# Proper way to trim Ludwigia



## Tobias (Apr 8, 2007)

Do you just trim off 4 to 5 inches down from the top? Due to adding pressurized CO2 and increased lighting my Ludwigia is growing like crazy and starting to flow across the top of the tank and cutting off lighting to some other plants. I trimmed two plants off at a leaf juncture but I noticed now that they release streams of tiny oxygen bubbles at an incredible rate and cause an almost foam at the top of the tank from these cuts because I do not have any water agitation at the top to help keep CO2 in. I thought about trimming the others the same way but I did not want the top of my water to look like I poured in dish soap with all the plants releasing these bubble streams for weeks on end. 

Do I just need to go to a shorter stem plant for my 20 long that is more bushy and does not grow up as much?


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

Don't worry about it. I usally just cut where it is about half the plant. But just cut and replant.


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## bdement (Jun 4, 2007)

With pressurized CO2 and high light you have a great problem that you should get used to having!

I trim my Ludwigia from the bottom and replant the tops. The amount to trim is based on the height you need, sometimes I only trim and inch, or none at all, and finely control the height by how deep I plant the end in the substrate. I definitely recommend this method for the Ludwigia plants. Cutting the tops usually creates 2 branches, but it takes weeks for them to get back to full size and they usually branch enough on their own when given time.


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## uglybuckling (Jun 28, 2004)

In a word, the proper way to trim fast-growing stem plants is "mercilessly."

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...lants-discussions/57960-pruning-timeline.html

I usually go roughly 4-6 nodes above the substrate on the first trim. The discussion linked above says not to replant tops, but I usually do if I don't have enough of the plant in my tank yet (I'm pretty cheap and prefer not to buy 3 bunches of a stem plant at the fish store when I know that I'm going to be throwing it out / giving it away a month later).

Anyway, for the 2nd trim, I look at a branch, count 2-3 nodes up the branch, and cut there. Usually this makes the branch branch again. You can get a nice dense stand of a plant this way. The plants need to be relatively healthy to recover from trimming like this, and you can't go too long between trims or the bottoms of the plants will get overly brown and "stemmy" (without leaves) and the plants will have more trouble recovering.

As bdement said, with lots of light and pressurized CO2, you're going to have this problem a lot. Get used to it. =)


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## Tobias (Apr 8, 2007)

Thanks for the replies everyone. :^)


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