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Trimming Utricularia graminifolia

Bumblefish

Seedling
Joined
30 Jan 2018
Messages
10
Location
Cyprus
Hello everyone,

I have a 10 litre nano tank a few months old in which I've been growing a UG carpet. It's starting to get pretty dense at the front and is finally beginning to look fairly good.

At the last trim I took it down to about 3cm at which point I exposed some patches which were obviously not getting enough light and were pretty yellow. It's been about a week since that trim and those patches have greened up nicely. The photo below is immediately after the trim.

20180322_101923.jpg

Snails obviously like the smell of freshly cut grass hehe!

However, 3cm is a little tall for my scape as the tank is only 16cm tall.
What's the shortest I can trim the UG down to? Can I go to 1cm or is that a bad idea? Certainly at that depth all the UG would be yellow. Would it recover?

Your advice and experiences would be much appreciated.

Many thanks!
 
Last edited:
Hi
You can defiantly trim it lower than your last trim.
Try trimming it really short across the front where it hits the glass down to 1cm. It will give the scape more height without going to short further back. The shorter u go the longer it takes to recover but it shouldn't die if healthy.
 
I never grew this plant like that.. :) So i have 0 experience from the trimming side maintaining a UG carpet.. But i know you can collect all trimmings and put it in a toroughly soaked mix with Peat litter and perlite or sand mix with a shallow layer of water in a light spot in a plastic box covered with cling foil, the leaf cuttings will regrow roots and utricles. Once it has done that you can grow it on like this on your window sill. :)
28991c830e0671e9136f993be0d93645.jpg
 
Thanks for your replies!

Ideally, I'd like to trim it all down to 1cm as it's obscuring the base of the rocks a little too much. Thanks though for your excellent idea Simon. I'll trim down the front and see how quickly it recovers and then maybe I'll work my way back. Unless one of you guys can assure me that its fine to take it all down to the yellow!
 
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