# How to trim different kinds of plants?



## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

I'm starting to have a variety of plants and so far my trim jobs have been terrible (imagine if a lawnmower did it... yup).
For example, I wanted to "shorten" the height of my bacopa, so I trimmed it, but it re-grew crooked (newbie mistake).

I'm wondering if anyone has tips for keeping plants at a certain height. Right now, in addition to the bacopa, I also have a wisteria and some windelov and narrow-leaf ferns that I want to keep at specific heights. The most pressing is the windelov, which is growing fast.

Thanks for reading!


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## greenfin (Nov 4, 2013)

Reckon did a thread on this a few weeks/month back. 
I replant my trimmed bacopa tops.
microsorums? I think the mature leaf size is the size it is (duh! poorly worded, sorry) but I guess you could trim off the big ones and keep the smaller leaves. I trim the rhizome back every so often to keep it from spreading too far.
wisteria? dunno. never had that one.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

UnderseaGal said:


> I wanted to "shorten" the height of my bacopa, so I trimmed it, but it re-grew crooked (newbie mistake).
> 
> I'm wondering if anyone has tips for keeping plants at a certain height. Right now, in addition to the bacopa, I also have a wisteria and some windelov and narrow-leaf ferns that I want to keep at specific heights. The most pressing is the windelov, which is growing fast.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


Trimming java ferns and all other rhizome plants are pretty easy, just trim the bigger leaves that you don't want to keep 
Greenfin is right in that if you don't want the plant taking up too much space then you can also cut parts of the rhizome to prevent the plant from creeping around. 
I actually think trimming bigger and less healthy looking leaves rather than leaving them to rot off is healthier for the tank and also encourages the plant to grow new leaves. Just avoid cutting off all the leaves off a plant since it will need a couple to photosynthesize.

There's a bit more work involved in maintaining stem plants like bacopas. Usually, to keep it looking its best you'll have to pull up the plant to cut off the bottoms and replant the tops. If you cut off the tops but leave the bottoms the plant will usually try to propagate by putting out multiple shoots, sometimes it doesn't look great depending on the species. It's a bit of a learning curve to find out which ones bounce back from topping well and which ones don't. Typically if the stem plant is 'woodier,' that is has a firmer stem (like bacopas), it may come back crooked. Other plants may put out shoots that look a bit deformed. With these you have to give them a bit of time to grow out. Stem plants don't like to grow at an angle and so when they grow out they will straighten out. Deformed shoots usually eventually sort themselves out as well. What I usually do is let the plant put out several shoots, straighten out, then pull it out to separate the old bottom and replant the newly propagated stems. Plants that don't mind getting mowed like a bush or lawn include Rotalas - those guys tend to come back looking bushier and healthier.

I do remember that you were concerned with the dust that comes up when you pull a plant or when planting a plant. Unfortunately, the dust is a pretty common issue. I keep a 50 gallon dutch style tank so you can imagine that every 2 weeks I'm yanking up almost all of my plants, chopping the bottoms, and then replanting them. I make quite a mess in the process. I usually do a water change right after trimming to keep the tank looking clean and I rely on the filter to soak up the rest of the dust.

On a side note, I also recall you mentioned sludge coming out of your filter. This is usually an indicator that you want to give your filter a good clean. This also commonly happens after you add new substrate - of any brand.
After some time chunks of gunk gets stuck in hoses or areas of your filter that you can't clean and will come out after unplugging the filter and plugging it back in. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about this. For me I usually just let it disappear and break down into the tank over time.

Finally, I recall that you had mentioned you had some difficulty planting in the ADA since the substrate is fairly light. I strongly recommend using some long nose planting tweezers like the ones here: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/freshwater-equipment-classifieds-27/fs-used-flora-base-substrate-plant-tweezers-105865/

My strategy for planting lighter stemmed plants (the ones that tend to float) like bacopas is to push the stem all the way down to the bottom of the tank, then if you can get your second hand in the tank just hold the plant down (usually, I just hold the top of the plant down since I don't always want to have both arms elbow deep into the tank) as you pull out your tweezers. Otherwise, carefully loosen your grip on the tweezers after you've pushed the stem all the way to the bottom, give the tweezers a little wiggle so the substrate can fall into place around the stem and then carefully pull out the tweezers. I won't lie, I get very irritated with plants floating back up while trying to get them planted into ADA. But sometimes it just takes a couple tries.

I hope this answers your questions on planting.


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

Greenfin and Reckon, many thanks for all this useful information - I was definitely doing it wrong, and now I know better. I will do as you suggest for the rhizome plants (remove entire leaves as opposed to mowing the tops), and for the bacopa, well, I don't think I'm up for replanting the tops just yet, so I'll just let it be for now and see what happens. Getting both my hands in the tank is out of the question because one tank is the fluval edge (tiny opening), and the other is the 2.6gal spec, which is too small for two-handed work. I now realize that I didn't start myself off in the hobby with very easy tanks (though I take pride in how I maintain good water parameters in smaller volumes). I like to think that one day I will get a big tank all open at the top and everything will seem like a breeze. 

I'm off to do some aquascaping now - tying my rhizome plants to pieces of wood and replanting some anubias, and some trimming, too. I'm a little more confident now thanks to your great advice - thanks again.

I'll post some pics to my tank journal once the dust settles!


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

I strongly recommend watching videos by James Findley on learning how to aquascape and trim. You can find them at youtube by the name of thegreenmachine, or at www.greenmachineonline.com.

For example here's one about getting a nice nano aquascape going


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

Very cool video. I've got so much to learn!
I've put quite a bit of work on the Edge tonight. It's not in its final state but I'm getting closer to having stuff where I want it. 
Next up I'll work on the spec.

Thanks for the inspiration!


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## greenfin (Nov 4, 2013)

Ask Shift, but I think he popped the top off his fluval edge. Think that was a 6gal. Bet it would be easier to get at it. Reckon's posts are fantastic!


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

I'm not at the point where I'd want to pop the top off- I love the look of the tank, despite how awful it is to work in.
That said, it's good to know it can be done, if I get desperate. 

Agree, Reckon is a fountain of knowledge and resources!


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