Help taking plant out/cutting it at base and replanting the good tops. (My stem plants have become thin at the bottom but have nice big tops).

[Johnny420]

Hello guys, I have 2 hygrophila corymbosa in the back of my 120l tank that are now 18 months old and been trimmed back quite a lot to the point they are now thin at the bottom but nice and thick at the upper half. Now I think I need to take the plants out and plant some of the best tops (which there's plenty of).

Using tropica aquasoil capped off with a nice bit of sand. I have Cory's and cardinal tetras so went with sand. 2 x cryptocoryne crispatula plants at the back. And 2 other cryptocoryne plants I forgot the names of, but they are shorter and more closer to the front of the tank.

My question is am I OK to just cut the 2 plants at the base that I want to start again with, and plant some nice tops in place? If so how do I go about the old roots? Could I just leave them in or should I try to take out as much of them as possible? According to tropica I can just leave the roots in and they become food for the future plants. I'm still not sure though. I don't want anything rotting and leaching ammonia.

Any help much appreciated

 

[Colin_T]

just take cuttings and plant them in the substrate

 

[Johnny420]

just take cuttings and plant them in the substrate

That's what I'm going to do. Should I just cut at base and leave the old roots there and Just plant new cuttings in place?

 

[Colin_T]

You can cut the plant wherever you like but it they are big, grab a few smaller cuttings from the top part and leave the bottom in place until the new cuttings have taken root.

Normally you remove the roots of the old plant if you are going to cut the plant just above the roots. After you remove the roots you do a gravel clean on that area and then put new plants in.