anubias nana questions

[Sophia]

Here's mine

It's quite small as it has been through being chopped back to one leaf after being smothered in staghorn.

Now it's growing again and I am wondering this:

can I cut the front of the plant and some roots away from the back and will that make the back root mass sprout?

front view

back view

[supasi]

What wrong with it as it is?

The more you fiddle with it the slower it will grow.

It is sending out a nice new root, can be seen in second pic

[Sophia]

i thought I might encourage the back to sprout and at the same time get 2 plants

[supasi]

i thought I might encourage the back to sprout and at the same time get 2 plants

Be patient. It will grow

[Sophia]

right then, need another plant! :bounce:

[DennisP]

Wait for it to attach, the put a cut in the middle of it and it should shoot out the side.

I find the small leaves take A LOT longer to grow than when it is big. I have 1 big one sending out a new leaf every week... the smaller has had 1 in 3 months.

[Sophia]

It's been attached for a number of months.

Where on the stem would you cut it Dennis? On the top of root mass as it curves down the hill?

This one has always been quite a quick grower, the stems and leaves used to be twice as long till I chopped it. It now has a windelov fern on the log to keep it company, or shame it into growing faster :lol:

[DennisP]

I'm no expert on this... but anywhere should be fine.

The current leaves will still want some rhizome to keep it attached... And the new sprouts shoot off a few MM below the cut. But the leaves do start off very small, so don't bother moving it untill it has really grown bigger.

[phoenix44]

you don't cut it all off.

if you have to make a thin incision that cuts half the root but not all of it.

Shoot and Root development made easy -

2 chemicals you need to worry about. auxin and cytokynin.

more auxin - shoot growth

more cytokynin - root growth

(EDIT) maybe its the other way around....

if you really want more leaves, change the position of the light - that will stimulate the auxin naturally and you will get a new shoot.

HTH. its not the most technical post, but if you google and research some more you can use applications of this concept in many areas of plant growth.

[Sophia]

how about if I sing songs to it?

[phoenix44]

you could scream at it like a banshee and I doubt it would care less. It is a slow growing plant and if there is enough available nitrogen / nitrogenous compounds in the water, it will grow well.