# Val trimming



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I have had vals for a long time and I just cut them off just below the water line in the past.

I noticed some of them are now 3 to 4 feet long in a 2 foot high tank and need trimming again.

Is my method of just cutting the extra length off the best way? I tried to google stuff but getting info that doesn't seem right, talk about killing the whole leaf and stuff.

while on the subject of trimming plants, I have a very large sword that I am hoping will grow some babies soon, any tips on how to help this happen? Also, its getting kinda big, I need to take off some of the leaves at the bottom that are very old and small, but I don't think that will do much for the over all size issue. Also, would thinning it out hurt my chances of getting off shoots?

I also have some crypts that have been growing runners very well in the gravel, can I just take the runners off like I do vals to make whole separate new plants?

I love that some of my plants are just simply trim and then I can plant the trimmings. Some of these others I am fairly new to.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

I just cut off my vals at the top. Sometimes the 'edge', after cutting will wither a little bit, but it doesn't kill the leaf. I don't do it right at the water line, but instead I'll 'drape' the leaves over the front plastic trim of my tank, and snip off there. That way, the leaves aren't standing upright at the water line, and the cut doesn't show visually when looking from the front of the tank.


Al.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I think most of us do as you have been doing with vals. Cut them to size when they grow too tall. Cut tips usually go brown, but don't die as a rule. But you might also try taking the oldest leaves off at the base. It would depend how many leaves the plant has to start with, but if it has a few healthy ones that are shorter, removing one or two of the oldest leaves from the outside of the base might be a way to control height too.. for the length of time it would take the younger leaves to reach the top anyway. Can't say if this would be a workable long term fix or not, but so long as you don't tear off too many leaves it should not kill the Val either.

Crypts you can cut off the runners, like Vals, no problems. Even a broken piece of rhizome will eventually generate a new plant if left to float around long enough. 

Swords, well, some of them simply get huge. I don't think there is any practical way to prevent that. You might try removing the biggest leaves from the base, as I suggested doing for the Vals. Most generate runners and baby plantlets once they get established, some do it even when floating, but plants can, on occasion, be stubborn about this and simply sit there. It might also be species related. I don't know enough about the swords to say. I doubt thinning the leaves would retard runners, unless you damage a growing point when you pull off leaves. Care is necessary, since when they first begin, you would not likely be able to see them.

So short of making sure it's well fed I am not there is much you can do to promote runners or babies. But someone was asking on another thread if there way a way to speed up root growth on new cuttings. One thing I know is that the growing tips of roots and growing tips of plants produce a hormone called auxin. It is concentrated in the very end tips of growing shoots, so root tips and the green growing tips have the greatest amounts of this hormone. It is not the same as the chemicals used for commercial rooting hormones, but it will work as DIY type.

You can obtain water simply loaded with auxins by rooting a hefty mass of cut willow branches in water. You top off the water and never change it, so it can become quite nasty smelling after awhile. Once the container is jammed full of roots, you pour off some of the water and top off the container. The poured off water is very useful as a rooting hormone for cuttings or for watering in new plants.. for that you'd dilute it. So long as you continue to grow the willows, their growing water will be full of auxins.

Now, I'd be really wary of using such water directly in a tank, if only because it's likely also loaded with nitrates, and infusoria of various kinds, and possibly insect larvae, etc. But sticking some willow branches into a tank to root for some time would certainly also produce auxins, once roots begin to form. And they'd continue to do it for as long as you allowed. Such branches will leaf out as well, but you can trim them so they don't get too, too large. Or start new ones that are smaller. Of the willow species common around Ontario, so far as I know any will work. Pussy or weeping willow are perhaps the fastest to put out roots. So having rooting branches in the tank might, possibly, stimulate new growth generally, and maybe make a reluctant sword send out a runner. Just a thought.. no guarantees.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Thanks guys, now I am sure that what I have been doing all along is the best way and I know feel safe to play with those crypts a bit.

can't wait for runners off this huge sword


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

You could also get Vals that don't need to be trimmed, which to me makes more sense than having plants that grow to five feet and look bad when trimmed.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

I just pulled out the longest ones and sold them. LOL


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