Ludwigia repens staying green

4365 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Cap10Squirty, Mar 10, 2014

Cap10Squirty

Discussion Starter · Mar 9, 2014

Hey folks,

I've had some Ludwigia repens for a little over a month now that I believe was grown emersed originally (smaller and rougher leaves). Anyway originally the undersides were red with the tops remaining green.

Well now after about 3 trimmings and replanting, the leaves are much more broad but they are for the most part green on both sides. I dose EI daily with a little extra DPTA iron, pressurized co2, and you can see in the photo I use 3x23w 5000k cfl bulbs about 3 inches over my 20 long.

How can I bring out more red in these plants?

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SmellsFishy

· #2 · Mar 9, 2014

That's strange because my repens is planted in a low-tech tank and it's still more red than that..

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Cap10Squirty

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 9, 2014

Well...is what you see there similar to your repens, at least in leaf shape/pattern?

I wonder if I have to allow these stems to establish themselves?

Also, I have Alternanthera reineckii and its new growth is coming in really red.

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Kai808

· #4 · Mar 9, 2014

That is weird, it looks like you have enough light judging by the low growing glosso. Do you trim the glosso a lot? May be switch to a 6500k light bulb? But that really is a nice shade of green.

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Cap10Squirty

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 9, 2014

Well I originally had 3 6500k bulbs in and switched out to 5000k and things started looking better. I think the 6500k bulbs may have been a little old. As for the glosso it's about 2 weeks now since I've trimmed it to the dirt. I didn't spare a single leaf and all of that is new growth. I think I'll trim it entirely down once more to get the leaves to come in a little smaller.

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Zapins

· #6 · Mar 10, 2014

More intense lighting is the best way to bring out the reds in most plant species.

After that, if nitrates are high plants seem to look more green. Nitrates supposedly promote fast vegetative growth.

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Solcielo lawrencia

· #7 · Mar 10, 2014

You probably have way too much NO3.

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Cap10Squirty

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 10, 2014

My daily KNO3 is 3/16 tsp. The tank is 20 gallons. I'll drop it back at the end of this week when I make my new stock solutions and report back to everyone.

Thank you for the suggestions

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