David wrote:
"Phil L" wrote in message
k...


I allow mine to die back, then a few weeks later, remove the huge
spiky stalk, I try not to remove this until it's gone brown, I fear
I may damage the plant if I do it while it's green...another point
to note, once it's flowered, it usually sends up another head, ours
now has 7 heads and six of them flowered last year, but during dead
leaf removal, I snapped off a huge chunk of plant (3 of the heads
and a 3 inch thick branch adjoining them to the main trunk)...it may
also send up shoots from the base, these can be snapped off and will
readily grow into new plants just by sticking them in a pot of soil
- no TLC required with these things, they're even growing in the
wasteland at the side of my house where some of them were
unceremoniously chucked a few years ago.

Thanks, everyone for the advice, I'm try what you have suggested,
Phil. I've just had a careful look at it just now and the flower
spike is still healthily very green and would be worried about
causing damage if I hacked it off just now. I'll tether it to prevent
it blowing over as it's causing the plant to become a bit lopsided
(plant + flower is about 7ft tall). When you do remove it, how far down
into the plant do you go?

You'll find that it dries out into a sort of hard reedy stalk in a few weeks
time, I usually just snap them off as low down as i can get them, the
remaining stalks seem to become a new 'branch' within a year or two.