A trunk of our philodendron fell over last night. What should we do with it?

Mark A
by Mark A
I've attached a photo. The trunk has a lot of leaves, many of which are now laying on the ground.
Fallen philodendron
  5 answers
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Oct 27, 2012
    Perhaps @Douglas Hunt can offer some advice on this...I would think some light pruning would help. This is a plant that does not grow in my neighborhood....in fact I'm looking at 6" of fresh snow on my deck this morning.
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Oct 27, 2012
    Mark, it looks like the trunk is still upright, or is there another trunk in the foreground on the ground? You're probably going to lose the leaves, but the plant itself should rebound. You can cut off the trunk within a foot of the ground, or you can leave it on the ground and it will probably grow upright from there (with a curve in the trunk). After an event like this I think it's generally good to wait a few days to judge what the real damage is, but philodendron's are pretty resilient.
  • Sherrie S Sherrie S on Oct 27, 2012
    @Mark A I would have no worry about your plant. I have one like it that went through a lot of damage when Orlando had hurricanes. It had damage but came back quickly. Mine is old and beautiful. I live about 25-30 miles from you.
  • Lou B Lou B on Oct 28, 2012
    You could wait till spring and cut it back, like Douglas said. It should then grow straight again. Laying on the ground does not hurt this plant. I have one that was laying on the ground and growing really large(they do this as they get older). I cut it back completely even with the ground, as I wanted to get rid of it, did not work. Grew back. They are very hard to kill, would take a backhoe to dig up one as large as yours.
  • Mall Mall on Dec 16, 2014
    I'm not sure if it works but I remember a cat tree that snapped half way true the stem and my mum put a good amount of margarine in and around it and then a normal bandage. Looked funny at first but the plant survived and years later the bandage was over grown by the stem, worth a try I guess you'll never know until you try it.