trimming question

[jenny cookie]

One of the plants that I just bought recently (about a week ago) has just sky rocketed and grew so fast that it went from 2 inches below water level, and as of lastnight it was touching the lid of my aquarium, and this morning, it looks like it is starting to bend because it has nowhere to go :eek: . what do you do to trim plants? just cut off the top? Oh, and I was also wondering if they are like a lot of "out of water" plants, where you could take the stem that you just cut off, and stick it in the substrate and it will root itself?

[Timmain42]

Do you know the name of the plant you bought? Or could you find it at http://plantgeek.net/plantguide.php ? Sounds like a stem plant... you should be able to trim it at about 3" above the gravel, leave the bottom where it's at and replant the top.

[jenny cookie]

i cant find it anywhere :( but what it is... 2 large, on the thicker side, stems, with about 2" leaves growing out of it from the bottom to the top. these stems also seem to be independant of eachother. It also has what looks like roots beginning to grow out of joints in the stems.

[Mooch28]

Not too hijack your thread, but ive got a question that may help us both. Some of my stem plants too are starting to grow very tall and will son be outa the water. My question is, if you trim a stem plant near the top, will it stop growing upwards, and then begin growing thicker?

[Timmain42]

Jenny- does your plant look like this (a wild stab in the dark)?
http://www.praxxgray.com/fish/04001_2_8_05.jpg

Mooch-Unlikely. If you "top" it, a stem plant will usually begin to grow another top (or possibly two, depending on the plant) on the last remaining leaf node. Thicker really depends on the type of plant. Cabomba stems don't get thicker as the plant gets taller, but plants like lobelia cardinalis and l. hippuroides do.

[Mooch28]

Jenny- does your plant look like this (a wild stab in the dark)?
http://www.praxxgray.com/fish/04001_2_8_05.jpg

Mooch-Unlikely. If you "top" it, a stem plant will usually begin to grow another top (or possibly two, depending on the plant) on the last remaining leaf node. Thicker really depends on the type of plant. Cabomba stems don't get thicker as the plant gets taller, but plants like lobelia cardinalis and l. hippuroides do.

What about plants like Ludwigia repens or Myriophyllum tuberculatum (Red)?

By the way, what kinda plants are those in your pic in the backgroung? The look very nice.

[Timmain42]

IME: Ludwigia stems do not get much thicker as they get taller. Myrio stems *do,* but it takes a lot of height to get a significantly thicker stem. I grew myrio under 2WPG from 6" up to 18" and the stems never got too much thicker.

Your Milage May Vary (YMMV).

Those are true dwarf lobelia cardinalis. I got the first cuttings from Aquabotanic about 2 years ago, and now I have 240+ stems. It's pretty crazy.

[jenny cookie]

No, they don't look like that. The leaves on the one that I have are quite large, some of them are about 3 inches long and an inch wide (oh why can't my camera work :'() it has the mid root thing going on like this one -> http://www.plantgeek.net/images/plantpics/Alternathera.jpg (btw, i do have one of these, wery nice :)) but is shaped like this one, ->http://www.plantgeek.net/images/plantpics/tropicsunset.jpg , except the leaves are a little more spaced apat, and the leaves are just solid green. Sorry to be so confusing.

[Timmain42]

Sounds like it might be hygrophila (http://images.google.com/images?q=hygrophila&hl=en&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi). Same trimming rules apply. Hygro grows fast, as you no doubt already know.

[jenny cookie]

yeah, it looks mostly like this one: http://bov.hfk.vgs.no/ToSo5/Akvarie/Hygrophila%202.jpg

[Timmain42]

Yeah, top that puppy and replant the top. You can leave the bottom if you like, it'll grow back.

[jenny cookie]

that would be so sweet if it rooted... its like getting millions of plants in one :D (well, over a long period of time) im so excited :D:D:D