Trimming all leaves off a plant?

[SnailPocalypse]

So my Argentine swords are melting and im wondering if maybe I could just cut all the leaves off the plant so nutrients can be focused on new leaves or if that will kill the plant.The plant would be basically all underground.

 

[Byron]

Sometimes this can work. Crypts for example are well known for melting at the slightest change in environmental aspects, but the roots remain alive and eventually new leaves may grow. The issue really is why the leaves died; this might have killed the plant period.

 

[SnailPocalypse]

Yes but it is a bulb plant and even then if it was ammonia then fish or other plants would have been affected right?Everything has been affected plant wise except java fern and anubias.I t hink it is a new enviroment

 

[Byron]

Yes but it is a bulb plant and even then if it was ammonia then fish or other plants would have been affected right?Everything has been affected plant wise except java fern and anubias.I t hink it is a new enviroment

There is much more to plant nutrition than ammonia, and I didn't mean to suggest ammonia poisoning which would be unlikely to harm plants unless extreme.

Your data here suggests light may be the issue. Java Fern and Anubias are both low light plants; swords are moderate to high light. I also don't know what you might actually be referring to by "melting." Given the melt common to crypts, I have never seen this with other plants. But I have seen leaves on plants like swords yellow and disintegrate, due to insufficient light. Nutrient deficiency or excess can also cause this to occur.

A new environment would be unlikely, unless something is not balanced (light and nutrients) to begin with. When swords are moved, if conditions suite them, new leaves will begin to appear from the centre of the crown, and older outer leaves may well die off. But the new growth will indicate the plant is adjusting well.

 

[SnailPocalypse]

The reason I believe it is melt as the swords and s repens are both growing new leaves,stems are fine and there may of been too many nutrients in the water since it was fresh dirt

 

[Byron]

The reason I believe it is melt as the swords and s repens are both growing new leaves,stems are fine and there may of been too many nutrients in the water since it was fresh dirt

"Melt" to us means when the leaf just dissolves into a mass of jelly, to use words I hope will convey what I'm trying to say. One day the leaf is there, green, the next day it is a pile of organic sludge on the substrate, looking something like cyanobacteria but not just a film, more of a pile.

 

[SnailPocalypse]

yep.its matches your description perfectly.

 

[Byron]

yep.its matches your description perfectly.

Well, I have never seen that with swords, only crypts. ASs you mentioned soil, this could be another soil-related issue. The organics in soil can be heavy.