You can trim it with no problem because it will grow back well. You really need to be careful with the sap. Wash your hands with soap thoroughly after cutting. If not properly washed off your hands and you touch your eyes, it can cause damage to your eyes...I found out the hard way.

our devil's b-bone is like ash. will come back. has froze many a year up here. get the dead stuff off, will come back really nice.

Thanks! I'll go out with my hedge trimmer and zip right through it. I am well aware of the sap, that's one reason I thought it would be easier if I just chopped it completely down rather than trying to cut it one branch at a time. It still is thrilling to see a tiny little cutting grow to a monster size in a few short years. Then you can cut it down and it grows back bigger and better.
Linda Leaf

My friend clipped a peice of the devil's backbone plant and i put it in water.Im not sure how to root the plant.

I have a relatively small one that I've been growing as a houseplant for years. (They're not hardy outdoors where I live, and actually I never knew some people grew them that way! It's amazing that they can get so huge.) On several occasions, I have cut individual stems back to near the crown after they had dropped so many leaves that they looked pretty bare and leggy (which I understand is part of their natural cycle, though for me sometimes dehydration has also been responsible). However, these cut stems have usually not grown back for me. Instead, a bare stump just remains for years (brown sections in photo). I have been able to grow new plants from the cuttings and then plant them in the pot to help fill it in that way (susannconboy, they root in water easily), but I'm wondering why the plant has such trouble growing back from the cut point for me.

I have cut off bare stems in the past because my plant seems unable to form new leaves from the places on the stem where they have fallen off, although in the below photo, you can actually see several very small sprouts forming on the stems--this is new for me! I'll be interested to see what happens with them. But sometimes in cases like this in other plants, I've found that the sprouts never develop into full leaves, but just "hang out" indefinitely in an immature state. I'd really like to know more about the "why" of that, too.

At this point, all the stems on my plant are so bare that the obvious thing would seem to be to cut them all back to near the crown; however, given my experience, I'm afraid that might mean the death of my plant. I'm thinking that cutting above some of the sprouted sections might be the safer way to go. Thoughts, anyone?

I had a glorious large one in SW FL. I miss it. I may get another, even though I will have to bring it inside in the winter here. They are so pretty when they get large.

I was surprised to see this OLD post come up! I have been hard pruning my devil's backbone every spring and it comes up full and nice in a very short time. My hubby uses a small chain saw and cuts pretty close to the ground. Sometimes when a plant looks bad, I cut it down to the ground and it always comes back with new branches.

Alex, you definitely need to remove the dead leaves and re-pot in fresh soil.

Linda Leaf

Linda, the dead leaves actually remove themselves quite quickly (as seen in the photo), lol! And I did add a lot of fresh soil last year, but true, I could try repotting the plant altogether. I did go ahead and cut it back to about 3" above the ground today, hoping that this may keep enough "life" in the stems that they can resprout this time. I also put all the cut stems in water, so at least I have some proven way to keep the plant going regardless. (It has sentimental value at this point--my greenhouse boss gave it to me as a cutting in about '99.)

Devil's backbones (Pedilanthus tithymaloides) are seldom seen for sale here (Northern VA), and obviously, from everyone else's comments, keeping them as houseplants is not the way to produce the most vigorous specimens! I also just found out yesterday that when mature, they get cool red flowers--I never knew that either! But I was comforted to see a lot of photos online of specimens that look as stripped and lanky as mine tends to get.

I guess what I need to figure out is how to coax my plant out of its dormant bareness in spring; up till now, for lack of a reliable alternative, I've mainly regenerated it from top cuttings. But generous fertilization, water, and sun are probably the keys to breaking dormancy and stimulating spring leafing when this plant is kept potted in the house. A big part of my problem is that till recently, I didn't realize it had this natural shedding/dormancy cycle, so I haven't been consciously harmonizing with it.

Akex, remove the dead leaves out of the pot. They are not adding to the plant's health. Wash away all the soil from the roots and trim any roots that are dark and mushy. Re-pot in fresh potting soil ( not heavy garden soil). Water lightly. Only water again when it is dry. This plant is a succulent...it stores water in the stems. If you could put it outdoors for the summer it would be happier. First put it in a shady spot and gradually move it to a sunnier location. I have my Devil's Backbone in steamy hot full Florida sun. Remember to bring it indoors when the overnight temps get down to 50.

Linda Leaf

Linda, thanks for your tips. I'm not sure why dead leaves on top of the soil would be a detriment, though, unless one were concerned about them harboring pests or disease (neither of which my plant has). Otherwise, it seems they could only add valuable organic matter as they decomposed, and conserve soil moisture, which is helpful to me as my plant dries out quite fast and I have not had any problem with rot since I removed some excess quantities of worm castings compost from the top layer of soil about a year ago.

Unfortunately, I live in an apartment without even a balcony, so my plant will have to remain inside year-round. But I do have practically full-wall, unblocked south-facing windows, so my plant gets about as good light as one can get indoors. It must be fun growing a devil's backbone outdoors where it can achieve its full glory!

Best,

Alexandra

Can I propagate a large limb successfully? I have a gigantic devils backbone and want to propagate a large piece instead of a 6 to 7 inch amount, but don’t want to kill it. Any advice?