Mine took a couple weeks to sprout but they are not slow growing plants at all! In only a couple weeks one has outgrown my 10 gallon! (needs some major trimming, and I'm getting new really large leaves every couple days at this point.
They have even exceede the growth of my apongeotan bulbs (spelling) which sprouted much faster.
Well the first ones I bought did not sprout at all they got stinky and rotted. but I decided to try them again and both bulbs sprouted!
Anyone know te light requirements? I'm thinking to move one of them into my Vivarium where there is only 3.5-4 inches of water.
well I guess it varies greatly. my mother once tried some in one of her community tanks, and it took 7 months to reach full height. she dosed ferts, had 3 WPG, and a CO2 reactor. i think they need pretty high light, like 3-4 WPG, but don't take my word for it.
I think the lilies do need higher light than the apon bulbs. Before I had only 30 watts of incadescents on my 10g tank and the lily bulbs grew, but not very fast. I have since upgraded to 40 watts of 6500k compact fluorescents and the 2 lily bulbs have started growing faster. One just came out of dormancy about a week ago and it has already sent up 3 floating pads. The other lily bulb has consistently sprouted pads that are 3 to 4 inches across, enough so that I have to prune the pads when they start to shade the aponogeton plants.
My aponogeton plants recently went to seed so I now have several tiny plants that have taken root in the gravel.
I think the lilies do need higher light than the apon bulbs. Before I had only 30 watts of incadescents on my 10g tank and the lily bulbs grew, but not very fast. I have since upgraded to 40 watts of 6500k compact fluorescents and the 2 lily bulbs have started growing faster. One just came out of dormancy about a week ago and it has already sent up 3 floating pads. The other lily bulb has consistently sprouted pads that are 3 to 4 inches across, enough so that I have to prune the pads when they start to shade the aponogeton plants.
My aponogeton plants recently went to seed so I now have several tiny plants that have taken root in the gravel.
Do you have to polinate from 2 different plants to get them to seed? Or can you polinate using the same plant. only one of my Aponogetons has been sending up runners like crazy, I think the others must be dwarfs lol (but thats ok they are in a 10 gallon)
My Late Bloomer Lily is sending up pads the size of my hand (they still have not reached the top of the tank but I have no doubt they will by this weekend) (3.4 WPG, 20G)
The one that strted a few weeks ago has slightly smaller pads but several have reached the top of the tank (2.2 WPG 10G) they look pretty sweet, floating on top of the water perfectly. It will need a trim before this weekend.
Some types of aponogetons are self-pollenating while others need to be cross pollenated. Most if not all of my apons seem to be the type that need cross-pollenation. It can be hard to tell with the walmart bulbs since they are often hybrids.
I noticed I was able to get several different plants to flower at the same time after I added a co2 generator and NPK to the substrate as well as dosing twice weekly with Flourish+Iron.
When the seeds are still on the flower, they are usually pointed at one end and more blunt at the end attached to the flower. When they are mature, they are about 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch long and about 1/8 of an inch at the widest point. Most often they are green in color. Once they drop off and start to sprout leaves, the "seed" seems much thinner. It may be the seed starts to germinate before it even detaches from the flower stem.
Here's a link to a simple drawing I did of a new aponogeton sprout. The unsprouted seed would be very similar, but without the leaves or roots.
i got some...in a pack of like 6 for $3. are you supposed to put the end of it in the gravel/substrate?? because when i frist dropped mine in today, two out of the six floated. i thought that was odd.
You would want to just drop the bulbs in. Within 7 days, you should see some green shoots coming from the bulb if it's good. Then you could secure them in the substrate. Keep and eye on the ones that float. If they start to feel mushy or soft, then they are no good and should be removed from the tank.
the other 2 bulbs I put in my 20G did not sprout.
