Pogo Octo Question

[Zac]

Hey all, 

As shown in the image, when I trim my pogo, it sprouts like 4 new shoots instead of just growing back. The same thing happens when I trim the baby shoots. How can I control these so I don’t have new shoots every time I trim (if that’s even possible). The same thing happens with my ludwigia. Don’t mind the algae. Recently tried increasing iron which was a mistake🥲

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/24/2022 at 12:45 PM, Zac said:

As shown in the image, when I trim my pogo, it sprouts like 4 new shoots instead of just growing back.

What do you mean by "growing back"?

I am guessing it's tied to lighting.  I don't know which is the correct direction, but...

1.  It grows tall and then sprouts branches shown in your photo because it's trying to absorb as much light at the top of the tank as possible.
2.  Plants will send runners when they're looking for light or resources.  So if you're trying to get a plant to carpet, you trim it, and it grows outward.

I've had the branching you're seeing right above the substrate, and mid water.  I would trim it, plant the stem, and off it goes like a weed.  If you want it to grow tall I would just trim off the branches and plant them into the substrate. It's a crazy well-growing plant and it's the biggest bush of stems I had in my tank.

Hopefully this video is helpful.
 

 

[FLFishChik]

Being a gardener, I think I can try and explain.  Plants have growth cells called meristems. The type of growth meristems a plant has depends on the species. But for PSO, the type of meristem is called Apical meristem. These growth cells are found in the tip and in the leaf nodes of the plant and are responsible for the plant's growth and for the formation of leaves and flowers. As the plant grows, the Apical meristems release hormones that signal the nodes beneath the Apex to form leaves, flowers, etc. If the Apex stem is cut or damaged, those hormones stop flowing and leaf nodes just below the cut / damaged Apex are now triggered to create the height or length of the stem to continue to reach for light,(plants job is to reach for light...that's what it wants to do), becoming Apex stems themselves. (this is why and how you create bushy growth on plants when you prune regularly). There is no way to guarantee that only one stem grows from the Apex stem when it's been cut as the remaining nodes below the cut that would have become leaves are now triggered to become Apex stems.

[Zac]

On 7/24/2022 at 5:01 PM, FLFishChik said:

Being a gardener, I think I can try and explain.  Plants have growth cells called meristems. The type of growth meristems a plant has depends on the species. But for PSO, the type of meristem is called Apical meristem. These growth cells are found in the tip and in the leaf nodes of the plant and are responsible for the plant's growth and for the formation of leaves and flowers. As the plant grows, the Apical meristems release hormones that signal the nodes beneath the Apex to form leaves, flowers, etc. If the Apex stem is cut or damaged, those hormones stop flowing and leaf nodes just below the cut / damaged Apex are now triggered to create the height or length of the stem to continue to reach for light,(plants job is to reach for light...that's what it wants to do), becoming Apex stems themselves. (this is why and how you create bushy growth on plants when you prune regularly). There is no way to guarantee that only one stem grows from the Apex stem when it's been cut as the remaining nodes below the cut that would have become leaves are now triggered to become Apex stems.

You’re giving me flashbacks of my BIO 1500 class lmao. That definitely makes sense!