Marianne's Response

Cutting back Ti plants

My red sister Ti plants continually lose their base leaves and I end up with thin stalks with a few beautiful bright leaves only on top. Can I do something to make them more bushy? I live between Houston & Galveston Texas. I have some in pots & some in ground. The ones in pots are in full sun for about 5 hours a day, the ones in ground only get about 2 hours or less of sun & are otherwise in deep shade but they all grow the same except the ones in shade grow slower. They are healthy & grow well & rather quickly actually. They are 2 yrs old, the tall one in the picture is 36″ from top of dirt to where the leaves begin. Today is the 1st time I have ever cut a leaf off and they were on top & ratty from wintering I guess. In winter if it is going to get below 55 I cover them with sheets and we have few nights it goes lower. These last 2 yrs we have had record rainfall. I fertilize once a week with Miracle Grow. The potted ones are in garden soil, the in ground are in my yard dirt so they are in a mix of sand, cl

Posted by Shary Luck on April 27, 2016

Marianne's Response

Time to get snippy and cut back your Ti plants if you want to keep them more compact. This plant will sprout from the point of a cut and you can even try rooting the top part of the plant that you cut off. Just place the top half into a vase of water and repot into the soil once you see roots form on the cut end. To keep the plants more compact you may also want to fertilize them less often. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti

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