Removing yellowing leaves

[troy]

Lol... straight to the point tony, I agree dead and dying vegetation to me creates and inhibits the behavior

 

[NYEric]

I yank em off. My plants exist for my aesthetic amusement. If they don't look nice, there's no point in having them.

Sadiste! oke:

 

[C. Rothschild]

Although I guess in the wild they'd probably just decompose with leaf clutter. Leaving them in a pot would probably attract some kind of bugs I would think.

 

[Happypaphy7]

True, and makes sense, too.

As mentioned, except for certain cases like modern hybrid roses, pruning is not a must nor needed for plants, rather a horticultural practice.
After all, domesticated plants depend on human for care.
That, and aesthetic aspect of course, to make, say, shrubs and trees look certain way or size.

Thanks for a couple interesting links. Here is the nutrient recycling rate in orchids:
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ves_of_vascular_epiphytes_from_lowland_Panama

It include only NPKCaMg, and the major part (Carbon resorption) is not considered. It is true that if there is plenty of mineral nutrients in cultivation, only the limiting elements may be recycled. But most people aren't fertilizing with C. There are other studies (especially in non-orchids), but I'm a bit tight in time now.

With regard to Angela's point of pruning, there are interesting studies in plant herbivory (bugs, zebras etc eating plant leaves). Pruned plants (mimicking herbivory) created a larger above ground biomass (meaning weight of leaves and stems). This is partly because it removes apical dominance (promoting the branching). Also some plants appear to over-compensate for the loss of the leaves. So some people thought that herbivory could "help" plants (which is a weird idea). With longer term studies, the plants pruned weren't as big as control. So as Mike said, they probably sacrifice roots and reallocate the energy temporarily to make more above ground leaves after pruning. I learned about this long time ago (around 1990's), so the details may be a little off, but I think the general story is right.