[Waters]

How do you correctly prune plants? I assume it is different for each type (rooted, stem, floating, etc)?

For example, how do you prune swords? If the leaf is browing around the edge, do you cut the brown section off or remove the whole leaf? When pruning Wisteria, do you cut from the top and replant or do you pull the whole plant out of the substrate and cut the bottom off?

 

[Kathyy]

It takes some time to figure out what works best for each species in your particular set up.

Remove damaged leaves from swords, crypts and Anubias completely. Often you can simply push them back and they snap off clean if they are in bad enough shape or you can just cut as close to the stem/crown as possible. You can go back and pull off the rest of the stem after it has softened and browned to keep things really clean too. Go ahead and try trimming browned tips if you like, see what happens. Perhaps it was mechanical damage and the rest of the leaf will last a long time.

Some stem plants respond best by pulling up, trimming and replanting the top growth and some are fine trimming and discarding, replanting and/or rehoming the tops and allowing the bottom part to resprout. If the bottom part has healthy leaves and a good root structure I suspect success is more frequent than if there aren't good roots or green leaves but it is always worth a try if you have empty space in the tank. And this is up to your tank and plants.

 

[vincenz]

For swords, just trim the entire leaf. For wisteria, you can cut wherever and replant.

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

How do you correctly prune plants? I assume it is different for each type (rooted, stem, floating, etc)?

For example, how do you prune swords? If the leaf is browing around the edge, do you cut the brown section off or remove the whole leaf? When pruning Wisteria, do you cut from the top and replant or do you pull the whole plant out of the substrate and cut the bottom off?

Hi Waters,

This is the method I use for stem plants.

 

[ADJAquariums]

For my stem plants i cut off the part that is growing too tall and it grows back after a while, for swords you should cut the entire leaf off and for wisteria i believe you cut and replant the cutting