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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #862
Holly, I had this same sort of experience. I bought an
Echinodorus osiris early on in my plant tank experience. I used it
as a foreground plant in a 30 g tank, and it didn't do much. Then I
began to figure out, little by little, how to do this aquatic culture
stuff, and added proper fertilization, and then CO2, and suddenly I
had a goliath. It was a very beautiful plant, and I allowed it to
dominate the tank until finally I had to decide between pulling up all
the other plants in the tank, or pulling up this one. The sword plant
lost. I had already tried cutting off the older, outer leaves so that
only the more upright newer leaves remained, but it was still just
too big. It put out about a leaf a day, and if the CO2 dropped too
low it did the biogenic decalcification thing and white powder
covered its leaves. It had a root system that extended from one
end of the tank to the other, and had extended its rhizome forward
toward the better light at the center of the tank about 6 inches.
How do you feel about having to take care of just one plant?
Cathy Hartland
> Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 10:32:05 EST
> From: HWagner490 at aol_com
> Subject: Giant sword plant
>
> I never thought I'd regard this as a problem, but I have a sword plant that's
> too big. When I bought it at the local huge commercial pet place (I *know*
> what you're thinking but they keep the plants in a separate tank) it had a tag
> that said "Echinodorus osiris." For a long time, I had trouble getting it to
> stay alive, let alone grow. Then I potted it with some richer substrate and
> it improved, and it became a darker green with sturdy leaves that were about
> 3" long. Then I put it in my 55 which has better light and substrate. Well,
> now it's the Sword Plant that Ate Manhattan. This thing gets a new leaf every
> day, and the leaves are now at least 6" long. I'm about to introduce a yeast
> CO2 bottle, and I'm kind of afraid of what's going to happen to this plant!
> Does anyone have any advice on pruning sword plants?
>
> Holly