trimming plants?

[tromboneplaya]

I'm new to planted tanks and I have my 10 gallon with wisteria, anubias, and amazon sword. They're all growing well but my wisteria is growing like a weed! It's getting a few inches from the top of my tank and I'm thinking it's close to time to trim it. My question is, is there a special way that I need to trim it back? And when I do clip pieces off can I get them to make new starts for more plants?

These might be silly questions, but I want to make sure that I'm doing everything right! :)

[mkayum]

I have the same problem with my wisteria! I was afraid that if I trim the stem, it'd kill the whole plant....

[Oldfishlady]

I pinch my wisteria back nearly weekly...I usually pinch it back to a node or leaf joint-then strip the lower leaves of that cutting and replant that in the tank.
The leaves that I strip off will also sprout roots-I let mine float for a few days and once I see roots I will plant it-usually I will place a small rock on the stem/root part and within a week it has anchored itself. Same with the section I pinched back.

Water wisteria is a stem plant and are easy to propagate and trim. It is not uncommon for the mother plant or the plant you pinched back to get bushier or produce side shoots after you pinch it back.

I have also just laid the mother plant over and placed a rock on it to hold it down and it will root or anchor itself-then you can either leave it like this or cut it above the new part. I kinda made a carpet with mine in one of my tanks like this.

[tromboneplaya]

Thanks! The carpet idea sounds really cool! I might have to try that some time...

[homegrown terror]

haha our wisteria has grown, been cut and replanted so often i'm not even sure which is the "mother" plant anymore. we started with one wisteria, and now that one plant is the base planting for two different 10gal tanks!

[polukoff]

I shredded my wisteria into tiny pieces over the summer, it grew like mad and took over anything I placed clumps of it in. It is quite a remarkable plant!

[tromboneplaya]

I'm happy to know that it will be easy to get some new plants out of the cuttings! I'm like all about my wisteria plants lol

[RobMc]

Just started a nano and within two weeks the wisteria was growing out of the top. I did exactly as oldfishlady has said and it took root within a day or two. Amazing plant that grows like wild fire.