Trimming Stem Plants....

[pseud]

Ok, so I just pulled up my rotala rotundifolia (green) only to find that the majority of the stems had turned black, and melted in my hand. About a couple of weeks ago I trimmed the tops and replanted them, leaving the bottom in the substrates. The top portions are nice and healthy. Like I said, the bottom portions melted, but they also stopped growing at the cut but instead put out a side shoot that started growing. I just filtered through the whole lot, snipping the side shoots, discarding melty bits, and replanting all the good stuff. Lots of short plants now, but anyway..

..I guess my question is, why? What actually causes the plant to melt, but send a sideshoot growing out. (And also, just want to confirm that I did the wrong thing by just cutting the tops off, and in future I should cut and replant the tops, discarding the bottom.)

is this true for all stem plants? I don't remember my Hygrophila Corymbosa 'green temple' doing this.... or my H. Polysperma

 

[Jen]

I have never done that with my rotala. I have the red version with really fine leaves. I haven't had need to trim them yet. Mine have very skinny stems, and I wouldnt have classified them as stem plants next to my hygro and ludwiga... they don't seem to send roots out from the stem like they do. Are you sure you are talking about Rotala?

 

[pseud]

Rather than a stem plant, what would you classify it as? (I'm positive it's rotala)

 

[Jen]

Looks like it is classified as a stem plant. My stems are so thin that I wouldnt have though I could do that. Here's a link to some Info on the plant

 

[pseud]

Thanks for that link, the propogation information was valuable!