# Separaing Parent from Junior



## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

I bought a HUGE Red Rubin plant off of someone on the CAC Auction site. Well it came today and there is a baby plant comming out of the root structure that is going to be rather difficult to separate. There is a very thick rhyzome like root that is is commong off of. So any suggestions on how to separate it from the parent. It is about 5cm down the root so if I plant it I could be covering the baby and I want to keep both.

Thoughts? Suggestions?


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

How long are the roots and leaves of the plantlet? How healthy is the plantlet?

If more than 7.5 cm or 3 inches long with good healthy roots and leaves then:
Cut the mother plants root where the plantlet is attached.

If less than 7.5 cm or 3 inches long then:
I would plant the Echinodorus Red Rubin up to the junction where the leaves and roots meet. Then remembering where the plantlet was, I would gently pull the plantlet to the top of the substrate so that the leaves would be fully exposed. Pull gently on the motherplant's root and not the planlets leaves; working it to the top. Don't worry about some of the mother plant's root being above the substrate.

Basically the older the plantlet is before severing the better the chances of survival. If there are no plantlet roots and the plantlet is taking nourishment mostly from the mother plant then partially sever/nick the mother plants root. Sever/nick between her and the baby plant but only about half way through the root. This damage should spur the plantlet to develop their own roots.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

If it has roots at the new part of the rhizome, then you can can use a razor blade to sever it from the main rhizome. If it is still very small and you are impatient, then I would take Calmer's advice, as it will likely spur more growth - however I've found not making a straight, clean cut on a rhizome can cause disease, melting, etc.

You can likely bury the new plantlet completely (if you had to) if it is attached via rhizome, as it is getting its nutrients from the larger plant and will grow even without direct sunlight etc. It might be a good idea to just let it grow a bit more attached, and seperate it once it becomes larger.


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## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

well currently I don't want to do anything to the plant as it was just shipped across country so would like to give it some time to recover. Currently it is planted in the tank so that the baby plant is sitting right at the surface of the gravel. Will see how it gorws over the next month or so. After that I will consider separating the two.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

Sounds like a good idea to wait.
I have Echinodorus Red Rubin in my 90 gal. and it is beautiful.


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## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Yeah, but waiting means that the tank isn't scaped just the way I want... lol. Therefore right now I don't like the look of the tank. Ah well... in a month or two I can go at it again.


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