I get a severe telling off

13 years ago

I recently had a long and very interesting conversation with a professional grower. He gave me a severe telling off for some of my growing habits. In particular he told me never to cut off dying leaves. He told me to wait until they were about to fall then twist them off by hand. He told me I must use sterilized equipment for ANY "surgery" performed on plants, as this was a very common way of passing disease from plant to plant.

I left very chastened but grateful. I know I do not bother to do a lot of the things he told me - he also told me to spray more often - and I do lose more plants that I care to, especially smaller ones.

Final report: must do better.

Comments (4)

paul_
13 years ago
Well you're not alone, Ian. I too sometimes cut off dying leaves though I do use a sterile razor blade.

As far as "spraying more often". Not going to happen. I grow in an apartment. Spraying would expose me to the poisons too.
boothbay
13 years ago
Unfortunately, there are all so called 'experts' in any forum, and the confusion is understandable. They all mean well, including myself, but what works for one, may not for any reason work for someone else. One forum says to do 'this' and another says 'not to' this. I find its better to do what your instincts tell you, and try to use some common sense. Now, as an example, I 'tore' off my yellowing leaf in my Phal and without any sterilizing and behold...its still alive. LOL
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cjwatson
13 years ago
I cut off dying leaves, especially if they have suspicious areas which might mean a localized bacterial or fungal infection. Why leave it there to spread to other leaves?

But I always use a sterilized blade so I don't spread any pathogens to another plant.
terpguy
13 years ago
I think he's only talking about healthy leaves. If they are senescing naturally, then it makes sense to leave them on as long as possible so the plant can recoup as much of that energy in that leaf as possible. Is it THAT big a deal? Not really. And if the leaf is infected, definitely cut it off immediately :)