View Full Version : Walmart Plant Bulbs (Dwarf Lilly)
corvettekid82
06-02-2003, 10:39 PM
Anyone ever played with the plant bulbs (not lights actual plants)? I bought some of them a while ago and they're almost impossible to kill! I tossed a few bulbs into my 10g tank and they took off and even flowered on the surface and OUT of the lid of my tank! Fun things to mess with if you ask me :D This was before I knew how much light was adiquate for a tank and even before I knew CO2 was benifitial to aquatic plants.
Mantis_22
06-03-2003, 2:31 PM
I buy alot of those bulbs, not all of the bulbs will work however. I usually buy the Ulvaceus Package at Wal-Mart and out of 7 bulbs on 4 work usually per package. The others are duds. Its a good way to learn how plants grow for a noob or even a lightly planted tank like mine. I have a small aquatic greenhouse which I grow these bulbs till they mature and they are some good looking plants that are very very hardy..
cpr4cpu
06-03-2003, 4:31 PM
I think I am getting 2 plants per package. I mail the duds back to the manufacturer and they send replacements that usually do pretty well too.
My four oldest plants are just under four months old and already a foot of green leaves all over the place.
I do not grow them in my tank anymore, but I think it's mostly paranoia more than anything.
oops, sorry they are ulvaceus bulbs not dwarf-lilly
Mantis_22
06-03-2003, 9:50 PM
i never send the duds back, too much hassle for two bucks a package if you ask me. Its like a guarantee on flower seeds and such lol. As for the bulbs I know they arent ulvacues. The company manufactures the dwarf lily and ulvaceus though. Both of which I have. I think thet arent a problem. I love plants that engulf and take of a tank mainly for the fact as a good background and source of shade for the fish during the day. Its all in opinion though. Ive leared a little trick though, as some fertizer to that bulbs and they will grow with 6-7 days. Not 15-16 days as said on the box :)
corvettekid82
06-04-2003, 4:22 AM
On the new bulbs I've thrown in on my 1.5w/g tank and liquid ferts they've already gotten 4 inches of growth and pretty good roots going on day 6. :D Gotta love these things. I usually have a 4-5 bulb per package success rate.
Mantis_22
06-04-2003, 9:56 AM
yeah, easy to grow, fun to learn and make you feel good when they are mature...
serjuanca888
06-05-2003, 12:51 AM
Are these bulbs for aquariums or ponds? I have seen bulbs for ponds before at Wal-mart. are these in the pet section?
corvettekid82
06-05-2003, 10:57 AM
They're intended for Aquarium use. I found mine in both local walmarts in the pet section. If you look in the part with the fake aquarium plants, you should find the bulbs. They come in a small, blue blister package with a yellow stripe on the top and bottom of the package. The top reads "LIVE AQUARIUM PLANTS" and the bottom will tell you the common and scientific name of the bulb the package contains :) If you cant find them there, they're made by:
Sea-Life Inc.
1400 S. Van Eps
Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57105
This was taken off of the back of the package and is the address they give to return the 'dud-buds' to.
tigersfan618
03-21-2010, 11:10 AM
We just started our first aquarium and tried the bulbs from walmart. When we threw it in the tank it just floated on the surface. According to the back of the package we thought the bulb would sink so the roots would "anchor themselves". Did we do something wrong or are the bulbs supposed to just float on the surface??
Wow you guys are lucky! Out of the 10 or so packs ive bought, only two plants. Non of the Lilly's for me.
XanAvaloni
03-21-2010, 12:16 PM
tigers, they have to be packed/shipped absolutely dry or they will rot. So when you put them in the tank they take some time to rehydrate, after which they will sink. I'm going on a year now with my one lily bulb that "took" and am quite happy with it. Nice pink/orange leaves (some green/yellow) and they just started shooting up more top-leaf stems a couple of weeks ago.
Trickiest thing about them is to get them just far enough into the substrate, or held down with something to keep it in contact, while not actually burying it. They have to sit just on top of the bottom, as it were :) , not within it.
come to think of it I have to run by WM sometime soon to get some sand for the new tank. May stop and pick up another one of those lily packs. I want this tank to be as "red" as possible and those are about the cheapest of the red plants you can get.
wow, i never heard of people having a lot of luck with those bulbs. i may have to look into some of em!
Somervell
03-21-2010, 2:25 PM
I had two lots of them turn into a rotten, smelly mess. I fished them out and they smelled too bad to send back. I am really glad that someone has had such great luck with them. I might be inspired to try again.
quincieadams
03-22-2010, 8:12 PM
serjuanca888:
I have had a few of these lily’s in my tank before I took it down that were doing good so i didn't just want to trash them. I decided to give them a try in our 80 gallon pond. Didn’t see much of them until about a year later lol it produced the lily’s only they were like 4 times bigger. Not sure if anyone else has tried them in a pond but i can say it sure did extremely well. Guess we'll see how it does this year.