[APD] RE: E azurea

["Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

>
> I am trying to work the palm plant into some sort of aquascape without
the plant actually taking over the tank.  Those of you that have worked
with the plant in the past know that it grows very quickly and a large
"thick" one can easily spead to a width of 16 inches for one shoot.  If you
get lazy and allow it to break the surface of the tank then you find that
it turns into a rather ugly E. crassipes - water hyacinth type of leaf
instead of the beautiful wavy green palm leaf.  From my experiences, even
after cutting these leaves back below the surface, they continue to produce
the undesirable leaves.  I want to try to produce a lot of fairly "thin"
fronds that can be used for aquascaping.  I think several of these with a
6-8 inch spread could look interesting - at least for a short term setup. 
Does anyone have a suggestion for producing several fronds from one stem? 
For something like Ammannia gracilis if I want a lot of smaller, thinner
plants all I have to do is let the!
>   lower half of a stalk float on the surface for a few weeks.  I get new
plants coming out at each of the nodes.  Trying the same thing with azurea
might get me one plant but usually all I get is a rotten stem.  While I'm
asking how have others used this plant for aquascaping?  Even in a large
tank such as my 2x2x7 footer it's been difficult trying to get it to fit in.
>


Try to save the lower stems after a prune, after a week or two, they will
sprout anywhere between 3 to 5 new tips which can be trimmed and planted. 
Make sure the plant gets enough light during this time. 

I think your best bet is to use just one plant as a center piece in such a
small tank.

Regards, 
Tom Barr 


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