Season

Letting late summer growth go leggy

July 26, 20267 min readBy Marisol Vane

Late-August growth reaching for a window rather than filling out — and left to do it.

Not every stem needs correcting. Watch a plant reach, and take notes.

Leggy is information

Long internodes late in the season are not a failure of care. They are the plant telling you exactly where it thinks the light is.

Prune in autumn and you remove the record before you have read it.

What to do instead

Note the direction of the reach, leave the growth alone until spring, and move the pot six inches towards the light. Then prune, once, when growth resumes.

Few left

Connected Plant Dossier

Potted Olive

Olea europaea

Olives leg out too, then thicken when the light returns. Patience beats pruning in the final weeks of summer.

Light: Direct sun, four hours minimum — a south window or nothing.
Water: Weekly in summer, monthly in winter. Water deeply, then drain fully.
Zone: Zones 8–11

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