# marsilea hirsuta: growing upwards?



## jarthel (Dec 7, 2009)

Hello. I started planting in my tank 2 Thursday ago. I used Masilea hirsuta as my carpet plant.

But it seems the plant is growing upwards. I am not sure if it's transitioning from emerge growth to submerged growth. Maybe it means there's not enough light?

Also I didn't remove the emersed leaves. Should I remove them all or wait for new growth before doing this?

thank you


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Often times carpet type plants will indeed get leggy, if not given enough lighting. So it's possible you're seeing this. Don't worry about removing the emersed growth. You can toss the bottoms on your first prune after the emersed.


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## jarthel (Dec 7, 2009)

Bert H said:


> Often times carpet type plants will indeed get leggy, if not given enough lighting. So it's possible you're seeing this. Don't worry about removing the emersed growth. You can toss the *bottoms* on your first prune after the emersed.


do you mean the emersed leaves? thank you


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Yes. Just cut the tops and replant those, at that time you can toss the bottoms if you wish.


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## marrow (Mar 4, 2007)

Stop, um with marsilea you dont want to toss out the bottoms and replant the tops. Leave the whole thing in the tank until you start seeing new growth. The old growth will start to die off and it looks pretty messy. You can cut the old dieing emersed stem and leaves off at that point. It is best to wait until you see the new submersed growth coming in. The emersed and submersed growth looks quite different. You will lose the clover leaves and get single lobed leaves instead. I am sorry I have to disagree entirely with Bert on this one (which is a first time for me)


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

You're right Marrow. I wasn't clear in that you have to get the new submersed growth going first. My bad.


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