Sagittaria subulata trimming

[Lukes]

Hello forum users I have this plant at the front of my tank and it's growing fairly tall, is it okay just to cut what I want off and it will be alright or will cutting the leaves cause the rest of the leaf to die? I have a cryptocoryne balanse when I trim the tops of them, the entire leaf seems to die so I resort to pulling it from the root system

 

[Mick.Dk]

This seem to be a general "problem" of Sag. sub. - they have their very own mind, on how tall they want to grow. Personally I do not use them for foreground anymore, but rather in middle or back. Occasionally they decide for a quite low growth-pattern in these positions, though. I still have not found out, what induces high vs. low growth in this plant.
In my experience Sag. sub. do not respond well to damages of the leaf - which means cutting leafs halfway is not a good idea. My own trimming of Sag. sub. is restricted to pulling out a lot of single plants (they are rosette, so not very difficult) from the group, as it get too dense over time.

 

[Henry]

I have found pinching the longer leaves off at the rosette is the best method of trimming.

 

[Lukes]

Thanks for the replies! Glad I asked before I went full steam ahead with scissors haha!

 

[mort]

A lot of mine have grown to 45cm high so I just relocated them to the back. It's strange as some of the daughter plants remain small.

 

[Lukes]

Oh man don't be saying they'll grow that high! Ticket says 5 to 20cm! I may have to resort to removing the tall ones and keeping the smaller ones