Trimming Tiger Lotus

[Erk]

I want to trim my red tiger lotus soon, and I want it to fill in thicker....do I need to trim the taller leaves at the base of the stem to achieve this, or just trim down to the rest of the shorter leaves and stems? I can get a pic later today, when the lights come on, if that will help!

Thanks :D

[ILLUSN]

your lotus will thicken up with time, trimming the taller leaves will help keep it low and encourage new growth. trim them as close to the base as possible.

[Erk]

Hmmm thanks ILLUSN! I guess I will just get some pics of things the way they are, and try to get some suggestions from this site, but I will wait to trim things for a lil bit, especially with the move of the two discus last night, I really dont wanna get in there and mess around with anything right now. I did water changes in both tanks last night, before heading out to the LFS....I cant wait to get pics of the newbie!! :D

Thanks again!

[Nathan]

you cant replant leaves. you need to pull the plant out of the substrate and propogate it and replant the extra plants you get off it.

but as illusn said if u cut the leaves it encouages the leaves to grow shorter.

just propogate the plant

[Erk]

Thanks for the tip Nathan, how will I know when its time to propagate the plant? The tiger lotus starts as a lil brown ball looking thing, is that what I should be looking for under the substrate?

Thanks again! :D

[ellwa]

you'll know when its time to propogate, because it will start to shoot up a whole new plant.

my green tiger lotus went from 3 little leaves, to 17 large plants in the space of about 2 months.

my red lotus did the same, and it goes crazy. as soon as it starts to get a little bit of slow algal growth on it I pinch the stem as close to the substrate as possible, and throw the leaves into a bucket, and they go onto mums garden with the water from the tank. its never looked so good.

I have found, though, that not much else other than the amazon swords survive at the high temps I have for my lotus+discus[30-32C]

once your lotus takes off, you'll be trimming leaves off it every fortnight. and not just three or four, but twenty to thirty stems at a time.

they love CO2, too!

[Erk]

hmmm...thanks ellwa...guess I will get a closer look at things tonight when I get home, I have a green and red lotus in the tank, and they both seem to be doing great! I def. dont trim things as often as I think I should be, but Im still learning. I havent trimmed the lotus at all yet, but I dont think it grows as good as you say it will ATM, but I will check things out tonight and see what all is going on in there. My temp is 85-86...ima go change the signature now.

Thanks again!

[Erk]

Well I checked things out, and I def. have a lot of stems growing with nice red broad leaves on them, but I dont really see anything looking like a new plant...or like I said a new "Ball" looking thing to replant? I didnt get in and check under the substrate, but Im sure I will get to that this weekend, when I do the bleach dip for the Black Hair Algae.

I will keep you posted

Thanks a lot everyone! :D

[ILLUSN]

Erk you'll know it when you see it new leaves sprout from underground "runners" about an inch or so away from the parent plant, once it starts it will keep happening quickly (every few months) and you'll be giving them away :D

[Erk]

OK sounds great....cant wait to see that! :shock:

Thanks much ILLUSN

[Nathan]

ill take a picture of when i propogate my plant this weekend

i also wouldnt be dipping it in bleach for the algea, a way better an easier/safer solution is to go to the chemist buy a bottle of hydrgen peroxide and a plastic syringe, fill the syringe an squirt it on the affected areas an in a couple days the algea will turn redish an fall off as it dies.

[Erk]

Thanks Nathan a picture would be very helpful! Im glad you have to propagate yours this weekend :D

Ok, I have bleach, but I didnt do anything with it yet, I will pick up the peroxide and syringe instead

Thanks again!

[Noddy65]

Hi Eric
Everyone else has pretty much covred how the various lotus's (?) reproduce by sending out runners...be patient as it can sometimes take a while for them to start sending out little baby plants...it all depends on your light and other nutrients.
As Nathan said...the peroxide is a great way to go...however the VERY fleshy leaves of the lotus may not like it very much (the leaves can be sensitive) and all the peroxide and bleach will do is to kill the leaves. For long lasting leaves (such as on the lotus) its best to just trim off any that are algae covered...even if the plant looks horrible for a short period it will recover.
Try trimming as close to the substrate as you can but try NOT to damage the very base of the plant...if in doubt trim and leave about 1 cm of stalk.

