A quick question:

 

Should I be spacing Amazon Swords a decent distance apart to give room for the root structures?  

I would like to grow a lot, large and dense.  So planted them together, but am worried they won't have enough room.

 

Thank you!

 

Edited February 15, 201610 yr by bobo

They are heavy root feeders so it is important to make sure there is plenty of nutrient in the media. The closeness of the leaves is determined by the leaves all having access to the light.

I have commons/cordifolia/melons but think the basic principles of keeping them are similar. I found they grow really well with JBL rootballs and fastest under proper lighting. Be aware that they will eventually all connect up with their root systems, as they are extensive, so moving them round can get messy  I tend to allow half the length of the leaf of the sword plants---assuming they're a similar size to begin with, else just choose the biggest-- between each one to give each plant an opportunity to grow.

Thank you for the feedback.

 

Sorry if I am being dense, but I still don't get how I should space the plants, i.e. 10cm between each?  Further?

 

Cheers :)

Reading the feedback above if you want them to pack together you have two options.

Either provide them with good light so they produce the leaves close together and space them out, or not worry about the lighting so much and plant together.  Either way 10cm is not far apart for spacing out big swords.  My osiris stem was around 20cm from one side to the other - root length was over 1 metre.  If it was me I would go around 15cm apart.  After experiencing amazon swords I would only plant around 5 in a 1500cmL tank   !

Be prepared to have to feed them continually.

Awesome.

 

Thank you to all the posters.

 

I think I'll need to pull some out and spread em out