Terrariums are a creative and enjoyable way to cultivate a small plant world of your own.
To tend to your terrarium, it takes a little care and upkeep. You will still want to make an effort every day.
Pruning is a beneficial method for your terrarium care as it keeps your plants looking vibrant and healthy.
Like all plants, terrarium plants will grow even if it has less access to sunlight and restricted growing space it will grow at a slower rate.
Even so, sometimes they just outgrow the design or space, and you will need to prune your plants back down to size.
If you are new at keeping terrarium plants, and have no idea how to prune a plant, then this blog is for you!
But First: We will explore the reasons why you want to prune them.
Why Should You Prune Terrarium Plants?
In general, pruning helps keep plants healthy and looking good because it removes the unattractive, or non-functioning, parts of the plant or parts that compete for resources that would be better allocated to the rest of the plant.
Terrariums are, we know, relatively small spaces.
And most people keep terrariums for decoration or management of smaller plants that are uncomplicated to maintain.
In the end, who does not like looking at plants?
But as stated, terrarium plants will eventually outgrow the designated space and design.
When this occurs, some plant parts may need to be pruned in order to return the terrarium and its contents back into the original shape, size, and design.
In situations when there are several plants, there may be a plant or plants that grow larger than the others.
If this occurs, the large plants may shade out the smaller plants and/or compete for resources that also affect smaller plants in the terrarium.
This may result in stunted growth, or worse, death of (some) of the smaller plants. Pruning helps mitigate this by resizing or reducing some of the larger plants so that this does not occur.
There are also some terrarium plants that will grow so large that their leaves touch sides or bottom of glass containers.
For Example: If the glass is wet and has condensation, the plant may avert fungal disease that will eat up the entire plant and spread to other plants in the terrarium. Pruning the leaves mitigates and saves the terrarium from disaster.
The Process of Pruning Terrarium Plants
To begin, you’ll first want to make sure you have the correct tools for pruning, whether that is scissors, rakes, or trowels.
You want to be sure that your tools are sterilized to prevent any infection to the plants and that they are sharp tools to avoid bruising the plant.
If the plant gets bruised at all, they can bruise which can lead to decay. Also, you want to make sure tools have long handles, or long to reach, to reach inside the container.
Once again, consider the fact that different plants will be pruned differently than others.
Generally, there are 2 well categorized types of plants in terrariums:
- succulents and
- air plants
Pruning Succulent Terrarium Plants
Succulent plants tend to be slow growing.
They grow faster in the spring or summer and stay pretty static in the fall and winter. When they do grow, they spread out to fill a lot of space.
As a result, they can look a bit bushy and outgrow their terrariums. When this happens, it’s time to prune the leaves to resize the plant to the right size and shape.
Since they are fleshy, blunt tools do not do the trick and you need sharp tools.
Succulent plants tend to turn brown and crispy, especially when exposed to too much sunlight over time. When the leaves begin to dry out, they should be cut to the bottom of the leaves. Make sure to keep the plant out of direct sunlight when possible.
Sometimes the stems get unsightly and unhealthy. When this happens, grab the scissors or trowel and cut them. After cutting the stem(s), let the cuttings dry for a day and replant them to start new succulents.
Good tip: The best time to prune a succulent plant is in the summer when they rebound back into shape quickly!
Pruning Air Plants
Air plants are curious plants because they do not have roots.
Therefore, they ingest nutrients and moisture through their leaves and stems. Also, they produce offspring or “pups” that grow at the base of a leaf.
When the plants get old, they will turn from rich green to a brown and need to be cut back.
When you do cut them back, you want to snip off the brown stuff and avoid cutting off the pups since that is how the plant will continue.
Or, you could just let a few weeks pass while the new leaves grow in and then you could cut the old leaves.
Alternatively, if you are sufficiently experienced, you might continue to grow the old leaves back just overlooking the new leaves.
Common practices that will continue to keep your terrarium plants healthy:
- Finally, you should regularly wash the glass containers with soapy water, and when possible, you should get new terrarium decorations entirely.
- Cut out plants that have fungus or mold on them before it spreads to other plants.
It’s also worth mentioning that you should change the soil regularly, particularly if it is contaminated.
Conclusion
Pruning is the process of removing raw vines, leaves, and branches when the plants themselves outgrew their size or if one plant becomes significantly large than the others present in the terrarium.
When pruning, you need to sterilize the pruning tools so you do not transfer an infection to your plants.
The tools also need to be sharp so pruning does not bruise the plants, because bruised plants are subject to decay.
Different terrarium plants will also scope out different pruning methods, which we’ll cover in this article.
Likewise, different parts are pruned in different ways.
Unhealthy stems are cut, while overgrown leaves are trimmed from the lower nodes heading upwards.