crypts how big will they grow

[LMOUTHBASS]

i have lutea as well as green wendth n want to get some bronze wendth , the plants i have are gorgeous really filling out n growing upwards getting very full looking - how tall will they get normally??? also how do they spread?

[AthagaMor]

I just bought some crypts the other day. The guy at the store told me they grow, at max, 6" tall, but that usually they are a couple inches shorter than that. He said they grow quickly and thick as well. He also showed me how you can split the root bulb to split them up.

...but I'm new at this, so I hope the guy told me correctly.

[promethean_sprk]

wedtii will get about 6" tall. Mine doesn't spread all that fast. It's got about 1/4 of a 20g and hasn't been able to invade other plants areas. In the 55g, one cutting has produced another plant next two it, and two offshoots a few inches away in about 9 months. They're all putting out leaves like mad right now, so hopefully there will be more in the 55 soon.

[125gJoe]

From what I have heard, and seen, the are "slow" growers and need to be left in one spot. Moving them around is not good. Leave them in one place -- so pick the spot you want them in carefully. HTH..

[OrionGirl]

IME, crypts put on lots of growth quickly, then slow down and just add the odd leaf or three each week. I tend to leave mine in place until they are too thick to clean around, then split and replant. They do best if water conditions are stable. Fluctuating hardness tends to result in melting leaves--though mine have always rebounded quickly.

[djlen]

Crypts are my favorite plant, but remain a complete enigma to me.
I've had them start fast, start slow, have periods of quick growth and then look like death warmed over, only to have a growth spurt again.
I agree with the above post that them most important aspect is to keep their conditions consistent. I've seen them 'melt' if I looked at them cross-eyed. Still.......they're my favorites!!

Len

[LMOUTHBASS]

i'm hearing lots about this effect - when a plant melts does the leaves turn yellow and fall off like with most plants or do the leaves just evaportate with no trace?

[djlen]

It's pretty much just like it sounds. To me they just turn mushy and jelly-like and "melt", until the whole plant flattens out and dissolves.
Don't pull Crypts when they do this however. Almost invariably they will re-generate and grow back in anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months.

Len

[OrionGirl]

The leaves get very thin, and then start to shred? It's hard to describe. The leaf seems to just get thinner and thinner, then it starts falling apart.

[promethean_sprk]

Lots of plants can 'melt' usually their leaves die and quickly rot away. The worst meltdown I've had was a ball of hornwart in my 55. I cut it down from filling 1/3 the tank to maybe 1/6. All but a couple sprigs of it melted down afterwards. It's a pretty big disaster to lose 1/2 of your plantload...

Meltdowns seem more common in stem plants than rossette plants. I think my crypts have only melted down once, when I went away on break and duckweed on the surface choked out the tank over a couple weeks. I didn't witness them passing, but presumably they melted.

[RTR]

The brown/bronze C. wendtii cultivars are highly variable for me. Some of them can exceed a foot high. The cultivar 'Tropica' is the smallest I have.

For me, the wendtii variants are the most resistant to melt.

As said by others, they fill in nicely but not fast by runners. The wendtii is modest in runner length, so tends to nice thick stands, but it does take a while to develop. Some other crypts throw much longer runners.

C. lutea stays about the size of the smallest wendtii cultivars for me.

[anonapersona]

In my tanks the crypt wendtii red is about 14 inches tall in 15 inch water column and the lutea is 19 inche tall in a 15 inch water column.

I've had each for just over a year. The lutea came from a single pot from PetCo that I split into 3 stands, it was very small then, maybe 5 inches tall with leaves 1/4 inch across. After about 9 months I had to bulldoze the plants to the back of the tank as they had outgrown their places in the front. Now they drape over to the front of the tank, leaves 1 inch wide and olive green to brown.

The red wendtii arrived as 3 bare rooted plants, each about 8 inches tall with 1/2 inch wide leaves. It had one year in the 20 gallon tank and developed many offshoots and filled the corner. then I moved it to the 59 gallon, ini a spot with good flow and much brighter light. It is super thick and after only 2 months really needs thinning out. the leaves are very much lik ethe lueta but more ruffled and much more brown-red.


I suspect that the height is dependant on lighting, the low light tank has the taller crypts.

[LMOUTHBASS]

what is the right way to do this?

[AthagaMor]

The LFS said that you can detach segments of new growth (break or cut it off). There is normaly that little rooty nub the plant grows from... as it grows and spreads the little root thing grows nobs. When you split them, you should have a small number fo leaves on the new growth before splitting.

...at least this is what I was told.

I did do it to one plant that I bought (it was applicable), and everything seems okay (been a week+ since doing it).

[promethean_sprk]

I leave the main stand of crypts alone, but when one pops up a few inches away, you can cut the runner to it and move the daughter plant.

[RTR]

I never let a stand of crypts go more than 3 years, frequently less, without lifting and dividing. They get too crowded.

[Godslayer]

I agree with RTR, I have a red wendtii right now that is 12" tall. There is no way they will stay 6".