Dormant plants

[FishKeeper-16]

I bought some live plant bulbs form walmart last fall and the plants were growing so well that they were growing out of the tank and now they seem dormant and so do they usually do that? and how long does that last? The plants are hybrid aponogeton plants. I asked my dealer about plant fertilizer and he said it may screw my tank up.

[Max]

http://www.mongabay.com/fish/plants/Aponogeton_crispus.htm This may solve your problem :) If this is the one you have . There is other info on the site.

[FishKeeper-16]

It says that I should place it in cool water for a month and should I put the plant in the refridgerator?

[Max]

Sure why not . I put bulbs in my fridge all the time to trick them into thinking that it's time to bloom. Put it in a zip lock and either put it in the rotter umh I mean crisper and leave it for the recommended time. You'll have to do it every year. We have done this with the lotus in our lilly pond for a number of years with no ill affect on the plants.

[FishKeeper-16]

Do I fill the bag with water?

[djlen]

Or you can either move them within the tank which will shorten the dormant period, or leave them alone in the tank and they will come out of dormancy when they are ready.
When Apons. are ready to go dormant, rarely does additional fertilization make much of a difference. It's like giving a Maple Tree, here in Jersey extra nutrients in November. The tree is going dormant and will rest.

Len

[Max]

No but you might want to put wet peat or saw dust in the bag. I'd try to google a pic and make sure yours is a variety that requires cool temps to break dormancy. If it does require a low temp resting period it won't matter how long it stays in your tank. Fertalisers won't do any good until it's growing and then start real slow.