My experience with growing plants from dry bulbs

[babygeige]

I have the same issue with spindly plants. The bacopa carolina plants in the 30 aren't as full as I'd like. They are quite tall though. They grow along the surface of the tank. Every few weeks I cut an 18 inch piece or 2 off. I keep hoping it will send up another shoot and grow more full, but it doesn't seem to work that way. I have a small red ludwigia plant that's barely growing at all. It just seems to sit there. If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was a plastic plant, lol.

My 10 gallon plants grow like crazy. I started out with 2 crypts (lutea I think). They've expanded to 5 in different parts of the tank. And the java fern is always going crazy. I think that the plants in the 10 are more compatible with the lighting in there than the 30's plants are with the lighting I have on that tank.

[parker002]

May 18, 2011 17:07:21 GMT -5 Carl said:

I wonder if I'm actually stunting the growth of my plants, specifically their roots, by adding ferts to the water column and not allowing them to establish themselves in the substrate?

This is certainly possible IMO, but another thought is your little tank also is likely open to much more natural ambient light.

Carl

Well, once again I think you nailed it. I put a bunch of really dense cabomba stalks in my daughter's 14G before I left. As of today, they've nearly doubled in height but added no new foliage. They're growing straight for the surface, most likely because they're starving for light.

We do have those decorative backgrounds that we installed to inhibit algae. We're going to remove them tomorrow.

May 19, 2011 17:27:23 GMT -5 babygeige said:

I have the same issue with spindly plants. The bacopa carolina plants in the 30 aren't as full as I'd like. They are quite tall though. They grow along the surface of the tank. Every few weeks I cut an 18 inch piece or 2 off. I keep hoping it will send up another shoot and grow more full, but it doesn't seem to work that way. I have a small red ludwigia plant that's barely growing at all. It just seems to sit there. If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was a plastic plant, lol.

My 10 gallon plants grow like crazy. I started out with 2 crypts (lutea I think). They've expanded to 5 in different parts of the tank. And the java fern is always going crazy. I think that the plants in the 10 are more compatible with the lighting in there than the 30's plants are with the lighting I have on that tank.

I'm pretty sure that you have the same problem I have - plants growing straight up because they're not getting enough light.