Amazon Sword Plant Profile

An Amazon Sword Plant is a perennial submerged aquatic grass. An Amazon Sword Plant is a taller aquatic grass, grass height 40-60 cm. An Amazon Sword Plant is a common and popular freshwater aquarium plant which is sold in aquatic plants stores today. Lovers may find that different stores sell various varieties of plants named Amazon Sword Plant because it has a large quantity of kinds in the world. One of the varieties, Echinodorus bleheri has broad leaves, while another variety, Echinodorus amazonicus, owns narrower leaves. But either way, varieties of Amazon Sword plant can be a great addition to a freshwater aquarium. Just be careful that Amazon Sword Plant may be similar plants that look slightly different. 

Amazon Sword Plant Characteristics

Amazon Sword Plant is a erennial submerged aquatic grass. Into the plant taller aquatic grass, grass height 40-60 cm. With creeping rhizome, stem base phase Du. Leaves are basal, 10-20 rosette, long stipitate; Floating leaves are elliptic-lanceolate, lanceolate or saliform, 30-40 cm long, 2-3 (-8) cm wide, apex acuminate, entire, bright green, fleshy stiff, petiole long, coarsely spaced; Submersible leaves of amazon sword Plant are needle - shaped, 30-40 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, soft, dark green. Racemose; Dioecious: florets are 10 mm in diameter, white; State three; amazon sword plant has 6-9 stamens. Amazon sword plant flowering period is from summer to autumn.
The Amazon Swords Crown it the place where the roots meet the stem. It's very important not to bury the crown too deeply when planting as the crown is vulnerable to rot.

Amazon Sword Plant Natural Habit

An Amazon Sword plant may have a small, stubby rhizome. Its stems are on the short side and its leaves on the long side. Young leaves grow out from the center of the plant, unfolding from the middle. This makes the older leaves of Amazon Sword plant left on the outer layers. Young leaves are usually thin and light green when they first come out, turning thicker and darker green as the leaves grow.
An Amazon Sword Plant is pretty flexible to adapt to the environment it lives in and can do pretty well planted in aquarium gravel, but it's a better choice that you'd better loosely pack its plant substrate. Its roots will grow to be quite large and extensive, growing deep and wide throughout the tank. So make sure there is enough substrate depth to accommodate Amazon Sword plant. While planting, the Amazon Sword Plant roots are anchored well, but you'd better take care to not bury the crown. The crown of the plant should be above the substrate and visible to the eye.
It's not uncommon for some Amazon Sword plant leaves to die soon after just being put in a tank. If happening, you needn't fear. Feeders need to gently trim the dead leaves at the stem from the bottom. As long as all other conditions are proper, the plant can adapt to its new home and gradually grow new leaves.

How to Buy An Amazon Sword Plant

Some things to look for: When purchasing, lovers ought to hunt for Amazon Sword plant whose leaves are long, healthy and green. And you'd better make sure they keep away from holes, cracks or brown spots. Besides, you need to try to find plants that own a great looking and robust root structure and try to avoid plants with dead or dying leaves. If Amazon Sword plant leaves are yellow, brown, or turning unhealthy, it may be a good choice to give up buying such a plant.

