How to revive my silver nugget plant?

amichaelmedia

This Silver nugget looks a little overgrown and has flopped. Lost its shape.

How should I get it back to looking like the others

Thanks!

EricL

The silver nugget plant is a very resilient plant once it has established itself. It doesn't require a lot of water and it thrives on rocky terrain.

It's difficult to say what might be causing the plant to limp. Can you please tell us your watering schedule is and when you last applied fertilizer? Did it happen immediately or was it a slow process with the plant getting weaker?

Any other information you can share about the plants history will help us form a diagnosis.

Let me call on our experienced team members @Noelle and @Adam_W for their recommendations.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

Noelle

Hi @amichaelmedia

Your Leucophyta 'Silver Nugget' doesn't look limp - it appears to have produced quite a lot of growth which made it look straggly. To maintain a neat ball shape, leucophytas benefit from trimming throughout the growing season, to encourage compact dense growth. An overall clip to remove the terminal shoots and promote more side shoots to thicken the plants up would be the way to go.

Have a look at the images on this wholesale grower's site to see how 'Silver Nugget' should look as it matures.

amichaelmedia

@EricL,

After established. No watering schedule as rain was ample. Growth is good with whole garden and other similar plants.

Slow process of 'flopping over'. Seasonal SEASOL applied earlier this year.

amichaelmedia

@Noelle,

Is it too late to prune? Or do I let it grow out until spring?

MitchellMc

I'd imagine it might not be best to prune directly before winter @amichaelmedia. Leucophyta is typically pruned through the growing season to keep it in shape. Perhaps you might be able to remove the terminal shoots prior to winter.

Hopefully, @Noelle can let us know her thoughts.

Mitchell

amichaelmedia

Would you call this a terminal shoot?

Noelle

A very light trim all over now would be OK - just to nip off the terminal shoots. Start the main shaping with a harder cut in early spring but don't prune too far back into old wood. You're trying to achieve a neat rounded shape and denser growth overall, so the goal is to prune little and often from spring to autumn to maintain shape.

MitchellMc

Hi @amichaelmedia,

I believe @Noelle is referring to the tip of that branch/shoot, at the end where it's growing. If you trim the red terminal shoot off at the green line, the plant will then put energy into growing bushier through the blue branchlets instead of growing outwards at the tip and becoming lankier.

I see @Noelle has just responded, but hopefully, the image below will help explain what you are nipping off.

Mitchell

Noelle

The terminal shoot is the very tip of the branch/twig or the growing tip - just a couple of centimetres, no more.