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Replanting tops of stem plants - best method

mangeltrueman

Member
Joined
10 Sep 2021
Messages
59
Location
Norfolk
I think its time to take the top 50% off my stem plants and instead of discarding them, replant the tops as the bottom halves are looking really leggy. Whats the best way to approach this? Bit worried about pulling the rootstock out due to the disturbance it would cause (tropical soil).

Is it best to take the top 50% off, cut the lower half back to the soil level and then replant the tops? This way the old roots would hopefully rot away without the risk of releasing anything from uprooting,

Stems that im talking about are all rotalas.... hra, orange juice and green.

Thanks

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I do this all the time with ludwigia mini 'super read' and I think it's best practise to not leave any extraneous material below the substrate to rot. This stem grows fast so it's fine to just replant the very best looking pieces from the top - you don' t need to worry about wether that is 50% or 20% or whatever (tips: How to trim and replant aquarium plants - Fireplace aquarium). There is some soil disturbance but gentle repeated tugging straight up can minimise this, and you'll find the displaced material settles quickly and any residual cloudiness in the water column will be all cleared up by the next day.
 
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