My neighbor said I should cut the flower off my croton, but it's so pretty. Would it hurt the plant to leave it?

What a pretty Croton (Codiaeum variegatum 'Petra') I have a few Crotons growing in my yard and a couple that I keep in containers and I've never pruned off the blooms. I'm curious as to why your neighbor thinks you should remove the flowers.

Leave then alone .. like a little surprise treat . they may even set seeds

She said "she heard" it weakens the plant. I'm leaving it! Thank you for the answers I wanted to hear! 😄

I have only heard that about coleus.

I would certainly leave them on to enjoy. You can always remove the stem once the blooms have finished. The plant will put energy into trying to make seeds which is where "weakening the plant" may come from.

If you wanted the plant to grow more quickly is the only reason someone would take a bloom off so the plant could put its energy into growing but the plant is meant to bloom and I would not cut it. I would enjoy it.

gamehensm said: My neighbor said I should cut the flower off my croton, but it's so pretty. Would it hurt the plant to leave it?

Your plant is incredible! No wonder it's blooming, so gorgeous and healthy looking.

Removing the bloom is one of those seemingly vindictive advices that may originate from jealous folks whose plants won't bloom. If you were putting all of your focus into making a bloom and it was suddenly cut off, would you suddenly "grow faster?" The most logical response to me seems like it would be confusion. I don't know how plants process this, but why not enjoy a bloom?

There may be some element of the advice that comes from confusing annual plants with perennial plants, combined with a theory that removing the bloom of a true annual plant can lengthen the life of that plant, but one would have to first believe that an annual can be so manipulated to believe that removing the bloom could have that effect. Regardless, none of that relates to perennial plants because their health is not compromised by blooming, it's just what they do when they are mature, robust and healthy, in conditions that allow it to happen.

There can be technical reasons why a bloom of some plants are removed, but they are in regard to manipulating the plant, not in regard to "healthcare."

It is rare for a croton to bloom indoors so keep the bloom and enjoy it.

Info on growing a plant from seed: https://gardenknocks.com/germi...

Congratulations on flowering your Croton indoors.
I grow many Crotons out in my Florida garden. I have never removed any of the flower stem.
You are witnessing a male flower stem, with no chance of it producing seed. You may witness a female flower stem in the future, but are much rarer than male flower stems.
Male flower stem...


Female flower stem...

Oh, those are gorgeous! They look like fireworks! Thanks for sharing. 😃

Getting your houseplants to bloom is the best validation that you're doing everything right even though the plant is nowhere near its natural habitat. Why on earth would anyone want to remove the flowers then and not enjoy them after all the work you put into them? That's just mind-boggling that it was suggested. Yes, once they start to fade they just use up some of the plant's resources for nothing, so remove them. I'd like to think your neighbor misread whatever she was referencing rather than being malicious about it though.

Thank you — no, my neighbor is a friend. I'm sure she was not being malicious, just misinformed!

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that the neighbor was the original source of the info, or trying to be anything but helpful and supportive. I was speaking under an assumption that the neighbor was repeating something they had read, but that may not have been clear from what I said. I've heard that kind of thing asked about before, and encountered sources of info that give similar advice, and have always thought some of these advices could have originated as someone else's possibly sour grapes. No direct connection from 2nd-hand info of unknown origin to the neighbor was intended.

Thank you — no, my neighbor is a friend. I'm sure she was not being malicious, just misinformed!

I'm glad to hear. I'm sorry I didn't phrase that better, so it was clear that I was not disparaging your neighbor.

Don't worry, you don't know us, so for all you know she could have been a jealous gardener! 😅. Nothing you said was offensive. I appreciate all feedback.

A jealous gardener - LOL! I hope they are as rare as I think.

Thanks for the acorns. : )