Naked stems

I have a row of Ludwigia Repens growing in the background of my shrimp tank. This tank was started with CO2 and has medium high light (5000K). Once it got established, I just use Flourish tabs and Flourish Excel now. The bottoms of the stems are getting bare.

Should I trim them back hard, then replant the cuttings?

If I cut them back, will they sprout new stems? Thanks in advance!

 

Following, I would like to know also.

 

I would trim them and replant the cuttings as you said. That should help thicken them a bit.

 

It may just be my bad luck with them but I've not had plants grow from bare stems. Now I just cut the tops off and plant them. I have tried leaving the bottom part plantsd after cutting the top off to see if anything will grow on them and have also buried the stems. I've had no luck either way.

 

I had similar problems. I decreased the lighting to 20% for 15hrs a day. I dose the tank with tabs every 3 months and flourish 6 ml 2x / week and the ludwigia is thriving. I don't use excel any more. I also went from a spray bar to a stream. My moneywart is going bonkers also.

 

The bottoms of the stems are probably going bare because of a lack of proper fertilization. A lack of macronutrients often causes ludwigia to drop its lower leaves. I'd highly recommend dosing a comprehensive fertilizer such as Thrive or Thrive+ by NilocG. The bottoms will regrow sprouts if they are healthy. Replanting the tops is much safer method of trimming.

 

The bottoms of the stems are probably going bare because of a lack of proper fertilization. A lack of macronutrients often causes ludwigia to drop its lower leaves. I'd highly recommend dosing a comprehensive fertilizer such as Thrive or Thrive+ by NilocG. The bottoms will regrow sprouts if they are healthy. Replanting the tops is much safer method of trimming.

well I just checked my notes for my tanks and I see that I should have put in new fertilizer tabs six weeks ago! I will probably still trim some of the tops and replant them to thicken things up.

It may just be my bad luck with them but I've not had plants grow from bare stems. Now I just cut the tops off and plant them. I have tried leaving the bottom part plantsd after cutting the top off to see if anything will grow on them and have also buried the stems. I've had no luck either way.

Mine looked great when I first put them in. I was worried that because I took my CO2 set up off, that was the reason the lower stems were dropping leaves. I really do not want to invest the money into another CO2 unit right now. It was weird because I even had roots that would grow out of the sides of the stone and down to the substrate when I was using CO2.

The bottoms of the stems are probably going bare because of a lack of proper fertilization. A lack of macronutrients often causes ludwigia to drop its lower leaves. I'd highly recommend dosing a comprehensive fertilizer such as Thrive or Thrive+ by NilocG. The bottoms will regrow sprouts if they are healthy. Replanting the tops is much safer method of trimming.

The other direction I contemplated was a plant only tub. I’m dreaming of doing a 100 gallon tank someday. But I’m not sure what is involved. Do I just throw the plants in a tub with dechlorinated water? Does it need filtration? Does it matter if the tub is clear or opaque? Does it need heat? How much light is “good enough“?

 

well I just checked my notes for my tanks and I see that I should have put in new fertilizer tabs six weeks ago! I will probably still trim some of the tops and replant them to thicken things up.

Mine looked great when I first put them in. I was worried that because I took my CO2 set up off, that was the reason the lower stems were dropping leaves. I really do not want to invest the money into another CO2 unit right now. It was weird because I even had roots that would grow out of the sides of the stone and down to the substrate when I was using CO2.

The other direction I contemplated was a plant only tub. I’m dreaming of doing a 100 gallon tank someday. But I’m not sure what is involved. Do I just throw the plants in a tub with dechlorinated water? Does it need filtration? Does it matter if the tub is clear or opaque? Does it need heat? How much light is “good enough“?

Unfortunately, Flourish tabs and Flourish excel lack a satisfactory amount of Nitrogen and Phosphorous, which are two major macronutrients. A lack of N and P are known to the shedding of lower leaves in ludwigia.

Many of my tubs and aquariums are now plant only. Managing a plant tub is the same as managing a planted aquarium. There needs to be filtration, consistent and comprehensive fertilization, heating, etc. It does not matter if the tub is clear or opaque, though the tub itself should be quite sturdy and it should be purposed to hold water if you are looking to keep a tub set up in the long term (over 6 months). I've seen some people using large sterilite totes that are meant for storage. These work in the short term, but over time, the totes become susceptible to bowing, cracking, and leaking.

The best way to measure how much light is enough is to rent/buy/borrow a PAR meter. If the PAR meter yields over 50 PAR in all areas, you have sufficient light. That may not be possible so just experimenting if plants grow or not in all areas of the tank is also another option to test if your light is sufficient.

 

Co2 is weird like that, you take it away and your plants can go through withdrawls.