Cutting Peperomia Puteolata

Choosing the Time

• The best time to prune a houseplant is when the plant's ready to grow rapidly, taking advantage of a growth spurt that helps the plant recover from pruning quickly. Parallel peperomia is a tropical plant that's native to Peru. Like all tropical plants, it tends to grow all year and doesn't have a dormant period. It does grow fastest in warm weather, making early spring or summer the best time for pruning, although you can prune it successfully at any time. It's also helpful to pick a time when the plant is in best possible condition, so watering it well a day or two before you prune is also a good idea.

Making the Cuts

• Choosing pruning cuts depends to some degree on your goal in cutting back a parallel peperomia. Although the plant usually becomes only 1 to 2 feet tall, it can become leggy, especially if grown under low light. To help it become more bushy and reduce its overall height, cut back longer stems by about one-third to one-half, making slanted cuts just ahead of leaf buds that you'd like as starting points for new growth. For stems that are at the right height but have sparse leaves, just pinch these back about 1 inch or less to stimulate new leafy growth.

Rejuvenating the Plant

• If your plant is has dead or damaged stems, you can prune to remove these, cutting dead stems back at their origins and damaged ones just behind the damaged portion. For an older plant with little or no healthy, strong growth, you could remove some of the oldest stems at their bases in an initial pruning session, then wait for new growth before removing the other poorly growing stems. Cutting the entire plant back in one session is not a good plan, because it might leave it with too little top growth and cause the plant to die. For all cuts, use a sharp knife or pruning shears, disinfecting the blade by wiping with rubbing alcohol or dipping it in a 10 percent bleach solution between cuts.

Using the Cuttings

• If you'd like a second or third parallel peperomia plant, you can root healthy stem cuttings easily by removing any leaves from the lower 1 to 2 inches of stem and dipping each cut end in rooting hormone, which you can buy at garden centers. Place each stem in moist sand or potting soil and keep the medium moist and the pot in a shaded spot until you see new growth, when new plants are ready for re-potting.

  Parallel peperomia can grow in a partially shaded spot outdoors in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11, and grows as a houseplant elsewhere. It thrive in bright, indirect light indoors and also grows in low light, but more slowly. Constant, moderate moisture is also best, but reduce watering a bit in winter to give the plant a rest.