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Tempest
03-07-2004, 12:07 PM
About a year ago I started up a 10 gallon planted tank.. By now it was mostly looking like a jungle and the java fern was outgrowing the tank. I had trimmed regularlybut there still seems to come a point when it all needs redone.

I will qualify my jungle comment. Everything had done well except the Marsilea quadrifolia never had done it's carpet bit as well as I had hoped. It was growing up best in the far corners of the tank and that at the front looked pretty woeful. I'm telling on myself here when I say that I figured out why when I tore it out of the tank. It just hadn't dawned on me to question the growing habit of what is called aquatic clover. :D I took hold of a piece of it and started to pull it out. <lol> I sure was surprised when that one little plant turned in to a two foot string of little plants with only one growing tip. I ended up with mainly 5 long strings of little plants.. Each string only had one end growing. So it's no wonder the plants wouldn't do the job I wanted. (bonks herself onna head) :shake:

I had a lot more of the plant than I thought I did once I cut them all in to little pieces and mayhap I can actually get them to do what I want now.

I've never grown glosso but I've replanted the marsilea about like I've seen described to plant glosso using tweezers. Does glosso grow on runners too like the clover?

Leopardess
03-07-2004, 1:52 PM
Yes, glosso grows on runners...

You can see that here (sorry - not the greatest pic, used the first one I came across)..

Leopardess
03-07-2004, 1:58 PM
Hm...that one isn't very good once its shrunk down...

Tempest
03-07-2004, 2:44 PM
Yeah, that's almost how the marsilea looked too. I'm still kickin' myself for not realizing it. I was just patiently waiting for it to fill on in and wondering why it grew better in the dark corners. <lol>

Leopardess
03-07-2004, 3:03 PM
I guess I'm a little confused..

Did yours not grow in? It should if it was indeed spreading by runners...you just have to wait until they get thick enough...

Oh, wait, did you think it was supposed to grow taller? Because that's what would happen in darker areas, whereas the plants taht are in the light should be spreading horizontally...

Tempest
03-07-2004, 4:12 PM
No... I thought it would spread in all directions from each plant. Therefore, I had never broken up the strands at all.. The growing tip of each strand was heading off to the side and back of the aquarium.. Since I only pulled out about five long strands, you can see it would take a long while to fill in even if I had it headed in the correct direction. The plant came to me in the emmersed form which is quite different.. I'd seen times when some of the strand got uncovered but dang if it dawned on me that I should break it up some more to reproduce more strands to have more growing tips.