The Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera deliciosa) is one of the most popular houseplants with beautiful large leaves covered with holes — hence the name. This ornamental, perennial, evergreen plant often outgrows its space both indoors and outside, making pruning essential for its general maintenance and propagation. With its easy maintenance and low growing requirements, the Swiss Cheese Plant is a great choice for keeping either inside or out of your home. So, if you’re looking to trim your Swiss Cheese Plant, here’s a helpful guide to get you started!
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Preparing Your Swiss Cheese Plant
First think, were should you cut? The Swiss Cheese Plant can grow upwards towards the light, so respond to the leaves in the direction of growth. You can trim back the stems, sides, or individual leaves for a neater look, or simply to take off the older growth.
Pruning Tools
Once you’ve decided what needs to be trimmed, you’ll need to find the right tools to do it. It’s best to use hygiene shears or a small saw for pruning the branches, and small scissors or nail clippers for the leaves.
Protecting Your Swiss Cheese Plant
Most important thing is to keep your tools sharp and clean. This will reduce the risk of disease and infection for your plant, and it can also leave a nice, clean cut. If using a saw, you should also make sure to cut away from yourself so you avoid accidental injuries.
Trimming Your Swiss Cheese Plant
Now it’s time to get your pruning on! If you’re removing stems, you should make the cut right below an obvious joint. This will help keep the plant healthy and balanced. To reduce the size of the plant, use the same process for removing branches and stems. As you trim, focus on taking off the bottom leaves to give the plant a cleaner shape.
When trimming the leaves, carefully slice along the veins for a cleaner look, but be warned: the Swiss Cheese Plant is sensitive to direct sunlight, so if you take off too much, be careful not to leave the plant unprotected from the sunlight.
Propagating Your Swiss Cheese Plant
If you’re looking to propagate your Swiss Cheese Plant, pruning is beneficial. You can create new cultivars of the plant by taking a stem cutting of two to three nodes and encouraging it to root in a water or soil environment. This means you can share your Swiss Cheese Plant with friends or keep them for yourself!
So, trimming your Swiss Cheese Plant can be a great way to keep it healthy and create some awesome new varieties. With sharp and clean tools, and the proper knowledge about pruning, you’re sure to get the best results from trimming and propagating your Swiss Cheese Plant. Good luck to all you cheese-lovers out there!
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