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Re: This and that
Dirk wrote June 5, 1996
>Subject: This and that
.....................<snipped>.................
>3) Plant ID:
>thanks in large part to all the help I get here, I'm achieving increasing
>success with aquatic plants. I do not, however, know the name of my most
>successful plant. Can someone help me with an ID? Description: I vaguely
>recall it was sold as "Moneywort." It is a stem plant with rather circular
>leaves. At regular intervals the leaves emerge from the stem in pairs
>opposite each other. Each pair alternates direction--that is to say if one
>pair of leaves emerges east and west from the stem, the pairs above and
>below emerge north and south. The plant roots itself quite well, and
>sometimes roots protrude from the places where the leaves are attached.
>What is it?
>
It sounds like Hydrocotyle leucocephala, a very pretty plant, if pruned
regularly.
>4) Selling plants:
>Since these and other plants are doing so well I am going to have to get
>rid of some (I can't find my fish). For the stem plants I take to the
>retailer, how many stems is appropriate for a bunch. Do you folk buy
>weights for each bunch you sell or is that the retailer's job? If not, how
>do you bunch them? How long should the stalks be? I find that just a
>couple inches will turn into a couple of feet in a matter of weeks.
>
I just give them a big mass in a plastic bag, and they either bunch them or
let them float. On the other hand, I don't ask very much in return, only
an occasional magazine.
>5) Java Fern problem, sort of
>My Java Fern does smashingly--in one sense. Attached to the little plant I
>bought a long time ago are many, many little plants, spanning several
>generations. Can anyone speculate as to why the main plant doesn't grow
>much and why it and its descendants keep producing more offspring? It
>looks more like a shrub than a rosette plant.
>
There is a large variety and a small variety of Java fern. Perhaps you
have the small one. I only get leaves about 1 to a little over 2 inches
long on them. The large variety can make leaves around 8 inches long, and
often the leaves are three-pointed, with two smaller 'wings' below the main
tip. Neither is a rosette plant. Rather, they have stems with leaves that
come off every 2-5 millimeters for the small variety.
>6) Trace element problem?
>Along with my successes have come some failures. Notably I have not had
>good luck with swords, H. Poly., or something someone gave me they called
>Needle Ludwigia. Although the swords have lived for a year like this,
>they, like the ludwigia and the hygro always look pale and leaves tend to
>dissolve as they age. The ludwigia and hygro have just about had it. I
>can't seem to get the easy ones to grow! Plants I gather are tougher to
>grow (e.g. anubias nana, corkscrew val, etc. do very well). I know the
>tank is not optimal for plants, but am I right in thinking my Flourish is
>not doing the job? Could it be that it's gone bad (some sort of powder
>settles out of it).
It may not be a trace element problem. You might need more potassium. I
always want to consider potassium whenever I hear about older leaves dying
back. If the older leaves of the swords get tiny little holes that grow
until the veins are left but most of the rest of the tissue is gone, then
that sounds like potassium deficiency.
Paul Krombholz Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS 39174
In cool, pleasant, Mississippi where if the high temp is below 90, it is cool!