I had this plants for a few months and love it! They are huge but now the leaves and stems are starting to break off at the bulb. Is this normal? I add ferts and run pressurized co2. The tank is 60 gallons and 24 inch tall.
Aponogeton are weird plants that are often sold as dry bulbs. This works because they usually live on river banks that dry up during dry seasons and they come back the next season. It's like growth cycles are ingrained in their DNA. If all the leaves fall off, you can pull the bulb, dry it off with paper towels and let it sit out awhile (weeks, months) and replant it. I've even heard of folks putting the bulbs in the fridge until they replant but I'm not sure that's necessary. I've had some Apons last longer than others before their "season" ends but most come back looking better than ever
Many of the Aponogeton species are said to go dormant at times and resume growth week's/month's later assuming condition's favor them.
This might be what your seeing if all other plat's are still performing well.
I have a Aponogeton ulvaceus. It was huge and beautiful. It broke my heart when it started to die, no matter what I did. Roots and all. The bulb still seemed viable so I left it lying on the bottom hoping it would would come out of it. Then I found out that they needed a dormant period. So I left it there. After about 4 months of laying on the bottom I was soo happy when I saw a new leaf starting to poke out a few days ago. Happy happy happy!
That's awesome! I had assumed that the bulb/tuber would rot if it stayed in there, and that they needed the physical changes of drying out and getting wet again to encourage new growth. Good to know you can leave them in there. Ulvaceus are super cool
I wonder if pulling it out, drying it, and replanting it would speed up the process vs leaving it in the tank. In other words, fooling it into thinking its next season already. I don't have any Apons currently but next time I grow some I have a plan: Get a few and swap 'em out for year round enjoyment. As one starts to go dormant, stick a dry tuber right next to it and so on. Boom.
It isnt out of hand yet. I'm only losing a stem or 2 a day. I think if they all fall off than I will stick it in the refrigerator for a week and put it back in the tank.
Good luck! I hope it works for you. Let us know if it does and what you did exactly. I've got a Aponogeton madagascariensis that i nicknamed the "Monster" (cuz it's taking over my tank). The crazy thing is going to bloom! And it, for some strange reason, didn't go through the dormancy. It's been growing so long the leaves got so old and tattered, I ended up trimming them all off, one by one over time. It's late tonight, but tomorrow I'll try to post a picture. It's HUGE! lol
Mine was huge to. My tank is 24" deep and it went all the way to the surface and ran across to the front of my tank! I hope it grows back!
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