Stem plants

goraman

Junior Poster
Oct 10, 2012
27
0
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If you just snip off the top of a stem plant you loose the bloom,it doesn't seem to grow back (for example purple cobomba) that nice purple webster like dome top.
So what is the best way to trim these plants and retain there beauty?
 

David

Prolific Poster
Jun 21, 2012
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Woodstock, Ontario, Canada
Plants like Cabomba can actually do quite well as a floating plant.

That being said, I would trim the plant to the desired height (measured from the crown), discard the bottom and replant the tops. That way, you keep the nice crown shape.

Don't worry about the roots on Cabomba stems, they grow like wildfire with or without them. I planted some Purple Cabomba last Friday and it had doubled in height by Monday.

Hope this helps.
 

goraman

Junior Poster
Oct 10, 2012
27
0
1
The Cabomba roots so well it pulls up other plants with it.
I put more root tabs under the substrate after uprooting so many plants and trimming.Every week I trim out a large freezer bag of stems from a 36 gallon tank.
My substrate is 4 inches of sand, fluorite and laterite with loads of flourish tabs and root tabs.
This planted tank thing is far more work than I had planed on.
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
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So called "topping" pruning methods are likely the best approach for you.
You prune like you might plants are your home, landscaping plant hedges even greens etc.

ADA's aqua journal has a lot of how to trim methods. They sell an on line version that is downloadable.
I think that ADA AJ's greatest value is trimming methods and scaping ideas, techniques.
They place a lot, if not most, of the emphasis on those ideas.
 

goraman

Junior Poster
Oct 10, 2012
27
0
1
Thank you Tom,
I may in fact have to just top them.
I may in the near future remove half of them and just plant a Amazon sword to fill in the back as the big wall of purple is nice to look at but a lot of work to keep controlled.
They Y off and some times become 3 more tops. Stem plants mean loads of trimmings,I have been giving to a friend at the local Petco, a large meat size zip lock freezer bag a week! So my plants are growing pretty well. I got one of those 50% off half dead Amazon swords and just put it in the tank not knowing if it would even live,the leaves are 4 inches wide now and 2 ft. long and growing out of the water bent over!
Plant growth is going well the EI dosing with AquaVitro seems to be working my next step is an upgrade from the fluval 88 C02 system to something with larger tanks as I empty a tank in under a month and there not cheap.
I have started reading about useing dry fertz but I am not there yet,I just figured out the Seachem stuff.
Thanks, for so much support and a great forum you need to wright a book, my next move is to subscribe to the forum here pretty soon as I may keep this tank going like this , at one point I was going to tare it down and make it a reef tank but I like the plants they are growing on me.
 
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AUVet14

Junior Poster
Nov 27, 2012
13
0
1
jerrybforl;90664 said:
Some stems do well with a nice trimming, but others need to be topped and replanted. Cabomba, Mayaca, R. Wallichii...etc.

I don't have any trouble at all with topping my mayaca fluviatilis:confused:. It takes it about a week before the new side shoots really start growing well, but in about a week and a half, it looks just as good as it did before.

My tank is full of about 14 or 15 different stem plants and I top them all. Sure, it looks a little rough for about a week, but the new growth looks just as good if not better than before I trimmed. I do not have any Cabomba though. I've found that topping is the easiest and quickest method for trimming. It's a real pain to pull up all the stems, trim them, then replant, especially if you have a bunch of stems in the tank.
 

goraman

Junior Poster
Oct 10, 2012
27
0
1
I'm going to do alot more topping.
Off topic but I also have a pond snail problem so I added a Clown Loach to eat the small ones.
In 2 days I filled the fish net with the ones I could get and flushed over 200 down the head wishing them happy snail trails as they descended into the blue swirling water.
Pond snails are a nasty pestulance and a great plague upon the tank.
 

RobertD

Junior Poster
Dec 31, 2012
4
0
1
Battle Creek, Michigan
Where to purchase Dutch Style Colorful Plants?

Hello all- there are so many folks advertising plants it becomes overwhelming. I don't want to discredit or disrespect any seller but I don't want to have any (hopefully to many bad experiences) with purchasing plants. I am in the market for dutch style colorful plants, such as but not limited to, ludwigia peruinesis, ludwigia red, rotala macrandra, ludwigia pantanal, etc. I am looking for a good reliable seller with prices that won't take me to the cleaners. Any suggestions? Appreciate your guidance. Cheers, RobertD
 

goraman

Junior Poster
Oct 10, 2012
27
0
1
you will be happy with this seller.
http://www.bamaplants.com/
Robert, his prices are very fair the plants arrive in fantastic condition and the seller was very liberal with the number of plants he sent compared to what I paid for.
Shipping was also very fast.
I highly recommend him.
 
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RobertD

Junior Poster
Dec 31, 2012
4
0
1
Battle Creek, Michigan
BamaPlants

I agree- those two fellows are great and they have great prices however they don't carry the "reds, oranges, yellows, etc) colorful stem plants. I wish they did. So- that is why I am trying to come up with other good vendors to check out. Thank you for responding. RobertD
 

BriDroid

Prolific Poster
Dec 28, 2012
34
0
6
I've also had great luck with those guys as well. I've ordered from them via aquabid and it was a great experience. Check p_volt an on there as well. Great plants, packaged well too. He does have some red stuff available.
 

Dresdner

Junior Poster
Dec 3, 2012
9
0
1
36
England
try to do tropping with the help of a good gardening expert. as he will surely perform the good required function than you. and will surely give your plants their required shape through trimming.....