[Macbrush]

I don't have much experience on large plants, since well... I didn't have a large tank. :lol: Anyway, I have got this two swords, an Echinodorus 'Rose' and an Echinodorus 'Rubin' (Seriously, I can't tell the difference between them), they have been in there for about a month now, and things are really getting out of hand, the Rose has put out a lots of leaves, and most of them are over 20" long, and the Rubin isn't much better, again, a lot of leaves, but most of them are about 18" long, maybe because it was smaller at the beginning. The way I see it, they are growing like there is no tomorrow!

I would start trimming their leaves, but should I just uproot them and trim their roots as well? I have a feeling that if I don't do something about it, their roots would one day overrun my tank! Would it keep their root system in check if I trim their leaves regularly and keep them smaller?

Thanks
Kenneth

 

[mr greenjeans]

Hey I can understand your predicament. I've got an ozelot sword in a 20 gallon that now occupies two-thirds of the tank. It throws out runners as fast as I can trim them, the leaves are huge and at the surface, and I can't imagine what the root system is like. It obviously intends to have the whole tank to itself.

If you are motivated to root trim, I'd be intersted in your results. I wonder if it will be a practical solution, though. The rate of growth of these plants is tremendous, and there might be reason to believe the root ball is putting on as much mass or more than the vegetative part of the plant.

I'd be spreading laterite through my tank once every week or two to do regular root trimming that would make a difference. I figure that ozelot is in there for the life of the tank. Not much can be done short of tearing down and getting rid of the sword all together.

Swords are just big freaking plants, they need a big tank