Guidelines for trimming stem plants

[JJB]

I have a 55 gallon planted aquarium with several stem plants in my background (water sprite, pogo stellatus and ludwigia repens). They are all doing well and so some of them need a trim. Couple questions for the experienced folks on the forum:

How low would you trim them?

and

Would you trim them even if they are not touching the surface to stimulate more bushy growth?

Edited December 1, 2020 by JJB
hit send to soon.

[ange]

I prune my plants quite often because most of them are in short tanks. Personally I remove roughly 6" from the top and either re-plant or I save them for trades with locals.

Generally speaking I have the best luck with growth if I'm trimming less than half of the total height of the plant, otherwise it sometimes has issues bouncing back. I'm unsure if this is due to it being further from the light or possibly struggling to compete.

[Hobbit]

With my stem plants I’ve found that unfortunately they don’t behave the way land plants do. I was hoping that by trimming the top off a stem I would get it to send out new growth from all its meristems. But nope. Instead it grows two new shoots from the meristems closest to the cut point. If you don’t plan for this you can end up with all your plants looking like a Y. 😛

What I’ve seen most successful aquarists do is pull the stem plant out entirely, cut off the bottom third or half of the plant, and then re-plant the top part. (and the bottom part too if it still looks good!) You can also cut the stem in half where it stands and plant the top half nearby. You may get some Y branching but if the Y is hidden it’s no big deal. Or if you like the Y look, then you’re in business!

I will say that I’m not sure water sprite and pogo stellatus behave this way. I don’t have any pogo and I haven’t noticed this pattern with my water sprite, but that may just be because of its structure.

[Garren]

1 hour ago, Hobbit said:

I will say that I’m not sure water sprite and pogo stellatus behave this way. I don’t have any pogo and I haven’t noticed this pattern with my water sprite, but that may just be because of its structure.

Here is a picture of what my Pogostemon stellatus does when trimmed. I try trimming shorter so I branches out further down in the tank.

[JJB]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I'll give it a try and post how it goes.

 

[ChefConfit]

I generally trim pretty short the first time and gradually move higher each time if I'm going for the bushy look. As @Hobbitsaid they will put of 2 new stems just under the cut so if you trim slightly taller every time it will Bush out more and more.

Some people want just single stems so they pull the plant top it and replant every time it needs a trim. Way to much work for me and it would make a huge mess in my dirted tank.