You can prune many plants to give them a special shape or to keep them small, making them good houseplants. This is absolutely not the case for the palm trees.
Indoor palms should not be cut back
On the contrary, you can even cause great damage to your indoor palm. Because many species have only a single vegetation point, which is responsible for their growth. It is usually in the middle of the crown.
If you prune your indoor palm at this point, then there will be no more height growth. Since the lower leaves of a palm tree die off over time, but no new leaves can form at the top due to the pruning, your palm tree will only have a short lifespan.
Can I trim brown leaf tips?
Brown leaves or leaf tips are really not a particularly attractive sight, but you shouldn't necessarily grab the secateurs right away. If a pleasant shape can be achieved with a small pruning of the leaf, then this cut is not immediately harmful. In the future, make sure that your palm is watered enough and that the humidity is not too low.
If a large part of the leaf is discolored, wait until it is completely dry before cutting it off. This is because your palm tree can only retrieve the nutrients it still contains from the slowly drying leaf.
How can I limit the growth of my palm tree?
Most indoor palms grow slowly. If you have very little space, then take a palm tree that stays small, such as the cobbler's palm. It only grows to a height of about 70 cm and forms only a few flowers. Other species grow more slowly when placed in a smaller pot. If this is desired, you should only repot your palm tree when the roots grow out of the pot.
The essentials in brief:
- never prune the growing point
- Only cut off wilting leaves that are completely dry
- the growth can be influenced by the pot size
tips
The indoor palms are among the few plants that take a careless cut very badly. Remove completely dried leaves and refrain from any further cutting.