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How to Prune Polka Dot Plant?

Your must adore your plant and think to prune the polka dot plant. I mean, why not, right?

Polka dot plants are stunning indoor plants to plant in your home. I love polka dot plants due to their appearance. They are an eye-catching plant.

You being here means that you love your polka dot plant and want them to live vigorously.

You can prune the polka dot plant by pinching the polka dot plant every week. Sniff off the top two leaves on the end of the stem, which helps polka dot plants become bushier and healthier.

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 Polka dot plant with new baby leaves
A beautiful Polka dot plant

You have come to the right place if you want to know how to prune the polka dot plants.

Is It Good to Trim Polka Dot Plant?

Trimming means cutting dead or overgrown branches or steam of plants to increase fruitfulness and growth. It always has benefits.

And so, it is good to trim your polka dot plant.

Polka dot plants get leggy very quickly. So it is good to trim the polka dot plants from time to time if you want them healthier and compact.

However, leggy or not, trimming is always a good idea for the better growth of the plant.

Signs Your Polka Dot Plant Need Pruning

Your polka dot plant might be giving you hints that they need pruning. Don’t know about the signs? Come with me.

Tall and Leggy Plant

Being tall and leggy means that the steams of your plant are longer than they should be. Longer stems give a stretched-out appearance.

Plants like polka dot plants become leggier.

Lack of light, excessive use of fertilizer, fluctuation in temperature, wrong pot size, and the maturity of the polka dot plant are some of the reasons the plant might seem tall and leggy.

Diseased Plant

Polka dot plants get attacked by aphids, mealybugs, and whiteflies which later can result in the death of the polka dot plant.

So, as soon as you see a diseased part of the plant it will be wise to prune the plant quickly.

And also you can keep the plant disease-free by spraying soap water in the evening and washing than in the morning.

Neem solution can also be effective in getting rid of the sapsuckers.

Yellowing of Leaves

The yellowing of leaves of polka dot plants is caused by overwatering. You should stop overwatering as soon as possible because if done excessively, it can have some dire conclusions.

The yellow leaves eventually fall off with time but it is better to prune the plant to maintain its attractiveness.

Dry Leaves

Drying of the leaves may be due to the direct sunlight exposure for a long time or due to any hot air blast near the plant.

Dry leaves cause the plant to look as if they are not given proper care.

So, save the plant from drying and prune the plant to make it look healthy and attractive.

The Right Time to Prune a Polka Dot Plant

You don’t need to wait an appropriate time to prune your polka dot plant or other plants. Pruning is to make your plant look good and be good.

However, it is best to prune polka dot plants in spring or early spring as it is the growing season. Pruning in spring can make the stem of the plant grow back stronger.

Properly observe your plant to know when exactly you can prune them. The more you observe and care for plants, the more you will know about the plant.

Look out for signs mentioned in the above section.

How to Prune Polka Dot Plant

Pruning is an easy method that can be done at any time without anyone’s help.

Polka Dot Plant
Polka Dot Plant with Bloom

The steps to prune the polka dot plants are given below.

Step 1: First, check the stem nodes that have many leaves.

Step 2: Cut that stem. This will help the node produce more stem that will lead to bushier plant growth.

Step 3: You can observe the stem that is getting tall and cut the stem to make it bushier, organized, and well-trimmed.

Step 4: Look for the plants’ diseased, dried-out, and leggy stems and remove those parts.

Pruning not only helps the plant to become healthy but also helps them to look attractive.

An interesting fact: when you cut the plant, it will grow two more branches there.

Basically, pruning increases the life of the plant. The cut stem won’t go to waste as you can propagate them in the next pot and grow a whole new plant.

How Often Should Polka Dot Plants be Pruned? 

As we have already covered above, the polka dot plant gets leggy regularly and quickly. So, you can prune the plant on daily basis.

However, I would suggest pruning or pinching the plant on a weekly basis if you see them look leggy.

To do so, use your fingers to take off the top two leaves on each end of the stem.

But talking about pruning specifically, pruning can be done any time of the year.

But growing seasons like spring or summer will be the most favorable time as the pruned stem grows back faster in these seasons.

Regular pruning or pinching will certainly encourage your precious polka dot plant to grow healthy and become bushier.

Measures to Take Care of Polka Dot Plant

Polka dot plant is an indoor plant that you can keep anywhere inside your house. And polka dot plants are easy to care for.

Polka Dot Plant
Polka Dot Plant

Below are some caring measures you can practice to keep your polka dot plants healthy and beautiful.

1. Provide Good Lighting

Direct sunlight can damage the plant. Hence, indirect light is best for the polka dot plants as low light and excessive light can harm the plant.

Accurate light keeps the color of the plant vibrant and prevents them from becoming lanky and leggy. 

Placing the plant east-or south-facing window can be ideal to get bright and indirect sunlight.

2. Good Soil

Every plant needs good soil to flourish. So do polka dot plants. Nutrient-rich soil does good for every plant.

This plant requires even moisture to grow well. Organic and well-draining soil will be ideal for the polka dot plants. You can mix in some pumice or perlite to improve the soil drainage. 

Most general potting soil fits that description which is good enough for the polka dot plants.

A nutrient-rich soil will help polka dot plants maintain their bright color.

In addition, good soil will promote good and faster growth of the plant.

3. Fertilization Requirements

There is not any special fertilizer needed for polka dot plants. You can fertilize the polka dot plants once a month with a high-quality organic fertilizer designed for houseplants.

But if you are really conscious about the plant then feed the polka dot plant with a weak liquid fertilizer once a week during the growing seasons. And again reduce the feeding to once in a month when the plant is not actively growing.

For the best results in plant growth, use the fertilizer containing micronutrients.

Polka dot plants do best with balanced fertilizer where the nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium (NPK) ratio is 10-10-10.

4. Watering Habits

Although the polka dot plants require even moisture to grow, excessive water can result in root rot.

Only water when 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch of soil dries out.

Also, if your pot is smaller, then the plant will dry out quickly. So, it would be best if you kept these things in mind.

You need to water polka dot plants more in summer to keep the soil moist as the soil dries quickly in summer.

Reduce the watering of your polka dot plant in the resting period of the plant i.e., winter as the soil remains moist most of the time.

Water only less when the plant is in the dormant phase which usually happens after the flowering season.

Young polka dot plants need to be watered more as compared to old plants as young plants grow rapidly.

5. Climatic Condition

Polka dot plants require moist air. And they need a temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit to grow well. So, you can keep the plant in a warm place to boost the humidity. The plant requires humidity of roughly 50%.

So, if you like the dry climate, you need to create a humid environment for the plant by installing a humidifier or keeping a bowl full of water near the plant.

6. Provide Enough Humidity

Lack of sufficient humidity makes the plant leaves crispy. So, to prevent this, you can install a humidifier in the room.

A bowl filled with water near the plant can also raise the desired humidity of the plant.

These plants prefer humid conditions, so a minimum humidity level of 50 percent will work best.

7. Pinch Back Weekly

This method is acquired to prevent legginess as the polka dot plants quickly get leggy. You can do this every week.

Pinch off the two leaves on the end of each stem with the help of your finger. This encourages your polka dot plant to become bushier.

Conclusion

You may have got your answer here about how to prune the polka dot plant at home by yourself. Not just that but other tips and details on the polka dot plants as well.

Those tips and caring methods will help you care for your polka dot plants and other similar indoor plants/house plants.

Keep the things we learned in this article, and your plants should be blooming in no time.

Interested in how other plants are pruned? Check how Pineapple Sage and African Violets are pruned.

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