We think one of the most satisfying things about growing succulents is getting to pull off all the dried leaves around the base of your plant. There is something so fun and genuinely therapeutic about it, making it an extremely relaxing and pleasurable experience for most people.

Aside from that fun fact, we strongly recommend you remove any dried leaves and blooms for your plant’s health as well. Doing this simple task will help to keep your plants happy and healthy.

Removing Dried Leaves and Blooms – Why do it?…

New growth, New plants, New Blooms

By removing any spent, dried up bloom stalks and dried leaves from your succulents energy will be recycled back into the plant. Doing so will allow your plant to create fresh growth, new blooms and sometimes new rosettes or pups. And who doesn’t want bigger, more plentiful succulents??

To remove, gently raise the healthy leaves on your plant and pull away any dried up leaves underneath. They should come off pretty easily. If they don’t you can either leave them to further dry up, or if they are on their way out and unattractive, you can try to snap them clean off.

Good Air Flow

Succulents, moisture and/or humidity is a poor, sometimes fatal combination. By removing these dried leaves from underneath your plants, you are not only providing your plant with good air circulation, but it also allows the soil the dry out more easily. Removing these dried leaves, especially in humid weather or excessively wet conditions, will help to prevent rot, mildew, and/or diseases. This process also allows for air to circulate around the base of the plant.

Less Pests

Like most plants, succulents can be attacked by a wide variety of pests. Another benefit of removing the dried leaves underneath your plant is to help keep pests at bay. Little bugs love moist places they can hide and breed. The compacted lower leaves on a succulent are likely to hold moisture around the base of your plant and in turn welcome pests to move in. Removing these leaves gives your plant a better chance at defending themselves against these bugs.

Bloom stalks can be another attractive breeding ground for pests, namely aphids. If you notice your blooms starting to have this insect problem, you can treat the bloom with some diluted rubbing alcohol & water solution, or you can remove the bloom stalk all together. Often times, if the problem remains, these pests can infect other plants and blooms nearby. To remove bloom stalks either wiggle back and forth to gently pull off your plant, or if it isn’t yet dried up, snap or cut the stalk down low.

Do we have any ASMR fans out there??

We put together this little video to show you how to remove these leaves from your plants, but as succulent lovers, this video doubles as our version ASMR! Am I right?!

(The Urban Disctionary states “The sole purpose of ASMR is to relax people. Ideally, ASMR videos are meant to give the viewer a relaxing tingle at the back of their head and/or spine.”)

Now that is our idea of relaxation!!