# My strange propagational find regarding my Aflame Sword



## bsmith (Dec 13, 2006)

I feel I need to give this a prelude to help people understand my experience with this plant or to let you all into the way the Purple Knight/Aflame Sword behaves. Kinda lengthy but maybe/maybe not it will provide some good reading.

I have been keeping Purple Knight/Aflame sword for over three years. At first after the emmersed grown leaves died and the new purple submerged leaves had been let to grow for about six months I moved the plant and it completely melted. I was really mad about that, since I realized it was the slowest growing/propagating plant I had ever kept.

I thought it was gone but after about a month a new beautiful; purple leaf popped through the substrate and I didn't touch it for almost a year. When it looked nice and thick (for this plant, maybe 12-15 leaves is thick!), I uprooted it and there I found two different plants. I moved one to my 60-p and kept another in the tank it had always been in (the Appalachian allure tank journal in my sig) and let it grow.

About another year went by and I again uprooted it and was rewarded with two plants. Over the course of 6-8 months they grew. But you need to understand the maddening process this sword goes through. Here is is. It grows a completely new leaf that is full grown about every 2-3 weeks. So by the time you have 6-7 leaves the outer ones (oldest leaves) start to turn a very aesthetically displeasing brownish/green color and since this is in a tank with height light also develop GSA/BBA on them too. So you have/I have to cut off those older leaves. So this is why its very difficult (perhaps only for me and im doing something wrong) for me to get it to reach that full luxurious, thick swordiness we all love and/or hate.

Well about 3 weeks ago I was cleaning my ADA AS substrate with my gravel vacuum and moved some of the plants around. One of the Aflames had a pretty decent root system and because of this when I was pulling it out part of the heart (dont know what else to call it) broke off. So I thought that perhaps like other plants, if you replant part of this central structure of the plant, maybe more will grow from it.

I was extremely happy to find what looks like THREE new plants growing off of this piece I planted. Perhaps this is common knowledge but since this is the only sword I have kept with this type of disposition (had a Kleiner Bar that was more productive and grew so fast I had to remove it from this tank) this is the first I have ever seen of it!

Here are some pics!

The smaller of the two. 









The bigger. 









Both. 









My find!









Please LMK if this is something that is normal/known by all and I just feel is special because of my laborious and extremely tumultuous relationship between the Aflame sword and myself.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

very interesting. love the plant and hate how slow it grows...btw, u just reminded me about it and now im going to see if i still have it at all...


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

With many swords, you can get them to flower and develop little plantlets along the flower stalk. That is the easiest way to propagate them. If you do get plantlets, usually you get more than you need and you will be giving the excess away. If they produce flowers but no little plantlets, maybe you can cross fertilize the flowers and get seeds. (I have never tried to do that.) If you can't get a flower stalk at all, then the only way to propagate is the very slow way of getting little plants growing on the rhizome. The rhizome can get quite long over a number of years, and you can cut it up into about 1.5 inch pieces and get one or two plants from each piece. 

It is odd that the older leaves go bad so soon. Are they actually deteriorating or are they growing black beard and green spot algae while still healthy? The green-brown color may not look nice, but it is probably the normal color for older leaves. Only the new leaves are purple. Many sword varieties have red or purple new leaves that lose a lot of the color as they mature. Mostly, they become plain green. If the older leaves are not actually developing dead spots or dying from the edges inwards, they are probably still healthy.


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## bsmith (Dec 13, 2006)

ddavila06 said:


> very interesting. love the plant and hate how slow it grows...btw, u just reminded me about it and now im going to see if i still have it at all...


Let me know if you still have it. If not Im sure I could spare one.


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## bsmith (Dec 13, 2006)

HeyPK said:


> With many swords, you can get them to flower and develop little plantlets along the flower stalk. That is the easiest way to propagate them. If you do get plantlets, usually you get more than you need and you will be giving the excess away. If they produce flowers but no little plantlets, maybe you can cross fertilize the flowers and get seeds. (I have never tried to do that.) If you can't get a flower stalk at all, then the only way to propagate is the very slow way of getting little plants growing on the rhizome. The rhizome can get quite long over a number of years, and you can cut it up into about 1.5 inch pieces and get one or two plants from each piece.
> 
> It is odd that the older leaves go bad so soon. Are they actually deteriorating or are they growing black beard and green spot algae while still healthy? The green-brown color may not look nice, but it is probably the normal color for older leaves. Only the new leaves are purple. Many sword varieties have red or purple new leaves that lose a lot of the color as they mature. Mostly, they become plain green. If the older leaves are not actually developing dead spots or dying from the edges inwards, they are probably still healthy.


No stalks to speak of the whole time I have kept it. It's a strange sword to be sure!

The older leaves just look ugly and start to develop BBA/GSA seemingly faster than other plants too. Also they may only LOOK worse for wear because they are in such close proximity to the vibrant purple new leaves too.


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## bsmith (Dec 13, 2006)

Pics from tonight.

The bigger of my two. 









The smaller.









New plantlets growing off of the rhizome. 

























Pics of the older leaves to give a better idea of why I remove them.


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