shollia

This was one of the first real plants we put into the tank. I actually wanted a radican sword? or whatever they're called, but the guy grabbed the wrong one *shrugs* It's all good though b/c I really like it and it's growing really well.
This is where my question comes in....

It's growing this really long stem thing.... at first it was just a long skinny thing, but now leaves and roots are starting to sprout from it.
Bf has the camera so when he gets home tonight I'll get some pics of it... just wondering if I should do anything about it? It's near where the water from the filter comes into the tank.. so kinda worried that it might get damaged from that.

chickadee

You can break it off and plant the roots and they will make new plants for you, lucky you!! They are beautiful plants and easy to grow.

Rose

shollia

Oooo really?? Where do you break it off at though? How long should I wait to break it off? Do I just stick the broken off part into the rocks? Or should I get something to help it grow more? So exciting! lol
Oh I hope it does grow, would be awesome if I could provide my betta tank with a home grown one

There are like 2 parts to the stem... there's one part that's a little lower that has leaves and roots coming from it, and then a part that's coming from that one that also has leaves and roots....
So where should I cut or break off each part?

atmmachine816

It sounds like what happened to my plant, do you have pics yet. Mine grew for a month or so then stopped and started growing roots and more leaves, I cut it off from the base of the plant then cut off a couple segments right above the leaves so there would be some stem under the leaves and not above the leaves. Now my plants are growing great and I got four more plants. Have any questions just ask.

shollia

Nope.. no pics yet.. bf isn't home and we don't have an adapter thing to plug in the cells to the computers heh... BF will be home around midnight my time so I'll get some then if I remember to do it :P lol

Ok.. so you cut the stem off at the base of the plant.... I'm not sure what you mean by the next part though.. you left some stem below the leaves, but cut it to where there wasn't above?
Did you just stick the newly cut parts into your gravel? Or did you pot them or what?

chickadee

I cut mine off at the ground (the long string of little plants) and cut between them halfway between the plantlets so the little stem parts can help to hold the little plants in the ground. They can be planted as soon as they have a few roots but don't plant them too deep just deep enough to keep them down. You can put a plant tab in the gravel if you have them and the roots will grow down in the soil (gravel) easier toward the tablet.

Just poke them into the gravel but not real deep.

Rose

shollia

Alrighty! Thanks so much!!! Think I might wait a little bit longer to cut them. The top one only has a single root while the one below it has 2.

The bottom one is growing some big leaves though. Hope the disturbance from the filter isn't gonna damage them! YAY new plants! heh *does a happy dance*

atmmachine816

Ya wait plenty of time, just remember liek Rose said to leave enough stem under the leaves so it stays in the gravel. Baby plants are cool, it's like buy one get four free

shollia

BF came home and after spending some time with him looking for my souvenirs heh... I took a pic of the stem...
Not gonna touch it for a while so it can get more roots. You can't see the roots in the pic, but they're there heh...

I'm just so excited and feel like such a dork heh.. getting all excited over a plant! Geeze.

chickadee

My sword plant multiplies this way and I have a Marble Queen Radican too. I let mine get quite big (2" or more) before I cut them but not so large that they are hard to plant. Blaze could not figure out what those were and constantly just hovered staring at them. The water movement won't bother them in the least.

Rose

shollia

Alrighty! Thanks so much for all the help all!

Butterfly

yep aren't baby plants(called daughter plants, or plantlets ) cool? You must be doing something right.
I would leave it attached to the parent plant until the plantlets get a little larger. You can also bend the stem over while its still attached to the parent plant and kind of plant the baby and put a rock on each side to hold it down until it takes root then cut it( the stem) on each side of the baby or babies.
Carol

shollia

I would do that (bending it) but where the mother plant is positioned, there isn't any room. I'll just wait to cut them
They're growing so fast though! Woke up today and they've already gotten bigger since last night.


I got a regular radican not that long ago so maybe I'll be getting more of those too! YAY!