Mike

[Erk]

Thanks Mike, im not really worried about the algae growing on the lotus plants, they dont look too bad, but my java ferns on my driftwood, and petty much all my swords look like crap! Entirely covered with some thick black hairy stuff that doesnt pull off so well, and those plants are more my focus with the algae, but the lotus itself is getting very big, but not really taking off like everyone is saying, so I will be patient with that, and do the peroxide on the others.

Thanks very much :D

[Noddy65]

Thats ok. Dont be afraid to trim the lotus. It somehow feels wrong to be trimming off ten or so leaves a week (which is what I sometimes do) but the plant will be ok as long as you dont damage the base.
If your BBA is that bad it may be better to double dose a product called Seachem excell (check the spelling). It will kill off your BBA (and also any vallis you may have) and also hair alge. It can be toxic to some fish (often an individual fish thing) so use at your own risk.
It will kill off your BBA but not stop it from returning. BBA can be conrolled by increasing CO2 (but if you have BBA increasing CO2 wont kill it off). But again it may cause an issue with some fish.
BBA loves to grow on the types of plants youve got ie plants that produce long lasting leaves. Its rare to find significant amounts of BBA in tanks that have only stem plants as the plant material turnover ie growth rate is so high that the BBA doesnt get a chance to grow much.

However it will grow on logs, this is where Nathans (I think I told him about it) use of peroxide works a treat. Turn off any filters etc that may cause water movement as the contact time is important. Turning them off for an hour or so greatly increases the effectivenesss of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)...the nice thing about is also that it is non toxic (within reason) as it just breaks down to water (H2O) and oxygen (O2).
Mike

[Erk]

I have excel, but since I only just put the discus in the planted tank from quarantine a week ago today, I didnt wanna dose too strong on it yet. I did some trimming, and dosed with excel last night after taking the bio-chem zorb out, so hopefully today when I get home, things will be a lil different. I will leave the lotus alone for a lil bit yet...thanks! I dont see a problem finding the peroxide, maybe the syringe, but we will see how things go.....so much to learn :)

Thanks again!! :D

[Erk]

Did the peroxide, the algae turned reddish orange, and I think things are starting to look up!! I did trim two stems off the lotus, the leaves were kinda torn up, but I left a lil bit of stem down at the base, so things should be good...will keep an eye on things, and dose with excel!

Thanks very much :D

[Erk]

Here is 3 pics of my red lotus...same pics as in the photo album section. I dont think its really taking off all that much, but Im being patient, and maybe it will grow better in its new spot

Thanks!

[ILLUSN]

Erk, you need to trim leaves once they get 3/4 wat to the surface otherwise it will grow tall thin and lanky (as it now). keeping it trimmed makes it bush up and stay low and dense.ther then that it looks good good color and good leaves

[Erk]

Great, thanks ILLUSN! Will def. trim in tonight....as Ive said before, I dont feel I trim enough as it is now, so any recommendation on trimming is very much appreciated! :D

Im glad I started asking about this....maybe that will make it start growing faster, like everyone says it will....I was just leaving it alone...cause I dont know any better! :?

Thanks again...will trim tonight, and keep it 3/4 from the top from now on, and same thing with the green lotus I have!

[ILLUSN]

no worres mate, i find reds easier to grow then greens (my tubes are a bit strong in the blue spectrum) but keep them both trimed and they will bush out very nicely.

[Erk]

Thats good to hear! I bought a green lotus accidently, thinking it was a red one, and I was just gonna propagate the red, as told here on the forum, which will work good for me, if the green doesnt grow as much as the red. I will trim both of them tonight. The green one has one long stem that stretches all the way to the top of the water, and I have left it alone, like the red one, but I will trim in tonight now :D

Thanks again!

[Erk]

Here is an updated pic of the red tiger lotus....the green lotus isnt tall enough to photograph...its tucked in behind too much stuff! hahaha

But I have two new leaves shooting up, so hopefully it will start to wanna take off soon! :D

Thanks!

[Erk]

Here are some pics of my tiger lotus...gonna give it a trim tonight

Last night the "bottom" tier of leaves was about halfway to the rest of the leaves that were up higher....they are now almost all the same size! :D

I have some pics of the base too....showing new leaves coming up :D

Thanks
Eric