Amazon Sword Plant Varieties

• Amazon Crown grass, originally from Brazil. Amazon Crown  is a perennial tufted herb. With creeping rhizome, plant height is 30~50 cm, leaves are roselette, floating leaves long lanceolate, thick flesh hard, petiole long, submerged leaves long lanceolate, 30~40 cm long, 2~3 cm wide, soft leaves, dark green, small flowers, white.
• Echinodorus grandiflorus is native to South America, perennial tufted herbaceous, elliptic leaves, base round or heart-shaped, whole, the main vein is obvious, leathery and hard.
• The green crown is also known as dark crown grass, round crown.A perennial tufted herb, native to Brazil.Leaves basal, long elliptic or ovate, apical, 10 -- 15 cm long, 3 -- 8 cm wide, leathery, wavy, dark green, longitudinally veined to the tip, petiolate.
• Echinodorus parviflorus is native to South America, a perennial tufted herb. Plant height is 20 cm, floating leaves long and narrow lanceolate, wavy edge, 20~30 cm long, 2.5~3 cm wide, yellow-green, submerged leaves slightly long, soft, thin and curly, translucent, green. Flowerstem up to 70 cm, white flowers, yellow stamen.
• Echinodorus tropica is native to South America. Echinodorus tropica is a perennial fascicular herbs, long wide leaves ovate, entire, veins obvious, leaf margin undulate, green.
• Echinodorus osiris. Originally from Brazil, perennial fascicular herbs, plant height 30 cm, long elliptic or linear elliptic leaves, yellow-green leaves, veins and vertical obvious, wavy leaf margin, green leaves, with red halo, petiole green.
• Echinodorus schlueteri, originally produced in Central America. Echinodorus is a perennial tufted herbs. Leaves ovate, entire, midvein obvious, leaf surface green, with purplish red spots.Among them, the red crown grass varieties, green leaves have red spots.
• A mini sword plant is a freshwater aquarium plant often found in pet stores today. Often sold as a Micro Sword, it can also be called Micro Sword Grass, Brazilian Micro Sword, Copragrass, Carpet Grass or Lilaeopsis brasiliensis. A Mini Sword Plant is a foreground plant.

Amazon Sword Plant Care Keypoints

Aquarium pH: 6.5 – 7.5, and some researchers suggest that pH as low as 6.0 is acceptable.
Water Temperature: Tropical fish range, 72 – 82 Degrees Fahrenheit.
Lighting: Moderate to strong, and for between 10–12 hours per day.
In low-tech tanks, an Amazon Sword Plant will grow slowly and steadily once the plant is used to its new environment. But you'd better keep it in mind that Amazon Sword plant can grow to be 12 inches in height. And under the proper conditions, Amazon Sword plant can grow to be 18 to 20 inches. So an Amazon Sword plant is a good plant for tanks with lots of height. For smaller tanks like a 10 gallon aquarium, or tanks that don't have much height, the Amazon Sword plant will need a lot of trimming, or it can take over fast.

Amazon Sword Plant Propagation

Amazon Sword Plant propagation is mainly by division method, which can be carried out all year round if the water temperature is kept at 20-26℃. The formed plants can draw out long stolons in the axils of the leaves, on which are scattered the crown grass buds, when they reach a height of 6-8 cm, the new roots can be broken off and planted. Since Amazon sword plants are submersible plants, management after division is relatively simple. The new plant that has been divided grows quickly under the condition of scattered sunlight, after half a month or so can be pumped out to give birth to new leaves, and grow up gradually. Seedling can also be raised by tissue culture method.
Amazon sword can be cultivated in fresh water with low hardness. Note that the salinity should not be too high. The pH of the water body is best controlled between 6.5 and 7.2, that is, it is slightly acidic to slightly alkaline. The cultivation water body should maintain a certain fluidity. For this purpose, a submersible pump can be equipped in the aquarium, which can create an effect similar to natural water flow. Amazon sword needs more fertilizer. In the vigorous growth stage, it can apply a small amount of liquid fertilizer to the water every week. At this time, Amazon sword can absorb the required nutrients through the leaf surface.
We can also insert horseshoe pieces about 3cm long and 1cm wide into the cultivation substrate about 15cm away from the root. The dosage is 1 ~ 3 pieces per plant, which can be determined according to the size of the plant. Amazon sword likes a shady environment and can grow well in bright places without direct sunlight. Because it is mostly used for indoor water greening, if it is planted in places without direct sunlight, it can also be illuminated by fluorescent lamps specially designed for indoor plants. Practice shows that the use of this artificial light source can also ensure the better growth of Amazon sword. If the light is insufficient, the new leaves are easy to turn yellow, and the old leaves gradually rot and die. In this case, the light can be increased appropriately.
We'd better let Amazon sword receive 2-4 hours of scattered sunlight every day; If a fluorescent lamp is used, it needs to be irradiated for 8 ~ 10 hours every day. It likes warmth and is afraid of low temperature. It grows well in the temperature range of 22 ~ 30 ℃, and the overwintering temperature should not be lower than 10 ℃. In the process of management, do not make the water temperature of the cultivation site change violently, but try to keep it constant, and the temperature difference between day and night should not exceed 2 ℃. As Amazon sword grows, its peripheral old leaves begin to turn yellow. They can be carefully cut off. Under good management, Amazon sword is not prone to disease and is less attacked by harmful animals.

