Lifespan of a plant?

[Aiken Drum]

Has anyone ever had a plant just die of old age?

Plants arent immortal, they will eventually stop growing and die. But i have no idea how long an aquarium plant will live. All i can find online is a site that says Amazon Swords can live a couple of years, which is clearly nonsense as they live much longer than that.

[Colin_T]

I have never had a plant die of old age. I kill heaps but they aren't old.

Technically some plants can be immortal. Things like Vallis, which produce runners can live forever as long as one plant is still alive. The runners are clones of the original plant.

If you take cuttings from plants, the cuttings are still that plant so they could almost be considered immortal. I had a hibiscus plant at my first home and took cuttings from that when I moved. I planted the cuttings at the new place and took cuttings from that when I moved. I have been doing this for over 40 years with the same plant so it's kind of immortal.

Sword plants can live for years. One of the local shops had one for over 10 years and I had one for 5 years. No idea what I did with mine.

I've never really thought about the age of aquatic plants. It might be an interesting project for someone. Get a bunch of plants and see how long you can keep them alive for.

[ADsnail]

Most of my plants are 5-12 years old. These include hornwort, amazon sword, java moss, dwarf saggitaria, hair grass, and others whose names I can't recall at present. Some were bought; some were traded between friends which means they were already ?? years old.

I've moved them around as new tanks were started or they grew too big. I know live plants seem difficult to impossible for some. I haven't used any fertilizer, just let fish poop and gravel do their thing. I have no idea how long these will last.

We have 250 year old oaks in my neighborhood; wild plants in the waterways (ditches) have been there growing, dividing, dying for possibly a century or more. What is the secret to eternal plantness?

[Aiken Drum]

Originally Posted by ADsnail

We have 250 year old oaks in my neighborhood

We have the "major oak" not too far from here. Over 1000 years old. Said to be the tree that Robin Hood hid in in all the stories. Certainly old enough to have been alive in that time period.