yum

Hi, I've got some nice growth and propagation going on with my pygmy chain swords and I read somewhere that I should be trimming the runners after the new plants gets to a certain size to promote growth. Any truth to this?

They seem to be spreading just fine without my intervention and I'd like to keep my hands out of the tank as much as possible.

Also, if I had to trim them, most of the runners are under the substrate so I'd have to find it, dig it up, risk uprooting the plants and making a general mess. I'm using Schultz Aqua Soil which is really light and difficult to anchor plants, so any disturbing of roots is a big headache for me.

On a related trimming note: how do I know the plant is big enough to trim if I decide to give clippings away to other people? At what part of the plant do I trim? In the middle of the runner? Do I remove the runner completely from both plants?

trenac

Usually a good rule of thumb is to prune the plantletts when they are about the half the size of the mother plant. This way you can make sure they have a good root system, which is important in getting the plant established.

If you gently tug on the plants they should come up enough to expose the runners, without disturbing your substrate too much. Then you can cut the runner any where you like. Then once the plants are out of the tank you can trim off excess runners if you like. I've found leaving a little runner on each side of the plantletts help hold the plant in place when newly planted.