Changing from Emersed to Submerged Growth

[DGalt]

I have a couple plants in my tank that arrived in their emersed forms and hopefully will change into their submerged form.

My questions is whether or not I need to do anything to make sure this happens. When I inquired about dwarf clover on another forum, I was told that every so often it will send out shoots looking for the surface, and when it doesn't then it begins to change into its submerged form.

My concern is with the Alternanthera reineckii that's in my tank. The very top of the plants break the surface of the tank. Should / do I need to keep the plant trimmed to below the water level to make sure it converts into its submerged form?

thanks :grinyes:

[tanker]

Almost all plants are shipped that way. Just go ahead and plant in tank.

Just clip the bottom half and toss lower half and replant the top. Or, if you want, keep lower half too.

[Bk828]

You are right, the dwarf clover will soon produce new nodes and they will be the new submerged growth. The emersed form of marsiela minuta looks like a 4 leaf clover, the submerged form is actually a regular 1 node clover (looks like glosso but is larger).

With the Alternanthera i guess trim all the stems off the main mother plant, having them at around 4-5" and replant those. This plant normally is a medium grower so it will take some time for it to convert to submerged form. But after a week you should notice new growth at the top which is much darker. Let that grow out, then trim it right where the transition from emerged to submerged began, throw out the bottom half and replant the top..