So, if you look at a philodendron stem, it has nodes where leaves emerge. You would have to prune back an individual vine to stimulate it to produce more growing points above leaf nodes. It is like pinching back certain plants at the right time to make them thicker. Otherwise, what you have is a vine that wants to keep lengthening its growing tip and produce leaves along that length. They are hardwired for that as shade plants wanting to climb in native rain forest conditions.  You have left very long hanging vines which are too far away to from the base to stimulate this kind of desired growth. You'd have to cut much closer to where you want to effect emergence of new growth buds.  

As far as a lot of leaves to deal with getting covered with soil close to insertion, perhaps you didn't cut long enough stems and denude the vine of enough of the leaves  prior to rooting  in water or using rooting hormone.  

S.

Hi S.,

Thank you for your reply. Can you explain how to "prune back an individual vine to stimulate it to produce more growing points above leaf nodes"? Maybe with a visual?

Can you explain the process you spoke about - "to prune back an individual vine to stimulate it to produce more growing points above leaf nodes"? I'd like to do that with the long vine and wondering if I can root them in water or just add them to the soil of the plant. Is there a solution for the current problem. What will happen if I cut off the leaves that are too close to the soil?

Thank you,

Cynthia

The place where each leaf joins the stem is a node, and that's the location that new leaf and stem growth can emerge from a dormant bud. There is one node in the linked photo example of a Philodendron cutting, though cuttings could have longer sections with more than one node if desired. By pruning the stem back to that point, the bud is triggered into growth, and this method can help stringy/leggy plants become more bushy. What Sue is referring to is the fact that the growth point activates right behind where the cut was made, not many nodes further down on the stem, so the stem needs to be trimmed back to the point where you want it to get bushier. Plus, providing ample light on the area of the plant you want to stay full will help, as Philodendrons hanging out of containers tend to get more bare on the older, base part of their stem over time, which is normal and natural. (That's also because where they tend to be grown, the sides hanging down tend to get more light than the top, since they aren't in a greenhouse with a light source overhead.)

The plant pictured looks quite healthy and it has a growth habit normal for this species. There's only so much filling-in it can do, since as Sue mentioned, it's a vine in nature that will keep trailing until it finds something to climb. Home gardeners don't have to let it climb -- it can keep trailing as long as you keep the plant -- but that is just the way it grows, so keeping it dense closer to the pot will be a continuing challenge. You can root the cuttings you remove and add them back into the pot to help fill it in, which is a trick nurseries use to help one plant fill in a larger pot over time. The node is where roots emerge, so when rooting pieces (either in water or potting mix, it shouldn't matter), make sure at least one node is buried (or below water) and any leaf attached to that node snipped off, since otherwise it can rot. As soon as roots have developed, the cutting can be planted into the pot.

We've drawn a couple lines on your photo to illustrate locations on a couple stems that you could trim back to, using the pieces you remove as sources of cuttings to root, which then are added back to the pot to fill in the growth. You can trim less off if you want -- it's up to your personal preference -- so this is just an example.

Miri