Should dead leaves be trimmed / cleaned up?

[jjhartley]

I got the guy on the right 18 months ago, and the red guy on the left 6 months ago. They seem to be doing great, but I was wondering if I should clean up the old dead leaves.

 

[Grey Moss]

Matter of preference. You can but leaving the dead leaves on won't cause any harm to the plant.

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[raycer491]

As grey points out, there’s no need to. The plant doesn’t have a barber to trim it up in nature.

But the dead leaves in an indoor atmosphere can harbor fungus. In certain situations, especially when cleaning a plant from a fungal infection, or repotting it so it’s stem sits below the soil line, it’s best to remove old leaves to prevent introducing fungus into the soil.


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[raycer491]

Also forgot to add that fungus can accumulate under dead leaves if they’re dense enough. Never hurts to trim, and in my opinion it never hurts to cut everything off and wait for a complete regeneration of the crown


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[nimbulan]

I've personally only had an issue with fungus if large prey present on a dead leaf touches the soil. It still won't ever spread enough to threaten the plant though I think most people would recommend trimming just for aesthetic reasons.

 

[jjhartley]

Thank you all for the replies. I'll probably trim eventually especially since it's starting to get much wider than the pot.