Plant Pruning

[SittingDuck]

I took the plunge and bought 2 plants as an experiment to see if they'd survive. It's been 3 weeks and they appear to be thriving!

I picked up an Amazon sword and a Japanese dwarf rush and they've doubled (Almost tripled) in size. When I take a close look at the sword I can see that it's not one, but two plants with two rhizomes.

So, would it make sense to seperate the two and plant them apart from each other? If so, how do I go about doing this? The Japanese dwarf rush has doubled at the base as well as height, is it possible to split this one up too or would it be better to leave it alone? Would it be better to leave them all alone or would separating them cause issues? The Amazon Sword has very broad leaves, so would NOT separating them cause it to lose a lot of light and possibly kill it's offspring?

 

[Quake2player]

I'm a plant n00b myself... but found this link to be helpful. It sums up how you should plant the particular plant (rhizome buried or not?), vs. ways you'd split it, etc. I was gonna share this link w/everyone, but saw it might answer your questions:

http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/aquarium_plants.html

 

[malkore]

actually with swords, it's called a crown, not a rhizome.

to split it apart, remove it from the tank, lay it out, and carefully de-tangle all the roots where the two crowns are at. this could take 10-15 mins to be super safe and avoid damaging the roots. Just try to minimize the damage. Don't jump in with a pair of scissors or you could do real harm, stunt the growth, or kill the plant.

But basically if you untangle them, they should easily separate into two plants.

 

[SittingDuck]

Awesome! I'll give that a try Malkore. Thanks for the link Q2Player, it gave me some insight on the plants I have. I have both kinds, with a rhizome and a crown...

 

[travis simonson]

Just a note, with rhizome division make sure to try to split the rhizome as close to 50/50 as you can (60/40 will do). A lot of the plant's growth potential is stored in the rhizome and if it is too small may cause growth issues or failure. Hope this helps