Java Fern Question

pinballqueen

pinballqueen

Roleplayer
Aug 4, 2002
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Sevierville, TN
www.hostultra.com
I have a rather large Java Fern in the corner of my 55 gallon tank that has plantlets sprouting all over the leaves.

My question is, is there a way to remove the plantlets and transplant them without damaging the parent plant? There's a lot of new little plants, but I'd hate to kill the biggest plant in my tank to get to them...

What should I do in this situation? Thanks in advace for the replies?
 
I can't find the article I got this info from now.....hmmmm? Anyways, I have a Java Fern with plantlets all over it too, and I did some research to find out the best ways to do it. The most informative article (can't find now) said that they can reproduce in several ways: rhizome division, plantlets, and even leaf cuttings.
In regards to plantlets, it said that once they have at least 3 leaves on the plantlet you can "pick" them off by hand, or you can wait for them to drop off themselves, as in nature.

I have personally picked off several plantlets with my fingers. I just do it carefully, but don't worry about small holes forming in the leaves, as (at least on my plant) this will happen anyways. Just do as little damage to the parent plant as possible. I actually think I'm going to be picking most of my plantlets off soon, to encourage some growth in the parent plant.
 
You will find, that the plantlets form, for the most part on the older leaves that are about to die off anyway so I wouldn't worry too much about injuring those leaves.
Len
 
Back when I was first getting into the hobby, Chris Cow gave me a piece of java fern in trade for some hygro. It was about 3 leaves with a tiny little bit of root attached, but I'll tell ya, it was so prescious to me. (Plants were impossible to come by around here at that time), I fastened it to a piece of drift wood and waited months for it to grow a new leaf. It finally did. And then another, and another. After about 6 months I had a nice little clump started.

It was giving me plantlets periodically, which I would remove and try to plant. They were so cute. Sometimes they'd take and other times I'd find them floating. I spent more time trying to plant those little things.

Eventually it was giving me so many plantlets that I started to hate the look of them on the parent plant. They made it look messy and dirty. It became part of my routine maintenance to pull those things off as fast as I could. It certainly wasn't harming the parent plant, and by now the plantlets were giving me plantlets. The piece of driftwood I had was completely covered in it. It was a monster plant covering everything in the tank. It was out of control. NOTHING COULD STOP IT!!!!
.........

Now I have a small piece of that fern in my new tank and the rest sits in a bucket in the dark, in the basement still clinging to the driftwood. It's been down there for about 4 months and I can't believe......it's still alive. I expect it to strangle me in my sleep some night.

Java Fern plantlets? Oh yea.....you can take them off the parent without harming it.

:eek:
 
Hey Booswalia, I will take that piece of driftwood covered with java fern if you don't want it. I have been looking to buy planted driftwood for a while now. Is it in good condition still? I will pay shipping for it if it is in good condition and does not cost too much. I am serious. Please let me know.
 
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GFreak, I don't think you really want this monster. It has black hair algae all over the wood which is starting to get a little soft. I don't think the wood will hold out for much longer. It's about 4 years old.

Have you tried tying a piece of Java Fern to your driftwood with thread? That's how I got this one going.
 
Oh, okay. You are right it does not sound like it is in good shape. That is too bad:( . I do know that you can attach java fern to wood using a string but to be honest with you I do not want to wait the months it takes for the plant to firmly attach. I want to place the planted wood with goldfish so I need the plants to have a strong hold on the wood.
 
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