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Trimming Cabomba

23K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  Stu 
#1 ·
I have a nice growing bunch of green Cabomba in the corner of my tank. I finally got it firmly rooted in the substrate, but now the tops have reached the surface. I trimmed one a week ago by cutting it roughly in half right above one of the internodes as a test. It didn't work well....Now the entire stalk is turning brown. I know it's not a light issue because the stalk I trimmed was in the front of the bunch, so it gets just as much light at the bottom of the tank as it always has. I have about 3.8 Watts/Gallon in my 55. Is there a way to trim these plants down without pulling it out and cutting it from the bottom? I would hate to have to convince the plants to re-root every time they get too long.
 
#5 ·
If you have good CO2, fert, and light levels, the bottom part of the cambomba stem may start putting up side stems (with new tops). However, the active, "growing" part of the plant is the top, if you snip it off, it cannot continue to grow from the "snipped" area.

Most people will remove the cambomba from the tank, snip the bottoms off, then replant the tops. In my tank, my cambomba grows just under a foot per week, so when I snip off the tops for replanting, I make them really short. :)
 
#7 ·
I'm experiencing the same sort of thing with Limnophila sessiliflora. I've actually started to cut the tops off and leave the bottoms with the hope it will take longer to grow back. It's really stemmy, so it will have to go soon, I'm afraid. Right now I am trying some Mayaca, it has a similar look but I'll just have to see how fast it grows.

A lot of stem plants CAN be cut off from the top. But they just don't look good (start looking ratty) if you keep doing it.
 
#9 ·
Azimuth said:
Can anyone recommend a good bunch plant that can be cut from the top?
Unfortunately, there are none (that I know of) that look ok when topped and just the bottom left. As jart said, most can be pruned this way, and this will encourage them to form more side branches, but the more you do it,the harder it becomes to hide the roughly cut tops. Also, at least one, if not most of the side branches will try and head for the light, effectively forming a new vertical stem, so over time it will look horrible!

The only plants that you can get away with top pruning without noticing the impact too much are those with uniform leaves (preferably those that are small to the eye); i.e grasses and as suggested; Vallis, but even vallis will look ugly with straight cut ends that look too artifical.

If you find pruning too much of a chore, then I would suggest either opting for slower growing species of plants, or put the brakes on your whole tank so that growth is slowed enough to manage.

 
#12 ·
I don't mind the flat top for a couple of weeks, it allow more water flow in my tank. I cut it from 30 inches down to 10 and it does nothing for 2 weeks and then every cut stem puts off 2 new stems and grows back to the top within 2 weeks. It gets so thick that my Kuhlii loaches lay in the top and sun bathe.
 
#14 ·
150EH said:
I don't mind the flat top for a couple of weeks, it allow more water flow in my tank. I cut it from 30 inches down to 10 and it does nothing for 2 weeks and then every cut stem puts off 2 new stems and grows back to the top within 2 weeks. It gets so thick that my Kuhlii loaches lay in the top and sun bathe.
LOL! That's what some of my SAEs do. My Hygro polysperma has gotten very thick at the top of the tank, and some of my SAEs just sit there under the lights.

Can you lay a stem on the substrate, wait for vertical stems to form from the leaf nodes, and, when they get long enough, chop them off and plant those? You can get many stems from one stem that way.
 
#15 ·
Corydoras85 said:
Can you lay a stem on the substrate, wait for vertical stems to form from the leaf nodes, and, when they get long enough, chop them off and plant those? You can get many stems from one stem that way.
Sure can. If you can't actually "lay" the stem on the substrate, plant it at a 45 degree angle instead of perpendicular to the substrate. This should cause the stem to throw out roots to try and achor itself and also promote new stems. Once this starts to happen, you'll have better luck getting it actually flat on the substrate.

 
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