[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Clipping Sagittaria




>
Brian Forsythe wrote, Wed., Sept 17:

>Hello, all.  I have some Sagittaria that I picked up at a local
>auction which is doing great.  I've never bothered to ID it, as I
>reckon it's probably some x var y that I'd never be able to puzzle out
>anyway.  Its leaves are about 1/2" (1.3 cm) wide, possibly a bit
>wider, and its reddish.  The problem is that the plants are over 36"
>tall!  What I'm wondering is whether it's OK to clip these at the
>water line, as they're creating considerable shade in my tank, which
>is about 16" high.
>
>On a related note, I read in _A_ FG_ to_ Aquarium_ Plants_ that there
>are varieties of Sagittaria that only grow to 1"(2.5cm) in height.
>Can anyone tell me what name I should look for these under?  I'd love
>to use them as a carpet.
>
There are a lot of varieties of Sagittaria, and it looks like you have one
of the biggest of them all.  They include tall, broad leaved (yours), tall
narrow leaved, medium broad leaved, short broad leaved, and short narrow
leaved varieties.  The short narrow leaved gets about 2-3 inches high,
maximum, but can be only an inch high if the soil they are in isn't too
rich.  If you want to get shorter than that, try Echinodorus tenellus.
Shorter yet, try Lilaeopsis.

I don't think that trimming the leaves of your variety would be a good
idea.  It might cause the trimmed leaves to die back all the way.  It would
be much more satisfying to have a variety you didn't have to trim.



Paul Krombholz in dry, not too hot for us (around 90 for the high) Jackson,
Mississippi.