Plant growth

[Joeljohn]

Hi,

Few of my plants tend to grow long very fast..and now its a big problem.
When I purchased they were beautiful with the leaves all bushy and clustered together, distance between one group of leaves to the other was short.

But now after I plant them in my tank, they seem to grow tall very fast and the distance between one group of leaves to the next has become longer there by making the plant loose its charm.

Is there any one facing the same problem, if so how do I tackle it.

Thanks
Joel

[torque6]

I think the term you are using = "leggy" ? Any pics ?

[blue33]

I think the term you are using = "leggy" ? Any pics ?

Anyone mention "LEGGY" . Pics? I think lighting problem again.

[AquaObsession]

Lighthing problem I suppose.

[Shadow]

What plant do you have? Different plant grow differently in different lighting condition.

[zenscape]

Rotala Macrandra is notorious for this

Other than light problems like the rest have said, I observe that if NO3 in the tank is high and plants grow in quantum leap, the leaf cluster far a part and unslightly symptom will also occur because the stem is growing too fast.

[Joeljohn]

hi All

Thanks for the replies, sorry I don't know the names of the plants.
I will post a picture tonight. May be then you can gauge the problem.

If the light is the problem then is it that the light that I am feeding is more than required?

Zenscape, about NO3, sorry if it is silly question, i am just ignorant..what may be possible causes of NO3 increase?

My tank specs:
2ft x 1.5ft x 1 ft (L x H x B)
Light - 24W x 2 T2HO (5 + 5 hr photo period)
CO2 - 3 bps (5 + 5 hr photo period)
Liq. Fertilizer - Wondergrow Micro + Macro
Fishes -
1 neon tetra
1 loach
1 cory dora
2 Otto
1 Puffer
3 Rummy Nose tetra
2 Zebra

[AquaObsession]

Means lights not enough. Plants are reaching the top for the lights.

[Shadow]

NO3 is fertelizer. From your spec, my guess due to too much light. The plant stem grow too fast.

[torque6]

you are using wonder-gro line of products, so as shadow mentioned, its part of your macro + thus dosing it obviously increases it. But really cant tell with no pic. have it posted and most of us here will be glad to help.

[Joeljohn]

Hi All,

Finally I managed to take some pics of the plants that I am worried about.

All these plants were bushy and beautiful at one time. Now as you can see it has a disgusting appearance.
The picture on the right also shows the CO2 indicator for your reference.

Please help.

[torque6]

I wouldnt call it disgusting since both pics shows good stem growth. If you are looking for a compact growth, you have to trim. Maybe this would be of some help. Do remember, you have to conceptualize how tall you want the stem plants to be before you perform this.

http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B949-W.HTMl

It isnt too much in the context of aquatic plants, but i figured they pretty much are the same.

[Joeljohn]

Thanks torque,
But If you see the second picture, the one with the drop checker,
the stem on the right side was trimmed after few days of planting. so you can see that the plant never grew from that point where it was cut.
Also you can see how close the leaf cluster is in this one when compare to the 1st picture on the left side. this is how the same plant is growing now.

if the problem is due to NO3 as pointed by shadow, does it mean that i have to reduce dosing wonder-gro?

[Shadow]

Actually it is look normal to me. if you want need to be compact, then you need to trim it as suggested by torque6 or get different plant

[blue33]

Some plants do grow different when you purchase from LFS. Like from big leaves to needle leaves and so on, light do play a part in transforming them also.

[properfool]

i've got a rotala type stem plant. It got very ugly and leggy at one point.
Adding K and phosphate as directed (I'm using Seachem ferts) has made the internodal distance shorter. Now the problem is skinny stems...sigh

[Shadow]

almost forgot, do not reduce the fert, instead reduce the light. NO3 is part of fert

[torque6]

i wouldnt call rotalas an easy plant to grow compact, as it requires some skill in trimming. You have to know where to cut and when to cut... i sound like an expert but i have no practical hand ons apart from blue33

I was thinking of changing to either bacopa, or densa as they are easier to prune. They dont sprout side roots readily and can be planted densely right from the start. Just trimm them once they get tall or trimm them to the shape that you want. Less hassle , but coloration wouldnt be as good as the rotala species, i think i will end up with a "boring" tank

[blue33]

i wouldnt call rotalas an easy plant to grow compact, as it requires some skill in trimming. You have to know where to cut and when to cut... i sound like an expert but i have no practical hand ons apart from blue33

I was thinking of changing to either bacopa, or densa as they are easier to prune. They dont sprout side roots readily and can be planted densely right from the start. Just trimm them once they get tall or trimm them to the shape that you want. Less hassle , but coloration wouldnt be as good as the rotala species, i think i will end up with a "boring" tank

Someone mention my name? Here's the pic of my tank, rotala on the left. I've cut the rotala to extremely short yesterday, will see what will turn out to be.

[benetay]

Keep trimming, nice tank don't stay the same forever, they quickly undergo trimming. I think Blue33's rotala are showing good sign of growth & with persistence you can do it too.

Plants will grow back so just trim.

Cheers!