Before starting flaming katy pruning I suggest you read this ‘Flaming katy pruning guide’ to gather all the information you need.
It is always much easier and safer to conduct pruning with a detailed guide.
Should I prune my flaming katy?
Pruning literally means, pruning or shaping a plant to fulfill various purposes such as follows,
- to encourage new growth of the plants
- to make the succulents liver longer healthily.
- to avoid any potential rot
- to repeat blooming
Further it is necessary to do some pruning so that you could get rid of unwanted, dead, and damaged branches as well.
In addition to the aforesaid, it is important that you do some pruning for flaming katy to control their spread as well.
That is simply because these plants could multiply faster, particularly if you have grown them in dry, frost free locations.
When you prune, they would look tidy and neat in appearance. As such it is vital that you prune them as appropriate when required.
Why is it important to prune flaming katy?
As aforesaid, you need to consider pruning the flaming katy to control their size, to treat the leggy plants, and to get rid of the broken or dried stems.
Apart from those, you need to prune them to rejuvenate and to boost new growth as well. Furthermore, you need to consider pruning them to propagate and to deadhead flowers as well.
You need to deadhead flaming katy plants once they complete flowering so that you could keep the plants aesthetically beautiful and tidy.
Moreover, you should prune these plants at the very moment they finish flowering, so that it will boost more flower next time.
Generally, it would take only a couple of weeks to form the new flower bud once you prune them.
In addition to the above, you need to prune to boost new growth of the plants. you could make planned cuts which could take off some growth of the plant.
Alternatively, you may clip off the branches which form in a wayward manner so that you can keep the plant in bound.
There are situations where you will come across plants which become leggy due to lack of sunlight. So, when you prune them, it would help them to avoid any potential toppling.
How to prune
When you prune these plants right after flowering, that would help them to bear even an effective pruning.
However, it is very important that you use sterilized pruning scissors to do this. Moreover you also need to wash your hands properly before proceeding with this.
Unless it would cause infections in the plant, particularly from the cut edges and from their wounds.
And keep in mind to use safety gloves and safety goggles when pruning this plant.
- To start off, you should first trim the dead flowers including their flower stalk. When you trim them, make sure that you cut them slightly above a pair of leaves.
- After that observe the plant’s shape and cut off any leggy parts which you could spot as they could attribute to the untidy look of the plant.On the other hand, if you have exposed your plants to low light conditions, that would result in your plant becoming leggy.
- So, once you do the necessary pruning, you should change its location where they can get enough sunlight.
- I would suggest you feed your plants after some days once you prune them. That would help to encourage new roots and new foliage development. Apart from that, it would further help the plant to heal from pruning too.
When to prune?
You should prune the flaming katy when they have completed flowering and when all those have perished.
It will allow you to reshape the plant to the shape you wish to have along with your desired size also
Does pruning affect flowering?
Pruning makes a great impact on flowering. Ideally you need to prune them whilst they are in their dormancy.
In other words, once they finished flowering and when all those flowers are dead. When you prune them that way, they could provide more energy to bloom more when they do next.
Flaming katy flowers
They make such wonderful flowers in red, pink, orange, yellow, purple and in white. They would form in single petals or with four or eight petals.
They could produce about 50 or so flowers at a time. When you look at it, you will feel the vivid color complex of the flowers.
They would produce small and tubular shaped flowers. You could spot them flowering in December.
When they bloom, they will bloom for months at a time. If you wish to prolong the blooming time, you could buy a plant which has more buds than blooms.
On the other hand, If you spot any dying or dead flowers, you need to get rid of them immediately. That will encourage more flower blooming.
How do you prune a leggy Kalanchoe?
First let your flaming Katy go to dormancy. It is important that you wait until they finish flowering and enter their dormancy.
Then you are sure that they will not produce any new growth of the plant during this time. Hence, this is the best time that you could prune them.
Disinfecting your shears is also important when you are pruning a leggy kalanchoe. To do that you could use rubbing alcohol and clean the tools.
That will make sure that you are not exposing the plant for any of the infections.
You may pinch fresh stems of the kalanchoe. You could simply use your hands and remove them. Alternatively, you may also use shears.
Prune back the leggy and unnecessary growth of the plant whilst using your sterilized shears. Get rid of all unwanted stem growth and make sure the plant looks great and have a thick look.
You should change the pot next. Best is to shift the plant into a slightly larger pot so that it could grow well and function well as well.
Add some potting soil which has a better aeration, and a better drainage. When you change the pot, it would allow the plant to grow in fresh growing conditions and in a healthy environment as well.
Finally, you may locate the plant in an area where it will be exposed to bright sunlight for about five to six hours.
You could place them either indoors or outdoors. No matter where you place, you need to make sure that it gets indirect and bright sunlight.
It should be an extremely heated place as that could also badly affect the plant. Further provide moderate humidity levels as well.
Related questions
Should I deadhead Flaming Katy?
You should deadhead the flaming katy due to a couple of reasons. First is, when you do not deadhead the flowers, it will make the plant look very untidy and ugly.
So, if you consider a plant which has bloomed for some time and which is old , it will look untidy and scruffy as well.
In addition to that, when you get rid of the old blooms, that will encourage new buds and new flowers of the plant.
Not only that but also, it would help to have a longer duration of flowers as well. To do this, you could either pinch off the individual flowers once they perish or cut back the entire stem if it is dead.
When you cut the stem, ensure that you cut all the way down to the base. As always, make sure you are using all clean and sterilized tools when doing this.
Why is my Flaming Katy not flowering?
First reason could be that you may be growing them in the wrong season. If not, over watering could also cause your plants to not flower.
Moreover, if you do not cut the wilted stems of the older blooms, that would also contribute to not having flowers on the plant.
This is one of the most attractive plants to watch when they are at their full blossom. So make sure that you care for them well and provide them with the best possible growing conditions.
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