nealnick5

@Kanana love the pictures! And yes, just as Cincinnana said, cutting the stem allows the plant to redirect its energy to rooting and producing pups. And once that is achieved, the plant will actually produce leaves much faster since the roots will be better.

Anytime I transplant something where the roots are disturbed, I do this. The plant will struggle and be slow if it is trying to keep the leaves alive AND root.. this goes for pretty much any type of plant (other than cacti and some succulents). When something is transplanted, the plant will often go into "shock" and as a result, it will naturally lose its leaves and redirect the energy, so you can speed it up by chopping the plant so it doesn't have to slowly kill off its own leaves.

Also, your growth rate is about normal for the one you recently received.. but once the roots improve, it will take off. Granted, this will still be slower in the winter, but you will probably get a new leaf every 2-3 weeks. More if you give the plant heat and lots of light. And never fertilize until it has a good root system or else it will experience fertilizer burn.

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.