how doi get the plants to grow bushy

[mike5531]

there just growing straight up and i would like them to bush out a bit

 

[Tednol]

i have no idea but try cutting them and group the cuttings together with the plant, it will soon shoot more stems when you give it time

 

[tear-scar]

For many species, cutting is the solution. The reason being, that many plants, when cut, will grow forked from the old cut. In other words, the plant will grow 2 stems up from the place you cut instead of 1 (this is for plants with nodes). Plants with nodes can also be lain on their sides, and new sprouts will shoot up from each node.

 

[gadazobe]

Same as ordinary plants, pinch out the top leaves and the plant will branch out.

 

[Colin_BC]

If you remove the growing tip, most growth below that was previously close to the stem will start to reach out. As well, an alternative to pruning is to anchor the growing tip down. If you take a tall piece and anchor the top so the stalk is now horizontal, every little node will eventually grow to a new vertical tip. I have done this many time with various tall growing aquarium plants (such as limnophila).

Colin

 

[jive]

whats a node??

 

[mike5531]

thanks i will try that

 

[Colin_BC]

A node is where growth extends from the main stem. On that crappy Paint diagram I did the nodes are all the leaves/shoots growing out of the centre stem.

I actually had one piece of limnophila that I was having a tough time keeping anchored down, so I just burried the tip in substrate. When I pulled the tip out about a week or two later, it had rooted. This gave me a confused piece of limno that had the base and tip rooted. In the end, every little shoot that wasn't burried turned into a new vertical tip.

Colin

 

[Colin_BC]

On the other hand, don't hesitate to just chop the plants half way and replant the cuttings. Now, I let my plants try to reach out of the water so they're nice and long, then I cut them half way and bundle my cuttings into groups of 5 (stems/cuttings) and bundle them up with a bit of foam and metal plant bands. I then take them to my LFS and he gives me store credit as he sells them. I brought him 6 very nice bundles of limnophila sessiflora a week ago, and should have 8-10 to bring him within another week. It beats just tossing your cuttings in the trash....

Colin

 

[jive]

thanks for the explanation, thats what i figured, just wasnt sure