I changed the image files so that all the dead leaves are a crimson red so its wayyy easy to see them, and as soon as they change color they get cropped. i dont prune anything else from the plant cause it just makes the health go down.
As soon as I read that it was like "Doh, what was good for mushrooms in VV is even better for dead leaves" Thanks so much for the wonderful idea.
sfrose is right this should be available as a mod. I think it turned into a very popular one in VV.