# opinions on trimming methods



## Niku (Feb 11, 2014)

Hey BCA 

So after a month my first co2/dosing tank has a lot of growth. And now I am realizing stem plants definetly do not like just being cut at the right height. Like a hydra they just keep sprouting heads and become an ungodly mess. So how does everyone here deal with stem plants ?

I have hears you just cut them low then pull the roots and replant the tops ?

Thanks for any help


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

I guess it depends on how badly you want to propagate the plant, or how the plant species responds to trimming. 

I'll use the examples of Ludwigia Glandulosa and Ludwigia Inclinata Cuba.

L. Glandulosa almost never splits or puts out shoots unless you cut the plant. So, to propagate the plant I'll trim the plant at a healthy looking node at around 1/2 or 2/3 down the stem and replant the top. I'll let the bottom grow out some sprouts and also keep the tops. Unfortunately, the bottoms won't look nice for a while. Once the propagated baby plants grow out (usually you can see they develop their own roots) I chop off the old bottom and replant the new plants.

L. Cuba will almost never sprout new plants from the bottom. It only tends to put out new tops when it grows tall and close to the surface of the water. So with trimming these you don't keep the bottoms, they will always look terrible.

Ludwigias like some some other species (ie. Toninas, Sygonanthus) don't tend to bounce back quickly from getting trimmed like a hedge so they'll look bad for a while. Others such as rotalas almost prefer to be trimmed like a hedge. 

Species like Bacopas put out side shoots easily but also grow fairly good looking new tops from bottom stems. These are pretty easy to keep in stem heavy layouts like the dutch stye.

I don't have a grow out tank so unless I'm trying to propagate I tend to throw out the stem bottoms and keep the tops so the tank looks its best. Also, with dutch style scapes the ugly stem bottoms seem to be more apparent. Doesn't seem to be as bad with nature style - but then again stem plants are usually used less for those layouts.


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