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Amazon Sword's leaves growing out the water

As the title stated, some leaves (more and more) of my swords are growing out of the water, which actually looks nice, but will it have a big effect on the growth underwater, will it still grow immersed leaves?
In other words... should I cut the emersed leaves off or not?

It’s good for it, it will have more access to light and CO2 now than submerged leaves. The leaves grow from the base, so it will still grow new leaves underwater, these will likely just grow quicker than before. Sword will still take nutrients via roots and water column.

Mine currently has 2 of its leaves with about 2 inches out of the water, the rest are just about touching the surface.

Swords are root monsters though, with ample access to light and CO2 your substraight could quickly be over run, can go as far as 30cms+ From just one plant. I pull my sword up maybe once or twice a year and just cut off the roots back to about 3/4cms to base. Just me, I don’t know if this is standard practice but mines still doing well.
 
I have no idea if what my Kleiner Bär - Jungle star does is universal for all Echinodorus spp. But this one did the same one day, sticking leaves up above the water surface. The sticking out tips since it is submersed grow form dries out within a day or 2 and turns brown.. It's emersed grow form is lancet leaf hence the name sword i guess, But in a way this plant senses it's invironment, leaves reaching aerial CO² triggered this plant to shoot out emersed formed leafstalks with more obovate leaf forms that grow more oval while they mature. It completely stoped making submersed sword leaves. This din't take very long, to completely turn into a rosette in the substrate with only leaf stalks submersed and emersed form leaves. I also notice that this plant even after growing for almost 3 years now a little deeper than 20 cm water it, never made a submersed form runner. I actualy have no idea if Echinodorus spreads with runners submersed. Probably not, at least not in this condition.

Whit sensing it's invironment, i did grow on some plantlets from it's flower stalks in pots emersed. So it doesn't stand in water. These plantsdo not make such long leaf stalks. They stay significantly shorter. While the one standing in deeper water shoots out 20 cm long leafstalks with a tiny leaf that only grows bigger once it reached over the surface, growing into a bigger leaf on a 40 cm leafstalk.

Remarkable actualy that this plant absolutely is aware of it's conditions, knows what to do and grows accordingly. Definitively a plant that made me think completely different about plants in general. All tho they doen't posess a brain, they still kinda posseses a form of intelligents. So inteligents doesn't reside in a skulls brain cell only.

Anyway i've seen pictures of several Echinodorus spp. growing in the same fasion. So i assume it likely goes for all of them. Nice is te are also vigorous flowerers, mine makes one flower stalk after another all year long. On these flower stalks new plantlets will grow, starting at the tip of the stalk. If the tank is big enough the flower stalk will bend over and the plantlet touch the water. Than it will strat growing roots. Cut this plantlet off and plant it as seperate plant again in front of it's mother. It will transition into submersed growth and form lancete leafs again. Even beter if all flowers on the flowerstalk are done flowering, than cut it off at the base and leave the stalk floating in te water. This will trigger each seperate flower bunch on the stalk to grow a new plantlet.

Than you can create best of both worlds virtualy for free. A big emersed mother surrounded by a bunch of here babies in submerded form. :woot:
 
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Here it is :) Don't have much space for more but a planted one of here plantlets at here right side. You see the first Red colored submersed leafe grwoing out.
DSCF9860.jpg

I was thinking of taking out those crypts in front and plant another one there as well.

Oh and if you are going with a big emersed one. See the brown dead leafs.. I do this on purpose, i leave them to die completely and when the stalk gets brown and soft i can pull them off. Than the leaf with stalk breaks off bellow the substrate in the rosette. Cutting a dead leaf with a still firmly attached stalk, than you need to go into the tank and cut it as close as possible to the substrate in the rosete with sciccors. That can be a puzzle and damaging for haelthy leafstalks. And this way there always will be a piece of stalk left melting away poluting the water till it's completely rotted away. Leaving it on and waiting for the stalk to get soft and just pull it out leaves nothing behind..
 
I have sword plants(echinodorus Red Flame,echinodorus Rose,and Kliener Bar) that send out a couple long stems or stalks a couple times a month in soil based low tech.
Some of them I bend back under the center support in the large tank so that they produce plantlet's under water which I keep at the highest level I can.
Other stalks or stems are growing out and over the rim, and hanging down along the side of the tank, but there is little light outside the tank so they produce leafs slower than those under water for me.
I normally remove these plantlet's from the stem or stalks and take them to local fish store to trade for store credit.
Is low tech soil based tank with twice weekly macros/micros and root tab under the swords once a month.(Miracle Grow plant food spike)
 
Lucky you....:rolleyes:

What type of "amazon swords" do you guys have exactly? Mine just dries out the water, no emersed leaves but the underwater leaves become crispy as they end up outside water when fully grown.....

