I have a neighbor who likes for his to grow tall and thin! While the stems are nice with the spiral thorns, it looks naked to me.

He gave me some cuttings from his plant. 2 rooted and grew nicely and one did nothing and died. I handled them the same way you did. I have noticed that my plants look better and seem to grow more during the cooler months. I don't know if that is the norm, but perhaps that is why you aren't seeing any growth on the piece in the ground?

This was in December, about 2 years after I got them. And yes, these guys have been properly potted in a better mix. I can't believe how underpotted they are!

This plant was whacked to the ground. In fact, Charlie thought he had dug up the roots, but it came back! That pitiful looking shrub that we whacked was almost 5 foot tall and wide. It was engulfing the COT - and Charlie doesn't like COTs and I don't like those shrubs. LOL

I don't have one of the lovely Thai COTs. So maybe this one is different. It does seems to like more water than I would expect. And Charlie can't kill them!

That is my experience.

Crenda, you're just the person I wanted to speak with. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond so quickly.

Do COT come in several different varieties? I love your potted ones! The ones we have and, in fact, all the ones I've seen here grow the same with just tip leaves & blooms. Perhaps it's the climate. Well, at least the groupings we have are in varying lengths. Cutting the 12 or so tall ones will likely benefit the plants and send up new stalks.

I want to do this right. Is it correct to say that they don't grow new heads once cut? Please confirm. Do the no roots / no head stalk pieces eventually root and send up new baby stalks? I don't want to throw away what can be propagated.

Thanks again!

Thank you, Garrett. The part that I'm referring to is planted in-ground, so it does have roots. The cut tip is dry and there is no sign of it growing anything after three full months. How long would it normally take to begin to branch out.

I scraped the stalk immediately below the top and lactea does seep out, so the stalk is alive. When you say "it will grow new heads from the sides," do you mean from the top, at the base, or randomly throughout the stalk?

I need these specifics so I know where to cut the large, leggy stalks. Thanks again for your help.

My bushy one branched after pruning. It seemed to send up stems from the roots, too, but it could be branches close to the soil. The one in the pot above is branched very close to the soil and has not been pruned yet.

I have never tried to root a stem with no head, so I can't give you any advice there.

This is a nice thread with lots of pictures of COTs.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1787195/crown-of-thorn-plants-for-april-and-may-2014

New heads exactly like Crenda's second picture up there, just without the main head. You shouldnt cut it unless it the heads have already grown.

Garrett,

Sorry, something's still unclear. Crenda's 2nd photo is the potted COT, right? I see new stalks growing from the base. Mine look like that as well, except I have about 12 three foot stalks I want to cut down. These are on 4 separate COT clusters planted in-ground. By cluster, I mean one large plant with several stalks rising up from the base.

What I am understanding is that I should prune the long, leggy stalks about 6" or so from their bases. New stalks will grow from the base. I can then remove the heads (top piece) from these cut stalks, leaving about 4-6" of stalk on them for rooting separately. The remainder of the stalk (middle piece) will be discarted because it will neither grow a new head, nor root. Is that correct?

Here's a very elementary rendition of what I've attempted to describe ... My apologies ... I can't draw for squat!

Also, the cut stalks do not actually grow new heads. Instead, new stalks grow in from the base of the COT cluster. Is that correct?

I like to know same thing...my COT is also tall, almost 4'. It has 3 stalks almost same size that are twisting (like Crenda's 1st photo) with tuft of leaves and many blooms on top.

Hi, Rina - Nice to see you!

In my original post, you'll see that I cut off half of one tall leggy stalk as a trial & error experiment. I then cut that top piece in half and potted them both after 1 week, being sure to maintain the same orientation on the headless piece.

The part with a head (flowers & leaves) never lost a leaf and rooted perfectly. The headless piece never rooted after 3 months so I threw it out. I want to know if perhaps that was a fluke ... if perhaps the headless pieces do root in time and throw up new shoots (new plants!) from the base. Or do they just NOT root at all.

I am being annoyingly specific because I don't want to ruin my mother's millis. When I came here to be her caregiver last year (she's 82 and living with vascular dementia), the gardens were overgrown and abandoned. I've restored everything for her and we're surrounded by flowers again. She is always so happy in her garden but can only water now....and enjoy her flowers, which makes us both very happy.

Garrett,

I spent the morning clearing the area around these and see what you're referring to now. The COT can branch both as new stalks from the base and as new branches on any part of the bottom 12" of any stalk. Correct? In that case I'll prune off 2' and leave 12" to allow for branching. I can always cut away unproductive pieces in the future. Since I am in the Caribbean these grow most of the year.

I will root the heads of the stalks I remove. I had fabulous success rooting by lightening the soil with perlite. The question still remains whether the headless / unrooted center part of the long stalks can be rooted to create new plants. If so, I understand now how new branching will come in.

Thank you for your help.

In my experience, COTs will have a VERY difficult time rooting if it just a pure, rootless, and headless stem. Before making a cutting it is best to wait until the headless stem grows new leaves on the sides; only at this point it is safe to make a cutting. So yes, they can be rooted to make new plants.

Got you, Garrett. These are four separate, well established clusters with several stalks growing from the base of each cluster. I'll scrap trying to root the mid portions. Thanks again.

Hi LL...:)

I have been procrastinating with pruning the monster. I hope I'll get to it finally this summer. With water right next to me to dunk/spray the bleeding stems...

Hi, Rina -

Yes, I have also. The stalks are kind of hard to cut, especially with all those thorns. I used cardboard to grasp the stalk and a serrated kitchen knife (now a garden knife) to cut.

The lactea stopped oozing rather quickly ... I used my garden hose because the piece remaining in-ground also needs water. Do leave about 6" of stem on the heads and root.

Good luck with your pruning ... I'll see you in the dirt!