Basically, it is not necessary to cut an indoor fir tree. When cutting, you can make many mistakes that seriously disrupt the elegant and even appearance. When cutting, you must be careful as indoor firs do not sprout from old wood.
Do you have to cut an indoor fir?
Should you prune an indoor fir? In principle, cutting an indoor fir is not necessary and can damage its appearance. Only if necessary, cut off branches that are too dense or diseased directly on the trunk or shorten disturbing branches above a branch.
Reasons for cutting an indoor fir tree
There are a few reasons to cut an indoor fir tree at all. If you want to preserve the appearance of the tree, you should carefully consider whether it is really necessary for you to use scissors.
- Lace caps
- Short branches
- remove branches that are too dense
- Winning offshoots
What happens when you cut an indoor fir?
If you decide to cut an indoor fir, keep in mind that the tree will not sprout again from the old wood. Branches or tips that you cut off once are irretrievably lost. If you cut off the top, it will no longer grow back, but the tree will have multiple tips. Sometimes the indoor fir even dies afterwards.
You should therefore only cut branches that are too close or that have brown or yellow needles. You can also cut hanging branches as they no longer recover and straighten up.
Long branches that disrupt the overall appearance of the indoor fir should be shortened directly above a branch so that the cut does not attract too much attention.
Never leave stubs when cutting
Cut any branches that you want to remove completely, directly at the trunk. Do not leave stubs.
Propagate indoor fir through cuttings
It doesn't make much sense to propagate an indoor fir through cuttings. You have to be allowed to cut the top of the tree. This will ruin the appearance. This type of propagation is only worthwhile if the indoor fir is very old and you want to dispose of it soon anyway.
Cutting cuttings from the side branches occasionally works. However, the offshoots sprout very unevenly and appear rather shaggy.
It is therefore better to propagate an indoor fir from seeds that you can get commercially. When grown indoors, the indoor fir itself does not produce seeds.
Tip
Since indoor firs, like all conifers, do not sprout from old wood, they are not necessarily suitable as bonsai. Since the plants rarely grow taller than two meters when grown indoors, it's not worth the effort.
