandmother. I see a vision in the individual stems because they are big and a nice color. It stood in the shower with only dimmed light coming through. Could I prune the stems and put in water and await root growth?
I draw a red line in last picture of where I would like to prune. Is it possible?
Thank you
by Suitable_Loquat_7764
10 Comments
You can do but you risk putting the plant in dormancy, having to wait a long time for a new stem or it just not coming back.
I’d put it in a good position, keep the stems as they are, wait for the new growth to come through and establish then cut the leggy stems.
If you want roots, you need the plant to be able to harvest energy for growth. Cutting each of the leaves feels a bit counterproductive to that goal, no? I’m happy to be proven wrong by an expert in the sub though.
Nah don’t bother man, zz plant won’t just root like other plants..they’ll take months if not years to develop rhizome and roots and even after to get a new sprout will take for ever. Please let it be until it’s a lil fuller unless you don’t care so much.. then you can experiment all you want.
Can’t you support the stems and bind them with a moss pool?
Don’t you need a bulb?
Just put a support stick in your pot to get all the branches standing up and move the plant to somewhere that gets better lighting. You’ll start getting new shoots. How often are you watering? I always get the new shoots after my plant hasn’t been watered for a while. That’s when they seem to pop up.
Pruning will significantly reduce its growth as it doesn’t have enough veg to really flourish right now.
I’d prop it up against a wall to give the limbs some support. Maybe run a fan to strengthen them. And give it more light!
I’d just get a plant stem support. Something like this. They are cheap and readily available. They also don’t take
https://preview.redd.it/lcvgz75dehzf1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6bc6c265507c7729d440f8d5df47767f3a8f929c
up as much room as stakes and I think it looks neater in this situation.
Pruning ZZ plants doesn’t trigger the same kind of growth it does on most other plants. The cut stems will not ever regrow or get new leaves, so you’ll have little stumps there (I see you already have a few… those are going to stay that way, so you can remove them). New shoots will come out of the soil, from the rhizomes.
It is possible to propagate both the stems and the leaves, but it takes so long, it’s not worth it if you’re trying to start a new plant. It literally takes months to get a small rhizome to start growing.
What I would do if this were mine is maybe repot into something a little larger. They do like to be pretty cramped, but that looks like it might be too small. There’s not a lot of room for new growth. It could probably use fresh soil, as well. If you do that, go for something well draining. You can even mix succulent soil with regular.
Then I’d add some supports to help those stems stand up like they should. These are marketed as low light plants, but they actually love light. It’ll help encourage new growth. Light, fertilizer, and a good watering schedule will help it thrive.
Oh poor fella. Definitely just stake him up and give him lots of sun – then as others have said just give it time let it establish new shoots and then you can get rid of the old ones. 🙂