[Otto72]

I see on countless threads here people saying 'just trimmed down my plants today' but nobody mentions if theres any special way to trim your plants.
Is it just a matter of trimming them down how you like or is there a specific way plants should be trimmed when the time comes?

 

[jedimasterben]

Flamethrowers I hear are a no-no.

 

[pandacory]

I'm not sure if this is best practice, but I trim plants that grow in a rosette pattern as close to the base as possible. I only remove large leaves when training, or old leaves or anything that is showing signs of deficiency. A lot of times I just pluck off the leaves that don't look good and otherwise let it grow wild. My thinking is if the plant doesn't let the leaf go its not ready to. Plants that grow along runners, same thing. Basically anything where all the leaves grow from a single point. I will snip the runner and either replant or toss if it is popping out somewhere I don't want.

For stems, I cut just above the node at the height I want. If I want it to branch, I just leave the.base rooted, otherwise I remove the base, and a few lower leaves from the new top and replant. I think grassy plants you give a haircut.

 

[FishFarmer]

It's pretty hard to trim aquatic plants incorrectly. For plants that have a rosette growth habit, as long as you trim the leaf off at the node (where the stem of the leaf, called the petiole, meets the main stem of the plant (in a rosette, this would be the crown)), then you're good. If you happen to trim above the node, the rest of the leaf will eventually die, therefore removing the entire leaf by cutting at the node just looks better. Trimming of some leaves is a good thing to do periodically because it releases a growth hormone (auxin) which encourages the next axillary bud to break dormancy and send out a new leaf.

For stem plants, simply cut them off--easy as that. Again, this will encourage lateral shoot formation, which will make your stem plants even bushier. You can then also replant the terminal shoot that you just trimmed to propagate a new plant.