Mine is the Kleiner Bär Jungle star from Dennerle, but i've seen bigger ones in the same fashion. It;s a rather large family and a bit trail and error i guess.
I remember @Mick.Dk naming a few which likely wont be succesfull. Anyway what you describe is also what i experienced, but i didn't cut off the leaves that stick out. After a while the plant just completely stopped making submersed leaves and started growing emersed form from its rosette. These 2 forms are recognizably different for this type of Echinodorus. Submersed is a somewhat obovate lancete leaf on a very short stalk emersed is an oval leaf on a longer stalk.

It was actualy neglection that did the trick, stop cutting off the sticking out leaves.. As i said above the plant picks this up after a while and starts shooting out emersed forms stalks. And remarkably enough it grows it's new stalks according to the depth it is planted. Mine has 40 cm leafstalks because it is in + 20 cm water depth. If grown in a pot the leafstalks don't need to grow that long. As in this emersed form from the nurserie. Actualy the emersed baby leaves if growen compltely dry are also litlle lancetes. So i assume the submersed form is an over developed baby leaf.. :)
 
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I do not recall how long it took for mine i planted it 3 years ago.. I guess it took a few months and a bunch of rootsticks. :) It started out in a high tech for the first 2 years, dunno if that makes the difference to go faster into this process. I guess so it defintvely helps a plant getting stronger.

If it is in your pond setup, try lifting it up closer to the surface.. I have a few of them in my unheated pond setup in the cellar planted an inch bellow the surface. They also are not realy happy probably to cold at the moment, but stay alive. Might be a matter of patience for it the get used to it. I'm planning to try these outdoors in mission bath tub next summer and see how they do. :)
 
Here is another one :) No idea what Echi it is.. Also seen more mature pictures from ths tank with the same plants twice as big with flowers.
It is in here somewhere in a Discus thread..
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Here a Thread from Flowgrow all about growing Emersed Echi spp. :) If google translate doesn't help, at least you have the latin names.
https://www.flowgrow.de/emers/das-echinodorus-jahr-t47155.html
 
Ech. bleheri is particularly sensitive to lower humidity, if grown emerse, compared to most other comercially grown species/varieties/hybrids. It is also one of very few species, I know of, that can adapt these comercially grown, emerse leaves to life under water. The emerse leaves, I see in production are similar to truly aquatic grown ones. All of this suggest these leaves are actually not really emerse form.
On imported plants of Ech. bleheri, though, I see leaves with smaller, more oblong leaf-plates and thicker structure. These are obviously adapted to true emersed growth, and looking clearly different from the aquatic ones.
The different form and/or colour in emerse and submerse leaves seem to be the hallmark of Echinodorus (and Helanthium too, actually).
I too, have never had Ech. bleheri grow emerse leaves from a tank-grown plant (and I have grown more then my share ) - but lots and lots of runners are common..........I am sure it is possible, though.
 
The emerse leaves, I see in production are similar to truly aquatic grown ones. All of this suggest these leaves are actually not really emerse form.

Lately i red a manual about transitioning invitro grown carnivor plants. Where was explained since the plants are nursed in a 99% air humidity they don't grow the needed waxy coat on their leaves. There for it needs time and gradualy expose them to lower humdity to trigger it to grow this coating. Carnivor plants need to develop this waxy look first and even waxy feel to it for the bigger ones you can touch like the Nepenthes does.

Kinda simular layer as what the succulent plants have, these have exremely waxy leaves.

Could be the same for many if not all plants developing a different skin layer in permanent higher humidities. Just not all show it that obvious.
Obviously a matter of evolution (genetics) that some tropicals never got the chance to develop this protective skin layer and are impossible to transition to lower humidity.
 
The tank has been sold :(...... As most of you know I live in China, but now there are plans to move back to Holland :) and I can not (dare not) to take the tank with me on the airplane. I still have the 40cm cube tank and ofcourse I will set up a new tank as soon as possible when I'm back.
I have to say, it was heart breaking to see it go, but live is full of surprises and who knows where it will lead me.
 
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