Pachypodium pruning: suggestions are welcome

[mmcavall]

So I received this Pachypodium bispinosum (sorry by the picture without any reference for scale). It has this long stem which in my opinion is ugly and looks unnatural (maybe a etiolated plant?). Also, it may have been bent to fit in the mailing box, so it is curved downwards now, as you can see in the picture.

I want to cut the stem immediately above the end of the caudex, but I’m afraid about the consequences of doing that. So the second alternative would be cut just above the first leaf (second picture).


What do you guys think? What would you do?

Thanks for any suggestion.

[mmcavall]

I found some pictures of this species and it seems to display long and thin stems many times curved downwards, so maybe it is not that "unnatural" as I tought. But, anyway, I want to cut it and see how it develops.
Suggestions are still much welcome. Thanks.

[greenknight]

I wrote the following reply before you made your second post. It's still good, though:

The branches bend down naturally, they start out quite thin and grow thicker with age. I agree about the looks of that, though.

I would prune it back to encourage more branching and make a good-looking plant sooner. I wouldn't cut it all the way back to the caudex, though. Cutting back to that small side branch (that's not just a leaf) would be good, that would technically be considered a thinning cut. Thinning cuts tend to produce a more natural branching pattern than heading cuts where you just shorten the previous growth to a point where there is no branch - heading tends to produce multiple branches close to the cut. That's how almost any plant responds to pruning.

[williamsii823]

I agree with greenknight. I prune my pachys to branch out more, and provide more branches for flowering.

[mmcavall]

Good! Thank you both for replying.
Ok for the prunning.

Now another question: would you guys bury the caudex (so - they say- it will grow faster)?

thanks again

[williamsii823]

I wouldn't. The green skin helps with photosynthesis. I never heard of burying a caudex. Also, the excess moisture under soil, could promote rotting. Let it grow as it naturally would.

[mmcavall]

Thanks again and a lot, William!

[greenknight]

I agree, it shouldn't be planted any deeper than it was previously - the part that's green should be above the surface.

[mmcavall]

Thanks Spence, I planted it yesterday before reading your post...maybe part of the green body was burried, but is looks ok, doesnt' it?

[greenknight]

Looks good. The leaves have greened up nicely - they looked a bit pale before, no doubt from being closed up in a box with no light.

[mmcavall]

Yes. Not sure if it should get direct sun right now. Maybe wait until it shows new growth and I be sure that roots are developing. I'll keep posting. Regards.

[mmcavall]

So here is the plant (which I have now identified as P. succulentum) a year and a half later.
This may help you, Nachtkrabb.

IMG_20190105_180850296-768x1024.jpg (141.94 KiB) Viewed 7143 times

[nachtkrabb]

Your plant looks really great, mmcavall!
Thank you very much.
N.

[greenknight]

Looks like a happy plant.

[tasuccs]

I came across this thread looking for an answer to a similar question. Since you were all so helpful, I hope you won't mind my piggybacking rather than opening a second thread.

I recently bought a bispinosum at a local nursery that was similarly leggy but much leafier (see below). It's getting into winter here (where I live in the Mediterranean, the weather is similar to coastal San Diego/Tijuana) and I'm unclear on whether I should wait until it comes back from dormancy to prune. I've had it in half sunlight for almost a month and there hasn't really been any noticeable growth, so it seems well on its way asleep.

I was thinking of pruning one or both of the leggy branches close to the main stem (white and yellow), and cutting the longer branch at the pink line to get two nice cuttings. Does this seem like a good idea? Should I go for it now or better to wait for more signs of activity?

Thanks in advance!