Trimming and Propagating Aquarium Plants

How to trim stems, carpets, rosettes and rhizome plants for bushier growth, and how the same cuts propagate new plants for free.

Stem plants: top and replant

Tropica's method is to cut the longest shoot just above one of the bottom leaves and replant the cut-off top back into the group. New side shoots then emerge from the trimmed stem, giving fuller, bushier growth — and because the replanted tops root and grow, this is also how you propagate stem plants. Easy red stems like Ludwigia branch willingly and propagate readily from cut-offs.

Carpets and moss: mow it

Trim carpeting plants and moss like a lawn, cutting in a backward direction to encourage fast, dense new growth. Regular light mowing keeps a carpet low and thick.

Rosettes and rhizome plants

On rosette plants remove the outer leaves and any that shade the surface; on Cryptocoryne cut away yellow or damaged leaves and thin overcrowded groups by pulling whole plants. Slow-growing rhizome epiphytes are trimmed between a bunch of leaves when they get too big, which stimulates new shoots from the leaf base.

Runners and stolons

Many carpets and swords spread by runners (stolons). Separate a rooted runner section and replant it to make a new plant, and trim stolons that start invading neighbouring groups.

Sources: Tropica Plant Guide, Trimming (tropica.com) and Planting (tropica.com); Tropica plant article, Ludwigia palustris (tropica.com).