How to Prune Torch Gingers

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Torch gingers (Nicolaia elatior) have many common names including red ginger lily, torch lily, wild ginger and Philippine wax flower. Torch gingers are tropical plants that grow well as perennials in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9b through 11 in well-drained soil and bright sunlight. The optimal time to prune this plant is in early spring before new growth emerges. A torch ginger has aromatic flowers as well as stalks and grows from 3 to 15 feet tall and 2 to 4 feet wide.

1

Cut off any brown or yellowing shoots in the spring that encountered winter damage from a frost or are decaying from age. Cut each discolored shoot off with pruning shears at the point of origin from the main trunk.

2

Remove any discolored leaves by cutting them off with pruning shears where they emerge from the shoots.

3

Prune a broken shoot off a torch ginger at the point of origin on the main stalk. If you have several broken shoots, make the pruning cut a few inches below the broken area. Cutting too many broken shoots back to the main stalk will make a torch ginger very thin.

4

Cut off new aerial offshoots from the sides of the blooms. These offshoots grow at the base of the inflorescence on the bracts. An inflorescence is the long bloom with the green bracts at the base of the bloom. Removing the aerial shoots will maintain the upright shape and size of a torch ginger.

5

Remove spent blooms at the base of their shoot with pruning shears to tidy up a torch ginger throughout the growing season. Alternately, you may choose to cut the blooms when the bracts are two-thirds to three-quarters open for long-lasting, immature flowers to use in arrangements. Bracts are the small individual blooms on a stalk.

6

Reduce the size of a torch ginger in early spring by removing some of the older and larger shoots with shears at the bottoms, to keep the plant within its growing area.

Things You Will Need

Pruning shears

Tips

Aerial offshoots grow rapidly and, if allowed to remain on a torch ginger, they can weigh the main plant down and topple it over. Aerial offshoots may be used to propagate new torch gingers with the same characteristics of the parent plant.

Disinfect pruning shears before and after each use with alcohol or bleach and allow them to air-dry. This prevents germs from diseased plants transferring to a healthy plant.

About the Author

Mary Lougee has been writing for over 10 years. She holds a Bachelor's Degree with a major in Management and a double minor in accounting and computer science. She loves writing about careers for busy families as well as family oriented planning, meals and activities for all ages.