A beginners guide to pruning...

[nodding_dino]

Well it's coming up to two weeks since the first plants entered the tank, and things have come on in leaps and bounds! The little lonely stems have filled out and some of them are threatening to overtake the whole tank!

So having spent HOURS reading up on how to grow aquatic plants, and what must seem like hundreds of questions on here, I am now at the point where I need to get going on the underwater topiary ans tart cutting them back

Before I just start to hack away, I wondered whether any of you have any hints and tips...the best place to cut the stem, how to re-plant the cuttings etc etc...

Come on fellow prune fingered planters...spill the beans

 

[jimbooo]

no problem ND.

stem plants: remove the top bud when it's 1 inch from the surface to encourage lateral growth (ie in ludwiga do this to make it bush out a bit) you can only do this a couple of times before you have to cut the bottom stem.

to do this uproot the whole plant and lay out on a flat surface, you'll notice the roots have sprouted all up the stem. cut the stem leaving at least 4 root sprouts on the top half. discard the bottom and replant the top bit. a couple of weeks later clip off the new top bud and so on.....

you can also seperate branches which have sprouted roots and replant those as stand alone plants hence multiplying the number of stems in your planting area.

Rosette plants: ie swords etc.. pull the old leaves straight from the rhyozome (SP?) you'll find if you grip the leaf tightly at the base, holding the roots in place with one finger you can give it a sharp tug and the leaf will rip from the base. (you should see the white fleshy bit at the end of the leaf you remove) this will encourage new growth.

riccia etc... either cut lawnmower style or pull the whole lot out and do again

hope that helps

 

[zig]

Well with fast growing stem plants in highlight they will grow very fast and can to be quite honest become a pain.

Anyway normally what you do is cut the top 6-8 inches off each stem and replant that and start the process over again, and you would chuck the lower section out roots and all, but it depends on how full of plants your tank is, for instance if you were starting up a new tank and wanted to achieve a higher biomass you could prune the stem plants as normal and replant the top sections but you could keep the lower section, maybe just slide it through the gravel and stick it in the background somewhere, it will recover and grow again, and effectively you have doubled the biomass of that plant.

If you think about it a lot of stem plants you but are just cuttings anyway, around here anyway mostly without roots, and within a week or so of planting they will grow roots and take a hold in the gravel.

So its that simple really, just cut with a sharp scissors, and replant and throw away the lower section if you dont need it.

But they do become a pain if you have a lot of them, but having said all of that it is important that you keep the fast growers if your tank is only newly established, as they grow fast and will outcompete the algae, and thats really the idea behind them in a new tank.

So if your tank is only newly established i wouldnt go to crazy on hard pruneing the fast growers, but obviously enough to keep things tidy.



You can replace the fast growers in a new setup after about 6-8 weeks if pruneing becomes a chore and put in slower growers, but do it slowly so as not to throw the balance of the tank off to much as your fertiliseation regime will become different because the slower growers will not be soaking up as many nutrients.

Anyway something like that.

Jimbooos answer is probably more what you should do i normally have a more cavilier approach to pruneing

 

[jimbooo]

you should see me prune my vallis, grab and chop, job done.

 

[nodding_dino]

greate posts guys!!!!!

I would have made the school boy error of lopping the top off and chuking that...not the bottom section!

 

[jimbooo]

greate posts guys!!!!!

I would have made the school boy error of lopping the top off and chuking that...not the bottom section!

[snapback]863507[/snapback]​

done that a few times in the early days, i always wondered why i had a tank full of well rooted twigs. easy mistake to make.

 

[houndour]

oh right. I've been chopping off the top, replanting, but generally keeping the bootm too and when I run out of space I take whole stems out. oops. And I'm not breaking the sword plants off close to roots...I find it really hard and end up pulling the whole sword out.

 

[jimbooo]

oh right. I've been chopping off the top, replanting, but generally keeping the bootm too and when I run out of space I take whole stems out. oops. And I'm not breaking the sword plants off close to roots...I find it really hard and end up pulling the whole sword out.

[snapback]863594[/snapback]​

theres a trick to it. Run your (for right handed people) hand down the leaf with your thumb on the undersideand first finger on top go as far down as you can till you reach the crown. pinch your fingers together to get a tight grip, place your third and fourth fingers on the crown and whilst pushing down with your 3rd and 4th pull up with your 1st finger and thumb.

sorry if that was a bit over the top but no other way to describe it. anyway ramble finished, hope it helps.

 

[houndour]

ok, I think I've got that. Will give it a try tomorrow