Many houseplant’s leaves die back bit by bit, starting at the tip, especially those that have long and narrow leaves, such as spider plants, cordylines and dracaenas, and also plants that have particularly long-lived leaves, like aspidistras and streptocarpus.
Instead of entirely removing an otherwise healthy leaf just because its tip has died back, one easy solution is to use scissors to cut away the dead part of the leaf entirely.
Don’t just cut any which way, though: just snipping the dead tip right off at a right angle may get rid of the brown part, but it won’t help the plant’s appearance in any way.
A better way to solve this problem is to trim the leaf to a au natural-looking point. Yes, you’ll have to cut into live tissue to do so, but the resulting trimmed leaf can actually look quite natural.
Whenever you cut into live leaf tissue, though, be sure to use the sharpest scissors you have. Dull blades tend to bruise the leaf tissue and that will cause the edge of the leaf to turn brown again.
When You’ve Trimmed It Back to a Stub
Trimming is not a cure-all, however. A older leaf will continue to die back over time. When you can no longer trim it without rendering it disproportional to the rest of the plant, or if the leave has begun to fade and turn yellow, it’s time to remove it entirely, tugging it off or cutting it off at its base.
Why do leaf tips die back? You’ll learn more about the causes in How to Prevent Brown Leaf Tips.
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