[barfly]

Hi all.

Story:

1) i've easy to grow type stem plants that i planted roughly two weeks back, but they don't seem to be rooting. as in the stems had no roots. this i found out trying to rearrange layout according to amano guidelines posted. the only plants that were rooting were the Hygro. difformis, which i know from experience to grow like a weed, and the val "mini twister". the other plants weren't rooting at all. the plants are doing well enough, putting out new growth that i can see day to day but just that, no roots.

Question:

is this normal? issit my use of plain gravel that is causing this?

Tank specs:
1) 55 gal tank,

2) slightly over 3 wpg (mostly t5's and t8's).

3) dosing with a locally produced hydroponics fertiliser, supplemented with flourish (n,p,k,trace,excel,fe)

4) plain gravel substrate that i'd consider established as it has sat in tank for a few years. additives were added when first set up but i assume it's dissolved/depleted to nil.

5) pressurised CO2 through a reactor

6) tank is not tested for n,p,k,ph,kh,gh,etc so i can't tell you

Plants:

r.macranda, r. rotund., hygro. polysperma, hygro. difformis, l.aromatica, HC, Hemianthus micranthemoides, blyxa japonica, anubias nana petite and downoi

 

[KDahlin]

You don't mention what the plant is. I know aquatic plants vary in their level of reliance on leaves or roots to take in nutrients, although if the water column is well fertilized, most of the effort lies there. If the plant is showing good growth, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[barfly]

the hygro difformis and the vals mini twister are rooting. not sure about the HC. all the rest aren't. there's a little to no roots.

 

[fishtastic]

the hygro difformis and the vals mini twister are rooting. not sure about the HC. all the rest aren't. there's a little to no roots.

It depends on where its able to draw most of its nutrients from. I had some red ludwigia that had nasty rats nest roots all over the place. I started dosing heavier in the water column and they disappeared. If you want some of these stems to root, fertilize the substrate with root tabs. SOme stem plants dont really grow heavy root systems either(depending on what it is0.

 

[barfly]

i'm just afraid that the buried parts of the stems might rot away. you think so?

 

[ringram]

Simply put, if the plants don't detect any nutrients in the substrate (plain sand/gravel), they won't waste the energy sending roots to "reach" for more. I'm guessing that at least some of these plants are sending arial roots, as you have nutrients in the water column. If you want them to root to the substrate, you should put some nutrients there....or get a nutrient-rich substrate (eC, fluorite, AS, etc).

 

[barfly]

right. thanks for the advice guys.

so it'll be more root tabs and mud balls then.