[bolsy]

Hi All.
My first post.
I was wondering if anyone can tell me the reason why stem plants grow roots from the leaf axils along their length.
I read that they do this if they can't find nutrients in the substrat. Would like to know if this is true, or is it something aquatic plants do regardless.

 

[zzrguy]

I have some doing the same thing.

 

[chevyguy8893]

I believe they are called aerial roots, but I do not know if it is from a lack of nutrients. My stem plants do this with plenty of nutrients in the water, but if I leave the roots alone new plants will sprout at those points. The rotala I have does this all the time, it starts to grow horizontal, roots shoot out, and then I have a bunch of new plants growing vertically.

Also, welcome to TPT!

 

[bolsy]

Thanks Chevyguy for the reply, I tend to lean towards its something stem plants do because they can.

 

[OVT]

Those roots are normal and very common. You can just snip them off if you do not like the looks.

The aerial roots have little, if anything, to do with nutrients: they are used by plants as anchors.

 

[Hmoobthor]

i find them grow pretty much everywhere and it becames a jungle after a while and they do tangle up anything around them

 

[Sethjohnson30]

I haven't had a problem with them since I upgraded my flow, and rescaled my tank.

Plants that used to have tons of Aerial roots now have none