# Amazon Sword



## crxmaniac (Nov 19, 2008)

Now, I have this amazon sword that has been growing for about 7-8 months, it started as a very thin based plant and now it has this huge base on it with big leaves. I have been trimming the dead leaves off and such, but my question lies herein;

Is there anyway to cut it in half so i get two swords? 

Im started a new tank (see MTS) and i am making it a very easy maintenece DIY planted. 

Any thoughts are more than welcome.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

If there are smaller plants growing at the base with the main Amazon Sword then all you have to do is tease the plant and roots apart. You may need a sharp knife to cut them apart. Usually the sword plants send up a flower stem and at the nodes plantlets form. After the plantlets get over 2- 3 inches in length, with about 5 leaves and good roots then they are ready to be snapped off the flower stem and planted. Dividing the crown with a sharp knife right down the middle like halving an apple is a bit tricky and you may loose both plants. 
What size of aquarium will the new tank be?

The two pictures around the middle of this webpage shows plantlets on a stalk;" _Amazon sword babies on mother plant." _and below it "_two crowns ready to be split."_
http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Decor Amazon Sword.htm


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## crxmaniac (Nov 19, 2008)

The new tank is a 20 gallon, i want to split the crown i guess, i'm gonna have to look at it a bit more closer and see whats happening under the gravel.

Thanks!!


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## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

I have tried the crown splitting before with no luck but it is conceptually possible given an even distribution of plant tissues need to support the continued growth and metabolism of both plants. But the real problem is that you are opening up a giant wound between the two plants and then putting them back in water. This leads to all kinds of problems with material diffusing out of both plants and pathogens getting in. 

For me, I use a very long photoperiod in my tanks of about 14 hours light (i want to be able to see everything when i am home) and 10 hours of darkness and I am up to my eyeballs in sword plantlets. Reproduction methods like flowering and in this case, clonal reproduction, is photoperiod controlled in many flowering plants. 

It is good to note that the continuous darkness is what the plants perceive not the time with the lights on. 

If I were you I would try the photoperiod method if you can before you try splitting a large healthy plant.


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