Yay! I think my amazon sword made a baby

[Goldfish loach boy]

Hello guys, I'm pretty excited, I think my large amazon sword has produced a little plant! Here are the pics of it, it looks like a long stem and ten the little plant starts, it looks like roots are coming out where the plant starts and the stem begins, where should I cut it?
Thanks

 

[CichlidsAreBoss]

Omg that's awesome! Wish I could have aquarium plants but too noob lol!!

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Hah lol, it's not that hard! I have the led light that came with the tank, put in root tabs, and there you go!
I'm still unsure it's a baby, I still need some people with experience like river cats to confirm it
Do you think it's a baby?

 

[Mebbid]

Yep, it's a baby amazon sword. I would leave it alone and let it keep growing. The last time mine had runners there were 3 of them all growing along the same stem. I've been waiting forever for it to have more runners ever since.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

YAY good to know!

So I should leave it a bit more until it grows more and then cut it? How big would you recommend for it to get? And where do I cut it?
Lucky! You had three I've had it for around 5 months and I only have one!

 

[Mebbid]

I'm actually up to 5 of them now. I had a few of my babies divide on me so I split them some more

I would allow it to grow a decent set of root before cutting it off. That will give it the best chance of living. You can just cut it right off the stem it's growing on

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Wow 5! Lucky!

Ok, I'll cut it once some roots show, I think those where longer, not sure what happened to them though, I'll just replant it and run for some root tabs tomorrow, thanks

 

[Mebbid]

I would skip buying root tabs and instead go out and make your own. I went out and bought some empty gel capsules and time release fertilizers to make my own root tabs. The price comes out to about $.04 each.

Since I added them 8 days ago my biggest amazon sword has 4 new leaves that are each 3 inches longer and a fair amount wider than any leaf that had previously grown on it. It's kind of insane how well they are working compared to the API root tabs I was using.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Wow, what is the exact material you used and where did you get it?

 

[Mebbid]

I used a 50/50 mix of two different ones that I got at home depot. They are just 2 ferts that I picked out based on their contents

The first is:
Miracle-Gro shake and feed Tomato, Fruits, and Vegetables plus calcium
I used this one because it has a lot of the micro nutrients that plants need.

The second is:
Osmocote Flower and Vegetable
I used this one because it had a higher concentration of NPK

Other good options are Osmocote+ which was the original fert that people used in tabs like these (It's hard to find because it was recently discontinued)

Another one that has recently taken osmocote's place is the red bottle of dynamite fertilizer.

The empty 00 size gel caps can be found at health food stores.

The only issues from these ferts is that they have a fair amount of ammonia so they need to be buried at the very bottom of the substrate to help prevent leeching too much ammonia in the tank. I used 12 of these in my 55g and 4 in my 10g

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Sounds nice!

How much did each if those fertilizers cost? And can you post a pic if the capsules? And how much do those cost too? Can I get the capsules at Walgreens?

 

[Mebbid]

Just so you can see the difference it made.

FTS from 7/25

Here is a pic I just took of my amazon sword. You can see the previous leaves next to the new big ones. My sword hadn't grown any higher for months so I thought it reached it's max size until recently.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Wow, that's a good difference!

So what are the prices?

 

[Mebbid]

Sounds nice!

How much did each if those fertilizers cost? And can you post a pic if the capsules? And how much do those cost too? Can I get the capsules at Walgreens?

Capsules at walgreens are a possibility but I wouldn't count on it. I had to go to a fairly nice health food store to get them.

82 capsules cost me $2.79
Both fertilizers totaled 17.98 together

Cost breakdown of each individual capsule + fertilizer is about 3 cents.

Each capsule should last about 3 months.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Wow, so you have about 5 years worth of tabs there huh lol, you know what, ill give this a shot! But I only have 12 dollars from my check, and I can't afford them until next paycheck, I'm getting the tabs tomorrow, but I'm trying that next time, thanks! Do the capsules slowly corrode or how does it happen?

 

[wilkieam]

Hello guys, I'm pretty excited, I think my large amazon sword has produced a little plant! Here are the pics of it, it looks like a long stem and ten the little plant starts, it looks like roots are coming out where the plant starts and the stem begins, where should I cut it?
Thanks

Congrats! We both have baby plants!

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Thanks! I can't wait to cut it off! Do you have an amazon sword baby too?

 

[Mebbid]

The capsules dissolve within minutes but the ferts are made to be a long term fertilizer for plants so they take quite a while to release all the nutrients in the tank.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Oh ok cool thanks! I'll definitely try that!

 

[wilkieam]

Thanks! I can't wait to cut it off! Do you have an amazon sword baby too?

I wish! They grew some new leaves overnight but that's about it. You were just talking with me on my java fern thread though about my newly discovered plantlet!