[nchmi28]

So I bought this plant, at Petco, labeled "stem plant". After doing an image search I think it's Purple Waffle. I found out that it should be grown immersed, which works out fine, since I have actually been looking for a plant to grow immersed. So my question is, if this is Purple Waffle then how much of it needs to be above the surface? At the store it was fully submerged, are there any steps needed to acclimate it to new growing conditions? Also it doesn't have very strong roots at the moment, does any care need to be taken to encourage root growth? Is there anything else quirky about this plant that might help to know?

 

[AquaAurora]

Purple waffle is a NON AQUATIC plant. It has a tendency to wilt pretty bad when trimmed to a stem without roots but a few weeks with light and either soil or set up riparium style (base of stems in water, leaves above water) it will bounce back.. yours may be too far gone though it looks really bad.

My purple waffle on a 20g long-had for nearly 2 years. I trim leaves as they get into the water



Purple waffle and several other non aquatic plants are often mis-sold as aquatic simply because they do not rot immediately under water. Other non aquatics mis-sold include:
dragone's tongue
peace lily
lucky bamboo and other Dracaena family members
aluminum plant
arrow head plant
mondo grass
peacock fern

I'd recommend tossing those purple waffle clippings (as I said they look pretty far gone) and going to a home improvement store to look at house plants, you're likely to find purple waffle there, just thoroughly rinse roots of soil and its ready to be used emersed (above water-only roots in tank), never immersed (below water). I use $2 shower caddies as planters

 

[nchmi28]

Thank's so much, I think I'll swing by the store and return it later today. Now I'm wondering about this other one I bought from them. It does the roots by the leaf nodes like many aquatic stem plants do, but the stems them selves are pretty stiff. Any Idea what it is?

 

[AquaAurora]

Most stores plant sales are final-no returns. They wouldn't make much $ if people could return all their mis-sold non aquatic plants. I want to say that second plant is a ludwigia but I'm honestly not sure, if it is an aquatic stem plant it was grown emersed before going to the store.

 

[nchmi28]

Most stores plant sales are final-no returns. They wouldn't make much $ if people could return all their mis-sold non aquatic plants. I want to say that second plant is a ludwigia but I'm honestly not sure, if it is an aquatic stem plant it was grown emersed before going to the store.

I'm gonna give a try anyway, for the principle more than the $4. I was thinking ludwigia also, but the fact that it has such a hard stem makes me second guess this. I guess I'll give it a try in the tank and see what happens. Thanks again for the input.

I brought it back to Petco and they not only refunded the amount of the plant, they tried to give me the full amount of all of the plants I bought. Since I'm usually honest I corrected the error and only took the amount of the one plant.

 

[Hoppy]

I brought it back to Petco and they not only refunded the amount of the plant, they tried to give me the full amount of all of the plants I bought. Since I'm usually honest I corrected the error and only took the amount of the one plant.

That improves my opinion about Petco! I do occasionally buy aquarium stuff there, so I will at least feel more confident about doing so. I have found that most stores have very good customer return policies, even though we tend to think otherwise.

 

[AquaAurora]

Lucky you, my petco would not give such refunds for plants.