"David E. Ross" writes:

On 5/21/2014 2:01 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
Sorry if I'm asking something I "should" know, but all these many
years of gardening, I've never understood whether it's OK to cut
part-way off leaves that are dried and ugly from the tips half-way
down.

Does it upset the plant (Clivia is what I'm on about at the moment)
if I "clean up" the look of the flower bed? Will the remaining part
of the leaf continue to feed the plant?

Or does cutting off part of a leaf degrade its function?

I generally leave a small margin of dead leaf, about 1/2 inch. I think
the remaining leaf cannot be affected since anything in the dead area
already stopped contributing any substances produced during the dying.
On the other hand, cutting into the live or currently dying portion of a
leaf might promote further dying.

I cut off enough to make the plant look good again.
Dead leaf just doesn't look attractive to me.

Most plants can take a little abuse.

--
Dan Espen