Did I ruin my Amazon sword??

[Phillip]

About 6 months ago I cut a baby plant off the mother sword. After I did that the spike slowly died away. The mother is still growing and beautiful, but The spike still has not returned. Will another spike eventually grow, or did I mess it up by cutting it?

[Fish Folk]

On 9/10/2021 at 4:34 PM, Phillip said:

About 6 months ago I cut a baby plant off the mother sword. After I did that the spike slowly died away. The mother is still growing and beautiful, but The spike still has not returned. Will another spike eventually grow, or did I mess it up by cutting it?

I’ve never tried propagation of swords before, but I doubt it will survive. I _think_ there’s more to it than that.

[Keeg]

I have only gotten a spike when it was grown emersed, they're kind of like flowers but with plants inside of pedals. I only cut off the baby plant when I felt it was mature enough to grow itself, around 4 inches. When I want to propagate it (submerged), baby plants will grown from the base of another. So In my experience, it won't grow another spike unless you're growing it emersed.  

[Phillip]

On 9/10/2021 at 4:29 PM, Keeg said:

 So In my experience, it won't grow another spike unless you're growing it emersed.  

Good to know. Thanks!

[Struggle]

My mother sword plant will send a runner out that will have multiple baby plants on it. I usually let them go until there’s some root growth on however many baby plants I want reuse then cut the runner at the mother plant close to the base. I then cut the runner at each individual baby plant at about a 1/4” - 1/2” on each side so that I can use that to help keep the minimal roots/plant in the sand. I have quite a few just floating in a 10G & 20G waiting for me to use on another project.

Sorry, I didn’t answer your question but your good to go. The mother plant will send another runner out as long as it is happy and healthy.

Edited September 10, 2021 by Struggle

[Phantom240]

If the plant is happy with its environment and getting plenty of co2 and nutrients, it'll send out more spikes. My mother plant had three spikes when I uprooted it today, and I cut the two smaller spikes back and left the one with half a dozen nice size plantlets alone. 

[anewbie]

The runners are frequent and more will appear. The frequency depends on the plant size and age but my annoying sword will send them out about once a week or two and it has become a pest.

As to when to cut (which is the correct thing to do) wait till the roots form on the baby plants are are approx an inch long at that point you can safely cut the baby plant off the runner and plant where you desire.