Sunset Hygo Pruning

[JeffreyL]

Hey all, hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!! I've got some questions about some Polysperma Hygrophila (sunset) I just got. When it is time to prune, if I cut off the top, this will encourage side shoots and a more full plant, yes? And the cut top can be planted after stripping off the bottom leaves and sticking in the sand with a node buried?? Alternately, can I just cut off the bottom of a healty clipping to keep the new growth and replant as above??

Finally, the plants have roots growing from midway up the plants. Do I ignore, cut off or what? Also near the tops are long straight runners (?). Again, ignore, clip off?? Hope the attached pics help if my description is too vague.

Thanks in advance for any help and comments!! And remember, the best part of the turkey is always the bits you scavenge for sanwiches!!!!! lol

[Jchillin]

That is one of the great things about hygro. Cutting the stem under the node not only gives you a new plant, the mother will continue to grow and flower. If you have side shoots, cut underneath them and re-plant (burying the shoots).

[An t-iasg]

It's almost impossible to prune Hygrophila incorrectly! You can cut off the top and replant the top, and the "mother" stem will continue to grow. You can use the straight runners or the hair roots to start a new plant too. I clean up my hygro every other week - I'll remove it from the tank and sometimes I start a new plant with one of the runners and then I just clip off all the other runners and hair roots and return the stem to the tank. When I don't remove the stems from the tank, I just cut off the tops that are too tall.

[JeffreyL]

Thanks for the help. From what I have read it sounded like I couldn't do too much damage, but it is always nice to get confirmation. I think I will just cut some off the bottom for now, it is a bit leggy.

[An t-iasg]

That works well too - sometimes you want to keep the pretty red tops and lose the bottom "tangle".

[joannde]

how sad - I haven't had to prune mine at all and its been two months ! The only thing that seems to want to grow in the 35G are the swords and the anubias. Not even the wisteria will grow - how sad is that ? I'm sure its fert thing - one of these days I'll figure it out and start a post about it.
JeffreyL - looks like the Hygro is doing great for you - keep it up !

[7Enigma]

HAhahaha, pruning hygro! j/k This is quite possibly the one plant you could TRY to kill it, and be unsuccessful. I throw out huge amounts of this constantly, and now just keep 1 or 2 small stems in my tank since I can't bare the thought of removing it from my tank.

The simplest way I've found is to cut just above a node near a new growth spot. You'll find these all over the side-shoots. The trick is to find one that is just starting to grow, 1/4"-1/2" and trim just above that point. The plant will then use that as the main growing point and grow towards the light. You would have to look closely in a couple days to know that it wasn't the original growing point.

You have it growing quite nicely (low nitrAtes). I rarely get the red color in all but the surface leaves since my tank is more heavily dosed for avoiding nutrient deficiency.