cutting off leaves

From: Paul Burkhardt (burkhard@aries.scs.uiuc.edu)
Date: Fri Mar 21 1997 - 15:11:22 PST 

Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 17:11:22 -0600 (CST)
From: Paul Burkhardt <burkhard@aries.scs.uiuc.edu>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1038$foo@default>
Subject: cutting off leaves

Hello to all,

I thought that I might follow up on Wim Leys (hi Wim!) post on cutting off
leaves too soon.

> So, if you remove only the brown parts from a pitcher (and most of the
> time I even leave them where they are, as long as they don't rot), the
> plant will be stronger (recuperation of nutrients) and produce more
> sideshoots.
>

I also used to cut off the leaves of my plants as soon as I saw a brown
spot or if the tentacles on a drosera were no longer sticky. But I came to
the realization that by removing the leaves too early, you are also
removing some of the food or nutrient stored in the leaves. When I allowed
the leaves to stay on the plant, my plants all became larger and more
robust while being kept in the exact same conditions. Of course if the
leaves are infected with mold or rot, then it would be prudent to remove
such leaves.

Paul Burkhardt

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