• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Amazon sword plantlets

stevet

Member
Joined
25 Oct 2007
Messages
80
Location
London
Could have sworn i posted this earlier but i cant see it so....

Anyway i have several large swords which have all sprouted long stalks with several plantlets on each. My quandary is this - do i cut the stalks to allow the plant in the tank to grow properly (they seem to have stopped growing for now) or do i harvest the plantlets and plant them in the old plants stead?

I guess my question is will the old plants start to grow ok again once i have cut the stalks off? Something needs to be done as the stalks look pretty ugly just hanging out of the tank! I seem to remember reading somewhere that swords have a finite lifespan and is this reproductive burst the end of that lifecycle?
 
stevet said:
Could have sworn i posted this earlier but i cant see it so....

Anyway i have several large swords which have all sprouted long stalks with several plantlets on each. My quandary is this - do i cut the stalks to allow the plant in the tank to grow properly (they seem to have stopped growing for now) or do i harvest the plantlets and plant them in the old plants stead?

I guess my question is will the old plants start to grow ok again once i have cut the stalks off? Something needs to be done as the stalks look pretty ugly just hanging out of the tank! I seem to remember reading somewhere that swords have a finite lifespan and is this reproductive burst the end of that lifecycle?

No, these are old wives tales. If the plantlets fascinate you, then as Aaron says, just wait a bit and pull them off. But why reinvent the wheel? They'll take a while to grow and if you really wanted to propagate the sword all you need to do is uproot the entire plant and split the rootball and replant. Then you'd have an instant adult clone to plant somewhere else. If the plantlets don't interest you then just cut off the stalk and be rid of it. The plant will carry on as if nothing happened.

Cheers,
 
Thanks clive - thought so. Just seems a crying shame to throw 8 or so perfectly good xl amazon swords in the compost! :( From memory they are xl 'ozelot' types. Leaves grow very elongated and large and have a reddish blotching to them.

Added to which i have cut so many 'dead' leaves off the main plants now the bottom of the plants look a bit like a hedgehog! Were talking really meaty leaf stems here too - most a cm or so thick!

If anyone wants a load ill happily post em in a plastic bag...better than just chucking them! They were actually quite expensive as i remember too....
 
Yes, the Ozelot is a beautiful sword, but these have become out of favor with the current aquascaping trends. The same advice goes for the hedgehog. Just uproot it, remove the portions that form the hedge and replant so that it looks neater. There will be long, large roots when you pull it up so just trim these roots off to with an inch or so of the main ball. :D

Cheers,
 
Back
Top