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Pruning stargrass (Heteranthera zosterifolia)

Matt Warner

Matt Warner

Member
Joined
25 Jul 2011
Messages
738
Location
Worcester
Hi all,
I have had stargrass in my tank since day one, and it has always grown really well and gets bushy very quickly. I have always pruned it but I dont think I have pruned it enough and as a result I have found lots of bunches of stems near the bottom of the tank with no leaves. I believe this is because the plants have grown to the surface and blocked the light for the lower leaves.
Am i correct in pruning the tops off the plants, removing the bunches of dead stems and then replanting the tops into the gravel in their place. Its such a crazy plant and grows so quick that I hadnt realised how thick it had really grown!
 
I have found that any leaves on this plant which aren't in direct light melt away but it could also be co2 too as the plant grew so dense that it was affecting circulation in the tank. I think maybe the top sections were blocking out light to the bottom of the plants. I am going to try and keep it from growing to the surface from now on and try and keep it lower and bushy
 
topping it and replanting is a great way to start fresh. once it gets to the height that you want it, trim it down by about 2/3rds. you can replant these tops again if you want to make it bushier, but in my experience it does that on its own..

after that first large trim you can then just keep trimming it back by about half, this will keep it nice and low and dense and keep leaves all the way to the bottom.

kinda like this (stargrass just right of center):

front.jpg
 
Tell me about it, it doesnt need any encouragement to grow bushy. I think before I pruned it really hard I was replanting too many cuttings therefore making it more bushy than it need to be. Thanks very much for the advice. I will have to keep on top of the pruning now when it has all grown back a bit. I don't want to get rid of this plant because it's so pretty.
 
It is an amazing plant because no matter how hard you prune it, it always seems to grow back. Be warned though if you have co2 be prepared to prune it at least twice a week. I could always send you some of my cuttings when I have some more.
 
Matty1983 said:
It is an amazing plant because no matter how hard you prune it, it always seems to grow back. Be warned though if you have co2 be prepared to prune it at least twice a week. I could always send you some of my cuttings when I have some more.
Click to expand...

Yeah I have co2 ha ha...I prune some of my others atleast once a week so it wouldn't bother me too much
 
Yeah this is what happened to mine. I Let it grow to it's own devices for a while and it reached the surface and filled the left hand side of the tank. So I've removed the melted pieces and replaced them with cuttings. It looks a bit crap at the moment but I know it will grow back!
 
How do you get it to grow out of the tank? This is kind of the reason I let it grow to the top hoping it would flower.
 
Hi all,
How do you get it to grow out of the tank? This is kind of the reason I let it grow to the top hoping it would flower.
Click to expand...
I just let it grow into a big tangled mass, and after a while it reached a "critical mass" that pushed the top shoots upwards and out and then they flowered. I never pruned it at all and some of the stems were quite long.

cheers Darrel
 
Its really nice. I'll have to look for some of this if it grows OK in low tech.
 
It does grow well in a low tech tank. Mine was growing quite well even before I added co2. But with co2 the growth rate is phenomenal!
 
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