Amazon Sword Plant Care

Amazon Sword Plant Soil

Use lots of soil. Bottle and soil are very important before planting. The first thing to do is to choose wet soil for a potted Amazon Sword plant. Potted amazon sword plants love soil with a lot of water, so you must plant a potted Amazon Sword plant with enough water.

Amazon Sword Plant Temperature

The original pitcher plant grew in the wild and was extremely hardy, so it was highly adaptable to changes in temperature. Summer temperatures can survive below 35 degrees, but in colder winter temperatures, potted Amazon Sword plants begin to go dormant, and watering can be reduced at this time.

Amazon Sword Plant Watering

Potted Amazon Sword Plant requires high watering requirements. Bottle plant grows in the humid environment of marshes, so water is an important source of nutrients for its growth. In the process of planting potted Amazon Sword Plant artificially, water is an indispensable element.Potted Amazon Sword plants hold a lot of water each summer and digest and consume water quickly, so in addition to daily watering, regular spray is needed to maintain the basic water content of the potted Amazon Sword plant. 

Amazon Sword Plant Trimming

If the leaves of Amazon Sword Plant become yellow and the old leaves gradually decay, attention should be paid to timely cleaning and trimming.

How is the Amazon Sword Plant fixed in the Aquarium?

If you want to buy water plants to decorate the fish tank, the Amazon Sword Plant is generally easy to raise, because the color of the leaves is very green, and no matter what kind of fish can look particularly beautiful against it. If properly maintained, it can grow to more than 60cm, which is widely used in shopping malls and large aquariums. Amazon sword plant has a large plant and is not easy to fix with a thin rope. It can be planted with small stones as the substrate before planting, which is more conducive to plant fixation. Usually, about 4mm gravel can be used as the substrate for planting. First, inject water into the tank, and then plant plants. When the Amazon sword plant grows up, we can use nylon wire to fix it. Sometimes we can also use iron wire, but we need to match it with appropriate water quality to prevent iron wire oxidation.

Why My Amazon Sword Leaves Turn Yellow?

Amazon sword plant is a submerged herb with ornamental leaves, so it is often planted as a greening plant. What if the leaves of Amazon sword turn yellow when planting. During planting, we found that the yellowing of Amazon sword leaves may be caused by excessive fertilization. At this time, we should appropriately reduce the amount and times of fertilization.
Amazon sword has strict requirements on water quality. If the plant leaves turn yellow during planting, it may be caused by poor water quality. At this time, change the water for the plant in time. The water to be replaced can be filtered tap water, which has sufficient nutrients. In the later stage of breeding, it is best to change the water for the plants every two days, and change all the water every time.
The yellowing of Amazon sword leaves may also be caused by insufficient light. At this time, it is best to transplant the plants to a ventilated and well-lit environment. If the light is too strong, they can receive light in the morning and evening. Amazon sword is a light-loving plant and has a high demand for light. It is necessary to properly let the plant receive light during later planting.
During planting, the leaves of Amazon Sword turn yellow, which may also be caused by the phenomenon of excessive growth of the plant. At this time, we need to properly trim the branches of the plant. During pruning, we mainly cut off the overgrown branches on the plant. After Amazon sword pruning, we should properly apply liquid medicine to the plant for disinfection, so as to speed up the recovery of the wound.
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