Splitting plants

[Floyd R Turbo]

I have a couple of plants that I'm considering splitting and wanted some advice. I have a FW 55g with 1 tsp salt/gal, which the fish like but the plants don't, so I'm backing that down via water changes to find a balance.

I have 2 Vallisneria which grow great in my salty freshwater. the smaller plant grew out a feeler (I know that's not what it's called but can't think of the term) right away, and that one is about the same size as the parent height wise with 1/2 the leaves. Now the other plant one growing off of it, the parent is 12" and it's duplicate is only a couple inches. Here's a few pics:

It's hard to see, but in the 1st pic, there is a little shoot between the sword and the tall Val. In the second pic bottom right, you can see both equal sized Vals.

I think I can just cut the link between the 2 on the right (same size ones) and that's fine, but how big should the little guy in the back left (off the larger plant) get before cutting?

Second one: I got this Amazon Sword at Petco along with 2 Echinodorus for $10:

This is the same sword you can see in the other pics. When I unpotted it, it looked like there were 2 main sections of the plant that were tied together with a set of dark purple roots, and each side had plenty of white roots. Is this actually 2 plants and can I cut them apart?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

If you want to split a plant, use a very sharp blade of some kindd (be careful) and slice off what you want from the roots up. Other plants you can just cut off from the top.

 

[jsoong]

Vals spread by runners, and once the daughter plant has roots, it is safe to cut the runner & move the daughters.

That sword looks like it had already split in 2. If there is a visible division, you can prob separate the 2 at the roots with a sharp knife. <Rosette plants otherwise don't do well just cut in two any old way.>

Stem plants like the hornworts you can just cut off the tops or any side shoots.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Vals spread by runners, and once the daughter plant has roots, it is safe to cut the runner & move the daughters.

That sword looks like it had already split in 2. If there is a visible division, you can prob separate the 2 at the roots with a sharp knife. <Rosette plants otherwise don't do well just cut in two any old way.>

Stem plants like the hornworts you can just cut off the tops or any side shoots.

Jsoong, since we are talking about trimming and such, my val is getting very long and such, I want the plant to stay there, I just don't want it to be so long. I can't just trim the leaves can I? Would I have to replace the plant with one of the smaller ones? I honestly just want to cut the leaves, but I don't think your suppose to.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

That sword looks like it had already split in 2. If there is a visible division, you can prob separate the 2 at the roots with a sharp knife. <Rosette plants otherwise don't do well just cut in two any old way.>

I had just trimmed the sword and pushed the leaves from the 2 halves apart so I could take a pic - it was actually like that when I bought it. I guess I got 4 for 2 instead of 3 for 2 (deal @ petco).

When you say the Rosette plants otherwise don't do well, do you mean that their growth will be stunted if I don't separate them?

 

[Zagz]

You can cut the leaves off of the tops of vals. I do it all the time. I remove a couple a feet a month off mine.

No jsoong meant that you have to cut the rosette plants they way explained or they don't do well.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I think I understand - cut at the roots, not at the leaves (which I would not have done anyways)

Curious about something, while the Vals seems to be growing & spreading like crazy, the Wisteria is stagnant, and Anacharis & Cabomba slowly disappearing. Check out my tank pics for each group. Like I said before, have 1 tsp/gal (started as a holistic treatment, kept it up for the last month during chagnes) and have stopped adding salt during PWCs. Also, I just recently upgraded from 30W to 80W lighting hoping this may help. Tank is well stocked and cycled, & seems to be at a good balance.

Platys like to chew on the anacharis, could be the explanation there.

Wisteria shows new growth, but has looked like that for weeks. Original leaves died off a while back.

Had 2 hygrophilia (I think) that went completely dead within weeks.

Just wondering...

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

You can cut the leaves off of the tops of vals. I do it all the time. I remove a couple a feet a month off mine.

No jsoong meant that you have to cut the rosette plants they way explained or they don't do well.

The leaves will just grow back? Lol.

 

[Zagz]

They grow from the base I believe. I don't know for sure but they just don't stop growing.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

They grow from the base I believe. I don't know for sure but they just don't stop growing.

Haha, ok i'm going to trust you on this . I'll trim them in the next few days.

 

[jsoong]

For the Vals, I just remove the whole leaf from the base, and let another new leaf take over. <My goldies tend to nip the tops off the Vals, and the leaves that are cut in half don't seem to grow after that .... so that might be a way to keep the Val at the "correct" size.>

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Ok Jsoong, thanks.