China Doll Plant Pruning – How And When to Prune?

If you are searching for china doll plant pruning then before that let me tell you China Doll plant(Radermachia sinica) is a perfectly thriving plant which is very easy to care for and can tolerate many climatic conditions indoors in your house although it’s an outside grower but it was adapted to both environments. It is from Asia particularly Taiwan and China. Lets know 

Specification	Information
Common Name	China Doll Plant
Scientific Name	Radermachera sinica
Plant Type	Houseplant
Light Requirements	Part sun to full sun
Propagation	Seeds, Stem cuttings
Water	Only when top inch of soil is dry, keep soil moist but well-drained
Soil pH	Neutral to acidic
Height	1 to 4 feet indoors
Spread	1 to 3 feet indoors
Soil Type	Basic potting soil, moist but well-drained
Fertilizer	Feed with a well-balanced liquid fertilizer every 2-3 weeks during growing season
Mature Size	Can reach 4-6 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide indoors
Common Pests	Mealybugs, spider mites, scale insects
Common Diseases	Root rot, leaf spot
Special Features	Lacy, fern-like foliage and rapid growth rate
Toxicity	Toxic to pets and humans if ingested
Maintenance	Prune annually in late winter or early spring to encourage bushy growth and maintain shape
Other Comments	Can be grown outdoors in tropical or subtropical climates, but may require protection from direct sunlight and wind.

China Doll plant Pruning

Here are steps on How to Prune China doll plant:

1. First Take a Sterilized Cutting tool or pruner will work. Using Rubbing alcohol on the sharp tool will clean any bacterial infection so we can avoid infection in china doll plant.
2. China doll plant have dried, uncolored and flaky, brittle leaves that can be trimmed down.
3. Cutting Off some of the stems that don’t have strength or are dried, crackly or become woody should be removed with the sharp pruner.
4. Take a Look at those stems that are leggy because they will just make china doll plant weak and ugly.
5. Cut those leggy growing stems and also those which thrive in opposite directions or crossing each other not growing straight.
6. Also prune in a way that you don’t cut the main stem or shoots of this plant.
7. Leaves that are droopy, crisp, brown, yellowish, diseased can be trimmed down.
8. Avoid leaves and branches that are new, fresh and healthy.
9. This is how it’s done and by doing this every now and then whenever a china doll plant requires pruning then it will grow more fuller, robust and thrive for more years.

If you didn’t notice but when growing them in low light or Dark shade area they may form leggy growth. Leggy condition it is when these two – leaves and branches have a thin layer growing between them and the distance is too far which makes them float down and not stay straight. It makes the whole plant ugly and as this exposes the layer.

You can solve it by giving them proper sunlight and increasing the light can prevent any further leggy growth. Secondly you can also start pruning  once you find out which part becomes leggy. Every 28 days you can find one stem which looks longer and cut it down and don’t worry this will again grow with a fresh stem.

If a Stem is not growing and becomes fragile, even if they broke from some point the whole length won’t grow any leaves. Remove the fragile , dry, diseased stems often and I suggest removing those who are growing in some other direction like if any stem needs to thrive from the left side and it is doing the opposite thing taking other stems space , then it should be removed to make our plant look graceful.

Also Check : China Doll Plant Benefits

China Doll Plant Pruning in case they show legginess and you have not been active in checking them daily So what to do. Trim branches that are connected to the main stem, and also you can see what are the branches that are too long to cut them also. Use a good pruning tool and always clean them first before using it to avoid any bacterial growth.

Make sure not to cut healthy smaller branches, after trimming they will propagate new growth and it’s the sign you pruned perfectly. Now Place it where there is a good amount of light. When growing indoors, a south facing window is a good location as this ensures it will get sufficient light. Also water it so it can recover from the pruning shock.

Now you have read about how and when to prune china doll plants , do it and always make sure they look graceful and well shaped , shiny. 

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Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons

When to Prune China Doll plant

It’s not hard to learn pruning and anyone can do that with basic knowledge. China doll plants can be trimmed any time if you see undesirable growth and basically you are saving your plant by doing this so don’t think if you are harming them. To know the actual time of pruning, understand when they started looking ugly and needed good pruning to shape them , that way you can again make them beautiful looking houseplant. This not only encourages plant overall growth but removes many problems. 

China doll Plant Info

and these are more tropical plants so they need lots of sunlight and well drained, fertile soil to grow, giving them fertilizer will ensure they get proper nutrients and result in more bright foliage. They were trimmed occasionally and sometimes just to remove diseased, dead, drought branches as they may look ugly so pruning is necessary. To Make sure the plant thrives and stays bushy they need proper direct sunlight and growing them outside will do the work and if you grow them indoors buy a fluorescent light that will provide sufficient light. In case of low light you may need often pruning so it doesn’t become leggy that is uneven growth which kills plant often if not solved.

Wrap up

I hope you learned about “china doll plant pruning” and if you like to read more such article check below.

 

China doll Plant Leaves Turning Brown – How to Fix(Guide)

China Doll Plant Outdoors – Tips on How to Care(Know Everything)

How Do You Care for China Doll Plant?

China Doll Plant Propagation – How To Take Cuttings(Know Everything)