Plant maintenance

[AquaBarb]

Hi everyone,

Whats the best way to trim stem plants?

Do you have to cutt 3/4 of the way down the stem then replant? Take it you cant just trim from the top

 

[PheonixKingZ]

What plants are you wanting to trim?

Do you use root tabs?

And what are the plants in the far left and right corners? (Just curious, lol!)

 

[Byron]

Stem plants grow continuously, and toward the light. As they are fast growing plants, they need brighter light than some other plants do, and more nutrients to feed the growth. The longer the stems grow, the more likely the leaves near the lower portions that are farthest from the light will yellow and die off, this is normal. To keep them bushy, you pull up the stems, trim off the lower portions (or cut off the upper portion, depending how you see it) and plant the upper cut portions in the substrate. When they get growing again you repeat as needed. If you just let the stems grow, the bottom portions will be completely bare and the stems will grow trailing across the surface.

 

[AquaBarb]

What plants are you wanting to trim?

Do you use root tabs?

And what are the plants in the far left and right corners? (Just curious, lol!)

Sorry i dont know what the stems plants are called. I get them from my LFS, they have them in tanks you can buy singly or in bunches of 4. Some look similar to ludwiga and hygrophila.

I do use root tabs but none are in this tank at the moment. I have tetra complete under the sand which is feeding the plants and will use the tabs every 3-4 months as a booster. (Thats the plan anyway) i have them in my smaller tank.

The plants on the back wall on the left and right corners are artificial. These replicate falling ivy which i use to break up the blue back ground and hide my air tubes for air stones.

 

[AquaBarb]

Stem plants grow continuously, and toward the light. As they are fast growing plants, they need brighter light than some other plants do, and more nutrients to feed the growth. The longer the stems grow, the more likely the leaves near the lower portions that are farthest from the light will yellow and die off, this is normal. To keep them bushy, you pull up the stems, trim off the lower portions (or cut off the upper portion, depending how you see it) and plant the upper cut portions in the substrate. When they get growing again you repeat as needed. If you just let the stems grow, the bottom portions will be completely bare and the stems will grow trailing across the surface.

Thanks for clearing that up Byron, thats how i thought i might have to do it but wanted to make sure before i started lopping them dowm.

 

[Colin_T]

I normally take cuttings that are about 6 inches long. You can take shorter cuttings but 5-6 inch cuttings seem to work best.

You cut the plant stem between leaf nodes. The leaf nodes are where the leaves grow out of the stem. It is slightly thicker than the rest of the stem. The nodes are where leaves and roots grow. You find two nodes and use a sharp pr of scissors to cut the stem between the two nodes.

 

[rina2121]

hello guys
I got a lot of roots spurting out the sides of my stem plants is there something I can do to stop or slow this down






Bluestacks Kodi Lucky Patcher

 

[Colin_T]

Hi rina2121 and welcome to the forum

Aquatic plants will sometimes produce roots at the leaf nodes on the stem. It is normal and nothing to worry about. And there is no way of stopping the plants from doing this. The plants produce these roots to help take up nutrients from the water. If you cut the plant just below the roots, you can plant the cuttings and they should grow into new plants.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

I agree with what @Colin_T said, you have nothing to worry about!

(Please consider entering the July TOTM contest, by clicking the banner at the top of your screen! Thank you!)

 

[Narwoo]

hello guys
I got a lot of roots spurting out the sides of my stem plants is there something I can do to stop or slow this down

Immerse in boiling water for 5 minutes.