# Can a matured submerged Sword be converted to emersed?



## toffee (Apr 2, 2007)

Can a matured Amazon Swords plant that has been growing submerged be converted to grow emersed? I think converting from emersed to submerged is done regularly with success. But can it be done the other way? Has anyone tried it?

Thanks


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

In principle, it is very possible to have the swords convert back to emersed growth form. However, the Amazon swords pose a challenge. They don't want to convert so easily as many others in my experience. Very high humidity is needed.

I've followed Kasselmann's example and planted the sword in a flower pot in some regular soil. The pot must kept wet all the time so a deep container is helpful. I've placed a clear plastic bag over the plant so that the plant is practically sealed in. After some weeks, it's possible to start opening the bag ever so little by little (making holes, opening from the bottom).

Another way to do it is to put the pot in a large enough container where the plant stays submersed in very shallow water (a couple of inches). In a high humidity environment with enough light, the should start to grow out of water.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

I've done it the with 'kleiner bar' . I used a 2 liter soda bottle to make a dome and keep the humidity in. Although even though all the leaves I have now have been grown emmersed, I still keep a cover otherwise they dry out faster than they grow.

And like Daniel said... that soil is always moist.

But from this:








to this (grown on my desk at work under low fluorescent light, and one didn't make it):


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Yea, they will convert. Man they are slow though.... I lost all the submerged growth leaves though. Not sure it that is true for all swords.

I believe I have Tropica. The kleiner didn't make it. Is that right Walter?


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

gmccreedy said:


> Yea, they will convert. Man they are slow though.... I lost all the submerged growth leaves though. Not sure it that is true for all swords.
> 
> I believe I have Tropica. The kleiner didn't make it. Is that right Walter?


You still have the 'tropicas'? Cool, I lost all mine, I only managed to keep the kleiner.



Go Figure.:icon_roll


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

LOL. Yea, I have three, but they don't like me at all. I have them all in "Time Out" in the back corner of the ebb and flow. They are not allowed out until the start growing. he he.


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

As gmccreedy said, the process is really slow. It took me months to get an _E. amazonicus_ (ie. _grisebachii_ nowadays) to convert, and it wasn't doing good even after that. I would guess that E. 'Tropica' is almost the same as they are closely related. Humidity should be 80% or above, I believe. And yes, they will lose all their submersed leaves.

I have these growing emersed at the moment: _E. grandiflorus_, _E. uruguayensis_, _E. uruguayensis_ red (aka. _horemanii_ rot), _E. decumbens_, _E. cordifolius_ and my own hybrids (for one of these, see my signature).


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## toffee (Apr 2, 2007)

would it be easier if I take the sword out of the tank and grow it hydroponically or even aquaponically? that way the roots will still be very wet. 

If I would to try hydroponic, should I cut all the submerged leaves and just let the emersed leaves get a quicker start.


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

I started from the assumption that you would take the plant out of the tank.  But of course, you can do the conversion just by lowering the water level in your aquarium slowly.

Hydroponics should work really well. But I think I would leave the submersed leaves until the new emersed leaves have started growing. The plant will make a couple of submersed leaves before it converts to emersed (at least this is the way they have worked for me when using the plastic bag -method). If you are an intrepid experimenter and not worried whether you lose the plant, you could do the test and cut all the submersed leaves and not use any covering! For the science, perhaps?  Still, the air should be very humid for the emersed growth.


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## crabcake (Dec 19, 2007)

i have been trying to do this for some time with only limited success. of a dozen or so varieties that i tried only a couple switched to emersed growth. both of these converted readily and are growing like crazy now. unfortunately i failed to label most of my swords and lost track of which is which, although i think that my really big healthy one is _E. cordifolius_. 

i am beginning to guess that decreased humidity, as opposed to high humidity, might be required for some of these plants to change to emersed growth. i noticed that my _Echinodorus_ in covered tanks were growing immersed form leaves even though they were out of the water. could the high humidity trick them into responding as though they are still underwater?

additionally, i read that daylength may also influence these responses. i have tried to vary daylength some in an uncontrolled way, but haven't yet seen any responses to that either. of ciourse, in most of he places where they occur daylength doesn't vary by morethan an hour or two.


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

There are some swords that do not switch readily: the _grisebachii_ group (_amazonicus, bleherae, parviflorus_) and the _uruguayensis_ group (_uruguayensis, horemanii, osiris_), the _E. major_. Note: the runner-making swords are no longer _Echinodorus _but _Helanthium _and I haven't been talking about them here at all. They usually convert easily.

Yes, I wondered about that too... does high humidity decrease the plants interest in forming emersed leaves. However, the plants we've been growing at the botanical garden of Turku have always had 75% or higher. It is possible, still, that under cover of the lid of the tank or a plastic bag/ bottle, the humidity is much higher. I've been growing these guys in humidities of 50-60% and here the leaves start to dry on the edges. Not that pretty sight.

Daylength does have an effect. For example, _E. grandiflorus_ makes 'winter leaves' in short day conditions. They are only some 8'' long and a few wide with a short petiole where as the 'summer leaves' are huge in comparison: some 12'' long, 8'' wide with a 5 foot petiole! Not all are sensitive to the day length as your said... Oh, and hybrids are a breed of their own.


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## Honorable24 (Nov 16, 2008)

What is the point of growing them emerged because I want to try it


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## crabcake (Dec 19, 2007)

hey i had a look at your page on development of that hybrid--very cool. it is an attractive plant. does it have a name yet? i like the way that you did the Web page too.

i wondered if any of those red hybrids would retain any red coloration as emmersed plants.


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

Thank you very much, crabcake! 

No, my hybrid doesn't have any official name, yet. Currently, a nursery is having it in a trial cultivation. We'll see if they are interested enough to grow it commercially. Hope so! 

Yes, many of the hybrids are red or reddish also emersed. Not all though. Easiest way to know: Go to your local LFS when they have received a shipment of plants. Basically all the swords have been grown emersed so they look like what they would look like when grown at home in an emersed setup.  'Ozelot' is not that red but spotty - see Walter's pics. Red uruguayensis is as deep red as submersed but the plant doesn't look much when emersed (it's tiny compared to the submersed). 'Kleiner Bär' - brownish green.


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## Robert H (Apr 3, 2003)

If you are going totally emergent with no standing water at all, you might as well call it terrestrial. If its in enough water to cover at least the crown, then the new leaves would start submersed growth.

Mature plants can be over two feet tall. For years many hobbysits have grown swords in open top aquariums with the tallest leaves growing above water along with some leaves under water. Tropica has an article about it on their WEB site called The Open Aquarium. 

Daniel, wouldn't it be best to cut off the submersed leaves when starting a plant emersed, since they will not convert any way?


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

Robert, I've been wondering about that since toffee brought it up. I haven't done it myself but see really no reason why it wouldn't work. Especially, if you have a big plant with a nice sized rhizome (I think the rhizome is essential here). The old leaves stay ok on the plant while the plant is under the cover of a plastic bag and will start to wither only after making holes in the bag. So they do help the plant during the transition period. The transition from submersed to emersed seems to be much more stressful to a sword than the other way round.

I'm thinking that maybe I should try this cutting off leaves -method myself. Do I have a sword at hand...? *goes looking*

Mature plants can be much bigger than two or three feet tall.  It depends on the species (hybrid). _E. grandiflorus_ is usually about 5 feet tall,_ E. floribundus_ (formerly by the names like _E. grandiflorus_ ssp. _aureus_, _E. muricatus_) can become 10 feet tall (though I've seen only 7 feet ones in cultivation), and so on.


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