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reviving Aponogeton Boivinianus corm
I don't have any definitive answers for you Brad. Aponogetons can be
tricky. I have some ideas you could try.
1)pack the corm in some damp peat for a few weeks and store in a cool
place to avoid rot.
2)if you can get giberellic acid, you might try a dilute solution of
this to see if it will induce growth. You might have luck getting GA
from an educational institution.
After the treatment, place the corm in a cool aquarium with relatively
cool, soft water to simulate the conditions during the rainy season when
the corms in the wild revive and grow.
Baench says the temperature range for A Boivinianus is 68-79F. It comes
from northern Malagasy, so you might research climatic conditions there.
It would be good to know the natural conditions the plant is found in.
You could also try contacting Tropica for advise on how they grow their
Aponogetons esp. this species. From what I recall of third hand comments
by Claus Christensen of Tropica, few Aponogeton corms do revive from
dormancy under aquarium conditions. Natural dormancy can be caused by
rising temperatures or the loss of water. Unnatural dormancy (or
actually death) can be the result of inadequate growing conditions and
possibly by rot getting into the corm.
It is sometimes said that A madagascariensis requires very pure water to
grow. I'm not so sure of this. I suspect it may actually like fairly
high levels of calcium in the water. The Tropica website advises growing
it in a calcareous substrate. We also suspect that Aponogetons or A mad
in particular, may not tolerate low-redox substrate conditions well. All
of this relates to the growing of the plants, not to reviving them
however, it is often said that you need to grow a healthy plant in order
to have a viable corm. I've also speculated in the past that we might be
able to keep Aponogetons growing indefinitely, if they are growing in
their ideal active season conditions. For one thing, it seems to be
pretty well established that A mad should not be grown in tropical
temps; 68-72F is recommended by Baench.
By the way, don't be discouraged by lack of an answer on this question;
it is a good one. I was hoping somebody else with experience with your
plant would respond. Mea culpa. ;-)
Steve
Aquatic Gardeners Association