# Proper Trimming Techniques



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

My main tank's plants are getting to the point that they need trimming, and I'd like to go about it the right way. I've heard several things - take the tops off to generate side stalks and grow the plants out like trees, thin the leaves out, cut tiger lotus pads that hit the surface, etc. Basically, I'd like to get a consensus on what is the right thing to do. My plants are listed below:

Riccia Fluitens (which I won't trim, I'll sell)
2x tiger lotus plants, one with pads to the surface, one without (yet).
2x wisteria
2x giant hygro
2x crypts (unknown, very tall though, as in halfway up the sides of my 29 tall)
5x anachris stalks (which look more like vines, coiled up all around the tank near the surface)
Frogsbit (which I strain out all the time but can't eradicate)

My intentions are to clear the upper water column as much as possible to keep the lower level plants thriving. However, I don't want to turn the bottom of the tank into any more of a jungle than it already is. I would also like to leave tiger lotus pads at the surface, since they seem MUCH healthier when they have surface pads (the submerged plant puts out a pad a month while the surface plant puts out a pad a week).

What can/should my strategies on trimming be? What general guidelines should I follow for my other tanks and future tanks?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Wisteria, there is no set way, just clip where you want and replant the clipping. That plant doesn't care if you beat it with a stick to get the piece off, it will still grow and keep growing.

The crypts I have (I think applies to all) grow new pups at the base and you just break them off. I find it easier to uproot the whole plant so I can see everything. Much easier to tell what is baby and mother that way.

Anacharis, nearly the same as Wisteria. Many stem plant if you snip just above a leaf, a new shoot will start right there.

Bottom line, if you want your plants to grow like bushes, treat them like bushes. Guidance I received a while back. Been working good so far.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Well considering I don't know how to treat bushes, I appreciate the advice thus far, haha


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Let it grow, trim, let it grow, trim. Plants will fill out more when you trim them. At least mine have. Things like Anacharis might not be that way, but even when I trimmed it, 2-3 shoots would come out where I trimmed it.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

I dont ever trim my crypts, they are halfway up my 210g. I dont mess with anacharis or frogbit, the wisteria can be trimmed under any roots you see along the stalk as with the hygro, the RTL I wouldnt touch, Mine are substate growers and are not going to the top yet and its been months. I do know once one goes up and gets trimmed the next day or two a few will race to the surface on you.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Is the balansae the only crypt that reaches for the stars? Mine do. Most seem fairly low plants. I just cut off new plants, don't really trim per se.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

I dunno, but my C. Spiralis are friggin tall.


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## automatic-hydromatic (Oct 18, 2010)

I just finally chopped the top 3/4 off my westeria plant that was growing up the side of my 30 gallon and stuck the top "bushy" portion into the substrate on the other side of the tank. That top part is still as green as can be and is still growing, and the stalk that I cut it off of, I trimmed all the leaves off of it all the way down to the substrate, and it's sprouting two more stalks form the top of it now! It's unkillable! 

The anacharis, yeah... I started with a single 4" long shoot, and now there's about 20 shoots scattered around the tank that are almost a foot long each... I plant all mine into the substrate and then trim them shortly after they reach the surface (which takes all of about a week...). I just cut them about 6" from the bottom, and stick the newly cut off piece into the substrate, and away it goes!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

That is what I was trying to say about Wisteria also...it doesn't care what you do. It is a very cool plant. You can lay it on its side completely and it will root like that and grow new stalks out of every branch that comes out. You can take 1 8" stalk of it and turn it into 5-6 in just a few weeks. Mine run along the bottom like a running vine.


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## automatic-hydromatic (Oct 18, 2010)

yeah I've got a couple pieces that are running along the bottom like vines, sending their own roots down into the substrate every few inches. They're working their way back behind the drift wood, lol


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

OK, so trimming seems to be covered what's a good method for uprooting a plant for rearrangement?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

mec102778 said:


> OK, so trimming seems to be covered what's a good method for uprooting a plant for rearrangement?


If it is a root heavy plant like swords or along those lines, I grab at the base and pull lightly, if it seems like it doesn't want to move I'll spread my fingers and stick them into the substrate around the plant and help free it. After that it usually comes right up with no root damage. Plants I've pulled up with really long root systems never get planted with all the roots they had. I usually trim all but about 3-4" of the roots and then replant. Never have had a problem doing that and it is much easier than trying to plant 12-18 inches of roots.


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

Thanks Ben!


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## tinman (Nov 3, 2009)

Gtm are you saying tiger red lotus pads reached surface in your 29 tall ?? 
I'm totally at Loss about how to deal with mine 

I got it from an lfs the plant is around 3-4 inches tall and one big root 
Then I planted it by sricking in that one big root and because of both my dams and my water flow it got uprooted and it's root broke 

Now it doesnt have any roots at all, like a bald node I replanted it again yesterday in a less flow area and more light area but really curious if it would survive  

Is there anyway to treat a tiger rev lotus with Bo roots at all ?? Sorry for the long post lol 




[email protected] said:


> My main tank's plants are getting to the point that they need trimming, and I'd like to go about it the right way. I've heard several things - take the tops off to generate side stalks and grow the plants out like trees, thin the leaves out, cut tiger lotus pads that hit the surface, etc. Basically, I'd like to get a consensus on what is the right thing to do. My plants are listed below:
> 
> Riccia Fluitens (which I won't trim, I'll sell)
> 2x tiger lotus plants, one with pads to the surface, one without (yet).
> ...


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

Need some help here, how should I trim the two plants in the front on the right? Granted I split apart the entire bundle and stuck them randomly around the tank hoping to give them the best chance for living.

Not now they just look bad being a single stalk with leaves, and they have a long stalk with no leaves. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Also the sprite in the front left side of the tank how does that get trimmed?



And should the side shoots on these be trimmed off and planted? And by side shoots I mean the bright green stems.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If the first pic is red ludwiga, you usually trim at just above a leaf. If you do that, most of the time the new growth will start right out of where you separated it. Better to trim with scissors. I wouldn't trim though unless it is growing. You still have plenty of time before it hits your top. That stuff can be very finicky, at least mine has been in the past. Now I can't seem to slow it down.

For the anacharis, do what you want for the most part. You really can't harm that plant too much unless you dose with excel.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

I dont think there is a proper technique per say, more of a style of ones pruning and what they like to see as an end result. I just trim them where I want them to start growing from again and thats that, I take into consideration proper propagation needs but for the most part anywhere on a stem plant is pretty much ok, itll grow again.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

WhiteGloveAquatics said:


> I dont think there is a proper technique per say, more of a style of ones pruning and what they like to see as an end result. I just trim them where I want them to start growing from again and thats that, I take into consideration proper propagation needs but for the most part anywhere on a stem plant is pretty much ok, itll grow again.


I like his answer better, lol. This time, anyway.


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

Thanks guys, what about the sprite in the front left of the first picture?

My overall desire is to have these all start to look more like "bushes", leaves starting close to the ground and eventually the stems/plants bunched up creating and grouping.


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