Pruning Swords

[MentalBase]

I'm am relatively new to planted tanks and was wondering where to start pruning what I think is an Amazon Sword (sorry, don't know the scientific name). When I bought them at the LFS, as usual, they looked alot smaller in the store! I have a 55gal. tank and they are just about up to the top! My Tinfoil Barbs, which have 6" bodies, are not very pleased with me right now.
Thanks for any info...

[BeyondGomer]

about the only think you can do with swords is remove leaves by cutting them off near the base. You cannot "mow it" like a lawn. I too had a "small" amazon sword before.....and then it got huge

[MentalBase]

So should I trim them at the begining of the leaves, or the bease of the stems? My Swords are similar to your in leaf appearance, but their individual stems are over 12" tall! I think this is due to their growing conditions in my LFS, basically all scrunched together causing them to grow extremely tall.
Thanks for the help!

John

[elmike]

I use either a long-handle tong with scissor attachment or my bare fingers to snip the tall leaves right at the base. Remember the residual stalks will rot and add to water pollution, so go right down.

I planted four to five stalks in my 4 ft, but they have grown so tall and dense in less than a year that they were casting too much of a shade, eclipsing my other low growing plants and also, taking up swimming space for my fish. This picture was taken at 9 mths, but the swords have all hit the surface since.



Just last week, I pulled off something like 4-5 bunches of the huge swords . I tell you, this plant develops massive root system!

[timebomb]

I tell you, this plant develops massive root system!

Oh yes, they do, Michael. I once had a Echinodorus grandifolius and the roots grew so thick they were pushing up the substrate. When I pulled the plant out and messed up the whole tank as a result, it was quite a shock to see the roots had formed into a perfectly rectangular mat about 3 inches thick. It was even more amazing to find that there wasn't a single grain of gravel in the mat of roots.

John, plants like Amazon Swords can't be pruned. The best you can do is remove the older leaves by cutting them off close to the base. If you want to keep them short, the best way is to have a very thin substrate. How high they grow depend a lot on the thickness of the substrate. By the way, the Amazon Sword is an Echinodorus bleheri.

Loh K L

[MentalBase]

Thanks for the info all!

John

[elmike]

I tell you, this plant develops massive root system!

When I pulled the plant out and messed up the whole tank as a result, it was quite a shock to see the roots had formed into a perfectly rectangular mat about 3 inches thick.

I pulled and pulled and at first it wouldn’t budge, and I was immediately reminded of the story of the Enormous Turnip (yeah, I remember because I taught my boy to read his first few words through this book! )... Then I pulled with all my might and, whoops, for a moment I actually thought I’d pulled off the deck of my aquarium, when the section of the gravel over the roots moved upwards with the plant.

This is one hell of an Enormous Sword! I could have woven my wife a mini Echi basket from the leaves that I've thrown down the chute, but I just wasn't the initiated sort you see.

[FC]

John,

Nip the leafs with fingers at the outer layer of the base only - that's where the old leafs are.