I have a plant that I hope is recuperating after a partial re-pot (by which I mean, I cleaned off the old soil but did not root prune, both bc the plant didn't seem quite healthy enough, and I've never done that) into a 5-1-1-ish mix.

I think the plant is stressed and there aren't many leaves left, so I'm leaving those alone. (I hope it is not dead. Also sorry I keep posting about it!)

However, could it hurt the plant if I cut back the dead stems? That's okay, right? My guess is that pruning dead tissue shouldn't make any difference to the plant.

Second question: I understand that a re-pot is very stressful and often damages fine roots, so people often cut back the canopy of the plant so that the remaining roots aren't overwhelmed.

Now, does this also apply to stems or branches, or just leaves?

That is, on my plant which doesn't have many leaves left, when I prune back the dead branches, when I get to the living part, is there any reason to keep cutting? Will it matter to the plant?

Thanks in advance!! I did a search or two but mostly it came back about rootpruning, rather than just regular pruning.