Re:flowering plants

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re:flowering plants
From: TYELLA at aol_com
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 1995 10:42:52 -0400
In a message dated 95-10-20 15:55:19 EDT, you write:

>I have two A. Crispus(?) which are flowering, one has 3 flowers and the 
>other 1.  One of the flowers appears to have run its course and my 
>question is do I cut the inflorescence at the base or will it break pff 
>on its own.
>

   Hello, Derek
  My crispus just flowered recently (and is at it again now).  I just let it
go unaltered until I couldn't stand it anymore.  Most of the "seeds" had
fallen off by that point, but a few remained.  When I pulled the
inflorescense off I threw it in with my goldfish. The remaining "seeds"
eventually fell off even though it was detached.  The little plant babies are
doing OK.  They are rooted and sending up leaves.  I have noticed that the
ones that I stuck into the substrate are doing much better (growing much
faster) than the ones that I let bounce around unmolested by my poking
finger.  Perhaps they like the mulm, or maybe the drifting around damaged
their rootlets enough to slow their growth.  Perhaps I'm hallucinating and
they are all growing at the same rate.

     I have a question for the general populace:

    I recently "weeded" out my tank to make room for my A. crispus babies and
took a bunch of "jungle" val to a local store.  2-3 weeks later I go back and
the val has all melted.  It was a horrible mess.  I felt a little guilty
(even though I didn't take any $ for them) because my plants didn't live.
 They have fairly decent light there, probably more than I have at home.
   What could have happened?  
    I realize that this question could be exactly none more vague than it is,
but I have to assume that the pet store has at least an entry level knowledge
of aquatic plant care.
The tanks are all on one sump sharing the same water, and the other plants
seemed alright.
             Just wondering,      
                      Tony Thorpe