Trim Amazon Sword Root Nest?

My amazon sword roots have grown out of the substrate and have created a nest of a root system surrounding the base of each of the plants. Can I safely trim it back flush with the substrate without damaging the plant? I have the plants sitting in about 3in of Seachem Flourite substrate as they sit in the back of my tank.

 

Whenever I do a deep cleaning or move plants [swords] I trim everything about 1-2" [roots] and have had no problems.

 

Maybe I should clarify: I didn’t plan on pulling the plants up to trim them. I just wanted to know if I could trim all the roots that have grown out of the substrate? Would a pic help?

 

It is safe, yes. Don't be afraid to really hack the roots down on some plants, as long as they receive adequate nutrients they will recover quickly.

 

Thanks, Fahn and yukondog. I'll trim down the root nest on my next water change. I know my Cory's will appreciate being able to forage around the base of the Amazon's -- right now they can't make their way through the spider web of roots.

 

Overall should be fine, but not common for swords to throw so many roots above substrate, so proceed with caution...
Likely those are the new roots you will be trimming, not sure what’s going on under substrate to cause so many roots to come up...

Can you provide a picture?

 

Here are a few pics.

 

Looks like your substrate is plain sand. Are you using any fertilizer at all? If not, that may be the swords attempting to draw nutrients from the water column.

 

Fahn, my substrate is actually a stack of the following from bottom to top:

* Seachem Onyx Sand
* Seachem Flourite
* Seachem Flourite Black
* Seachem Flourite Black Sand

A pic:

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'm not using any root tabs right now.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'm not using any root tabs right now.

Flourite has a high rate of Cation Exchange, meaning it holds onto the nutrients you dose and releases them over time. However, on it's own it's not much more nutrient dense than sand. Your swords may indeed be putting out roots above the substrate to absorb nutrients that way, since they may not be getting enough from your substrate alone. I recommend some root tabs and weekly dosing of trace elements, if nothing else.

 

Thanks, Fahn. I'll drop some tabs around the swords before I do any pruning as I'm already dosing trace. What do you think of the pics, Jocelyn Adelman ?