# Myrio Green pruning question?



## isellcars (May 16, 2012)

I bought this plant as a background plant and they were less then 6" stems. Well in about 3 weeks they have more then tripled in size. I have a few stems that at this current rate will be out of water tomorrow. Now my question is do I just cut them in half and replant or just trim the tops at the max height I want them at? I ask cause I don't see anywhere if they will just grow new stem and get bushy if the tips are cut or they just always stay as a single stem. Please help cause I need to trim them and I finally get my co2 system tomorrow and I know they will grow even faster once that is set up.


----------



## JeffyFunk (Apr 6, 2006)

Most stem plants should be pruned well below their maximum height so they have time to grow into that height. I would prune them down to an inch or two of the substrate; better yet, find a spot along the stem that is already branching and prune about the new side growth. You can prune and plant the tops of the Myrio as well if you would like to propagate new plants and/or increase the amount of Myrio you have in your tank. You can prune Myrio like this about 4 or 5 times, trimming the plant a little higher each time than the last cut. Eventually, the bottoms of the plant will become black and lose the ability to regenerate stems. After that, you want to rip the entire plant out and just replant the tops. (All stem plants are like this - some stem plants just have a very difficult time branching and so the tops are continuously replanted and some stem plants are very vigorous growers and can be trimmed more times than 4 or 5.)


----------

