Welcome to this article that will be talking about pruning a ZZ plant. The truth of the matter here is that the ZZ plant really doesn’t need any form of pruning whatsoever. The only reason why you might need to is when you want to propagate new plants.
We should mention the possibility of cutting off the lower growing leaves to give off a cleaner and slightly bushier appearance to the plant. Pruning any plant is a risk as it might cause stress and make other parts start diminishing in health.
Below is the article here, we will continue to talk about pruning and caring for a ZZ plant. The ZZ plant might not be the most common variety out there. It’s one of the best options for beginners as it’s a pretty hardy variety and resilient to a lot of diseases and pests.
Pruning ZZ Plant
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article the ZZ plant really isn’t in need of any pruning at all. The plant will normally grow in a pretty bushy way already. So pruning for the sake of getting a better look at the plant won’t be necessary.
Pruning any plant also causes stress too. That stress might turn into permanent damage to the rest of the plant. It could be a change in color. Often stress for plants makes them appear more yellow and that bright green will start fading quite a lot.
Some pro tips when pruning a ZZ plant is that you should use some fertilizer for the soil in order to boost the nutrition the plant is able to get. That will hopefully be able to protect it from any form of wilting or change in color.
We mentioned in the beginning that the possibility of cutting off lower growth on the plant to hopefully get bigger leaves is very possible. That might be the only example where we can see a good reason for pruning the plant.
Try and get the plant a little bit less sunlight if you have recently pruned the ZZ plant. That will hopefully give the plant a little bit of rest. Sunlight is what makes the plant able to perform photosynthesis, but too much and instead it will start draining the health of the plant.
If the root bulb is exposed in your ZZ plant then we highly recommend you read this article right here, ZZ Plant Root Bulb Exposed.
Should I Trim My Leggy ZZ Plant
Trimming a leggy ZZ plant isn’t really a good idea. We have already laid out a lot of reasons for not trimming the ZZ plant at all. It will cause stress to the plant and taking away even more leaves will give an even leggier look to the plant.
To combat that we should try and stay away from pruning the plant at all. It will just have a diminishing return. Instead, you could try and use some fertilizer for the soil to boost the nutrition the plant is getting. That will hopefully make the plant start growing more bushier.
Try and find a sunnier spot as well for the plant. A leggy look at a plant is often caused by it not getting enough sunlight each day. The plant will grow tall instead of large trying to reach the sun for light exposure.
If you are wondering about rot on your root bulb then we highly recommend you read this article right here, ZZ Plant Root Bulb Rot.
How Do You Shape A ZZ Plant
Shaping a ZZ plant is not a very common practice. The plant will if left to its devices grow in a rather bulky and bushy way. The only thing you need to care for is the nutrition in the soil and watering of course.
But shaping is best done by pushing the leaves more inwards, using whatever material you might have at home. We have seen a technique using stress to sort of tie around the plant is a very successful one.
