Step By Step ZZ Plant Pruning

My ZZ Plant has long been in need of a trim. As you can see from the before picture below, she's looking a little ragged. The great procrastination is over though. Today I will walk you through ZZ Plant pruning. I will discuss some reasons why you might want to prune your ZZ Plant and how to get it done. In all, it only took me a few minutes time so I don't know why I was putting it off.

Reasons for ZZ Plant Pruning

There are many reasons you may want to prune your ZZ Plant. Some are for the benefit of the plant itself, but you can also prune them for aesthetic reasons. These plants are extremely tough, so you don't have to be too shy about giving them a trim.

ZZ Plant Wrinkled Stem

If your ZZ Plant has wrinkled stems it could mean a few different things. It could be a watering issue or a nutrient issue. If you're unsure about why your ZZ Plant is wrinkled, you may want to check out my post on ZZ Plant wrinkled stems before you start pruning. I have a ton of wrinkled stems because I've kind of over neglected my ZZ Plant by underwatering it. They are famous for thriving on neglect, but as you can see, you can overdo it.

All the stems with deep vertical lines along the stems are pretty wrinkled. This ZZ Plant has been underwater for a while. I have since been watering it enough and it has sprouted three new stems in the past month. However, these wrinkled stems are older and longer. They have not really replumped so I don't think they are going to bounce back, so I will be pruning a majority of them.

ZZ Plant Leaves Turning Yellow

Much like wrinkled stems, ZZ Plant leaves turning yellow typically means improper care. It could be that the leaves are old they'll eventually turn yellow and die, but you should look into your care routine if you see yellow leaves. No judgment here, as you can see from the before picture at the beginning of this post I have a literal whole brown stem leaves and all.

Yellow leaves are most likely caused by overwatering, but can also because by underwatering. ZZ Plants have to go a reeeaaallly long time without water for there to be an underwatering problem though. Use a simple soil moisture meter if you're unsure. It may also be a nitrogen deficiency, which can be addressed by using a water-soluble balanced fertilizer. Proper watering and nutrients will help new and existing leaves keep healthy, but unfortunately once leaves are yellow they don't really go back to green.

ZZ Plant Not Growing Straight

This might happen if you have a larger ZZ Plant like the one I have. The stems grow very long. They're so long the ZZ Plant stems are falling over from the weight of the leaves and the length of the stem. You can prune these longer ZZ Plant stems for aesthetic reasons even if the stem is healthy. You can trim stems midway through if you don't want them to get as long. New growth will not branch off of the cut stem unlike many other plants, so you can effectively keep your ZZ Plant a certain shape or size this way.

If you're looking for alternatives to pruning, but your ZZ Plant is not growing straight you can also stake or wrap the stems together. I do the latter, and scroll down to the "after pruning" picture at the bottom to see what it looks like. I use the green plant velcro, which I love because you can cut it to size and it's reusable.

ZZ Plant Trimming

Based on my descriptions above, the first thing you should do is identify the stems you want to prune and where you want to prune them. If you are pruning for aesthetics, then you need to make a choice about what length you want the stem to be cut back to. In general, I try to follow the advice to avoid pruning off more than one-third of a plant to avoid shock. And I really mean one-third of the whole plant, not the stem.

Once you have identified the stems you want to trim, grab a pair of clean and sharp pruning shears. If you are cutting mid-stem make your cut close to the top of the leaf connected to the stem. In my opinion, this looks best. You don't want a bare dried-up stem visible, you want to see the leaf first. If you're removing the whole stem, like I am, then you should cut the stem close to the soil. I like to leave it an inch above the soil because you don't want water or anything getting on the cut stem and causing disease or rot.

As you can see I removed quite a bit of old damaged growth. Most of these stems were severely wrinkled and flopped over. One was just crispy. It looks like a lot in this pile, but the growing season just started and I'm expecting more new stems now that I'm not overly neglecting my ZZ plant.

I still ended up wrapping my stems together to keep my ZZ Plant a little more upright. Its diameter is about five feet unwrapped, and that's just too big. See the post pruning and wrapping picture below.

After Pruning Care

After you prune your ZZ Plant you want to avoid things that may cause further shock to your plant. Avoid moving your ZZ to a different spot. Receiving the same amount of light as it did prior to pruning will help with stability. You should also avoid fertilizing your pruned ZZ Plant right away. Give it at least a week or even two. ZZ Plants are known to be very resilient, but it's best to be safe. One aspect of care that may change is watering. If you have removed a lot of stems, then be mindful that your new ZZ Plant probably requires less water than it did prior to pruning.

Do you have a ZZ Plant to prune? Share your thoughts in the comments.