Carolina Girl,

No, that is not what I said. You can cut a leaf off if it is ugly, diseased, or just old without hurting the plant but not for forcing a nodal tip to sprout. Pinch out the top growing point and it should force the next growing tip(s) to sprout. If you cut the top out then the next growing point will become the leader. It will make it somewhat uglier but if you aren't growing for a show, no harm.

You can cut an entire cane to the ground (the roots should send up new shoots), lay the cane horizontally in a long pan of good potting mix and every node with a growing tip should make a new stem. OR you can cut each node below and above the growing tip and stick those vertically and you should get a new plant. Most folks cut a stem for 3 or 4 nodes and stick the lower two below the surface for roots.

Here is an example of a pan (aluminum pan of syngoniums and a lanky tall growing Hazel's Front Porch) back in November. All the side growing canes were old and a bit ugly. I had one young stem growing straight up.

The new cane had a lot of promise and was thick.

new leaves were short

I cut all the side shoots and stuck the tops in water. I could've stuck the middles in as well but I don't need anymore of this begonia. This was the last day of last year.

almost the end of January after those tops were put in a pot.

The young shoot I decided to keep as is. I started tying with the green tape to a 3 foot stake. The orange tape is from a taping device I bought later on.

the tops in late Feb

the young stem is now above the 3 foot stake in Feb.

Mid-March (you can see some side shoots because I pinched out the leader back in Feb)

end of June and the stem is over six feet tall. I put a new stake in that is probably 5 feet and re-taped the entire stem. I could pinch the top out of the new leader but I haven't yet.

July 19 and all the cut off side shoots have sprouted new canes themselves and the syngoniums are like weeds that need cutting before bringing indoors

My maculata that I got at Walmart a couple of months earlier next to a big Red Umbo

PS: maculata is a great seed parent but beware of mildew - it is notorious for mildew when the temps turn colder.

Here are some of my seed-grown plants from my old maculata. The one in the very back is one of my own seedlings.

My old maculata back in 2009 where it grew like a weed but mildew did it in the next year or two. It shared an 18 inch pot with Mrs. Hashimoto (the one in bloom), Encanto Bronze which is the tallest one but in back and Morocco (the rounded leaves with tiny white blooms).