My Scindapsus lictus has some dry branches because i under-watered it for some time. I would like to prune it to optimize the recovery and aesthetics. How should i do it? Do you have any other suggestion to increase the recovery, growth and production of new leaves
The plant still have some looking healthy leaves, what means that the recovery is possible. I would prune all dead vines and leaves that are not in good condition. I would also buy some good container soil, repot the plant after inspecting and pruning all the roots that look unhealthy. The pot must have drainage holes at the bottom. After replanting I would water the plant well from the top and remove excess water from the saucer at the bottom of the pot after an hour or so. Afterwards I would water the plant in one week intervals by filling the saucer with water and allowing the soil to take as much water as is needed (add more if the water is taken too quickly). Again, excess water should be discarded from the saucer in about an hour. About a month or two after replanting I would start fertilizing it with a very small amount of liquid fertilizer designed for this type of plants. I use Schultz 10-15-10 liquid food plant, don't know what is available where you live. And keep the plant in bright light, but not in direct sunlight.
Hi thank you very much for the detailed answer. When I repot it and remove the bad roots, how to I recognizer the roots that I should remove?
Dead roots are mushy or brittle, shriveled, brown or black. Live roots are much brighter, not easily broken, and swollen from water uptake. If you don't have much experience with plants and repoting I would recommend to watch a few videos on youtube to get more familiar with the process. Here is one: In your case I would not use a bigger pot (you are not replanting a plant that has overgrown its container). You can use the same container the plant is in now. I would open the root ball if necessary and remove any circling roots. Any good container soil will do. I believe the current container has a drainage hole at the bottom?
Non woody plants like this don't need to have circling roots corrected - deformed roots become problematic when the plant is a type that will hang onto to them for indefinite periods. If instead individual roots are not long persisting and woody there is little basis for concern. And herbaceous plants can also be a lot more likely to be bothered by handling and trimming of roots than woody plants tend to be. But there is of course a range of tolerance to procedures involving root disturbance - and associated exposure to air - among different specific kinds of woody plants, with some of them being much more delicate in this respect than others.
