• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

how to...hygrophilia Pinnatifida

Iain Sutherland

Iain Sutherland

Global Moderator
UKAPS Team
Joined
7 Jul 2011
Messages
3,744
Location
Cambridge
Evening all, work has eased up a little so starting to make progress getting the tank running and have been thinking plants.
Im going to use pinna in its usual taller stem form but would like to also detail it with pinna grown attached to manzi keeping it short and bushy like this...



so does anyone know how this effect is achieved?
Am i better off using invitro for this or standard?
Is it as simple as nipping the crown out while its still really short?
Best way to attach it? superglue maybe?
As i dont have a team of minions growing them wabi kusa style as i think Amano does when he uses this effect any suggestions would be most appreciated.

cheers
 
Hi, this is my Desire plant, had them 3 times and didn't had any luck, first time it did grow and send some runners that i cutted and replanted :banghead:, 2º and 3º attempt didn´t worked too, now in my 4º attempt :D with a tropica vase now - it sloooooowly growing :arghh:. Don´t know why my unsucess, not much info in the net about this plant either.

About your questions, i was told to plant by the roots on gravel and cut the runners and atach it to woods or rocks like anubias.
 
hey brancaman, pinna needs the same as 95% of other plants, however with high light i find it will show if its unhappy quite a lot quicker than other plants with dropping leaves and holes in the leaves. Its quite a good co2 canary.

Thanks for the link Steve, that was a lovely little scape and i had forgotten all about it. I shall have to pm George and ask his thoughts.
I'm only guessing it can be kept compact like that just because Amano can but then he does use magic water and umpa lumpas :)
Maybe there are different strains of Pinnatifida?? and some behave better in compact form??

My current thinking is to use the invitro and as soon as it adjusts to immersed life to nip the crown out and trim weekly, however i doubt its that easy.... it never is.
 
I had pinna going mad in one of my low tech nanos for a while. It does eventually attaches itself to rocks, but you'll probably need to glue/tie it on initially. Then I'd guess its just a case of frequent pruning to keep it short. It will gradually send out 'runners' along the rocks/wood.

As with most stems, prune above a node and it'll quickly grow a new shoot.
 
thanks tom, do you know what happens if i was to continually trim above the same node? Will it continue to put new shoots out of the same node? I ask as if i move up a node each time in a similar fashion to other stems when trying to make them bushy the pinna will get longer and longer meaning a replant. As the base of the stem will be in moss replanting wouldnt be the easiest job... or maybe this has to be done to maintain the compact look?
Just thinking out loud really...
:thumbup:
 
Not sure really on trimming the same node over and over... would think it'd be OK though. The lower nodes always seemed to stay healthy on mine, so if its planted reasonably densely then the overall effect should be good even if they're constantly topped. Might even encourage horizontal spread?
 
Here's my take on hygro pinna...

I found it to go great guns when I just planted it, it sent out runners, however the runners were more compact. Maxing out at about 12-20cm. This is it at the back, 6 weeks after planting.





This is my attempt on keeping it compact. This is from the stems I sent you a couple of months back. It's taken about 3 pinches from the top and re planting to get this compact growth. It's now smaller than the buccaphelandra. It's a bit difficult to make out, but the leaf next to the pinna is anubias nana petite.

8663460828_7a40431e68_z.jpg
image by Ian Holdich, on Flickr
 
Cheers for the input tom, i wonder if the plant will spread along the wood or send the runners out looking for solid ground? I'd be really interested to see some pictures or video of Pinnatifida in the wild to see if it grows attached to wood etc without intervention but only found a couple of poor images on google pics.

I never knew you had a trigon Ian, very nice mate, the pinna looks tops. Seems like even though the trigon is a more difficult tank it teaches a great appreciation of flow and clearly set you up for the quality scapes we see from you now.
Just to clarify Ian, are you saying that you trim the stem, nip the top out of the trimmed piece and replant... then it will eventually be trained to stay compact?
You have certainly achieved a nice compact plant there pal, i shall follow your lead. Have you tried the invitro pinna at all?
 
Yes mate, I had a trigon a few years back. Nice well built tanks. Thanks for the compliment (goes red).
Yes, nip the tops off and replant. As said, it's taken about 4 nips to achieve this compact growth.
I haven't tried the invitro stuff, using it that way may be easier?
 
Hi Iain,
the others have more experience trying to grow it compact but what I can confirm is that the runners do attach to wood and rocks very firmly. When I kept it the side shoots would creep and attach roots if hardscape was in the way, then carry on creeping producing more stems.
I'm not sure what made it produce runners rather than upright stems though.
Cheerio
 
Hey I have some Pinnatifida collected from the wild in my tank. Im in Bombay and this was collected by a friend around 300km out of the city in a pond that is fed by a small stream. The pinnatifida was found mostly in its emerged state growing along the banks and just towards the edge of the waterline. Around here most of the water bodies have the smooth round river rock type bottoms and banks or what we call river sand. Small 1-5mm reddish brown gravel that has a decent iron content and some lateritey mud mixed mixed in. A lot of hobbyists, including myself have used it as a low cost planting soil in out tanks.
Id say it would do best as a pond plant IMO
Ive had it for about 8 months in my tank and Id say its a pretty finicky plant as such. It does best in a high tech setup.
It will definitely grow attached to rocks. Mine were initially planted in Aquasoil and the side shoots/plantlets attached themselves to the nearby Ryuoh stone and now the only two stem I have left are growing attached to rocks, producing lots of side shoots, growing out of the water and producing little purple flowers !

So yeah glue or tie it to your rocks and you should be fine but Id only do this if it was completely acclimated to your tank and in its submerged form and not right off the bat.

One more strange thing about this plant is that it produces runners as well as side shoots that Im pretty sure can be classified as plantlets as they grow thick roots even when the leaves are tiny and are attached to the main stem by a short and brittle stem that snaps off quite easily and then you have a separate little plant. Then you have the runners that creep along or just below the substrate and produce multiple plantlets every few inches
 
Hi Ian
I second (or third, or whatever ;)) the above opinions, that getting the more compact apperance, is a comb. of "climate and cutting". Be assured, though, that it can and will attach to anything............. I've had it cling to glass, a couple of times :eek:!!!
Mick.
 
Hi Iain. I'm doing a similar thing in my nano that was planted a couple of weeks ago. I have it in my big tank and in there its attached to the rocks, sending runners out and growing compact ( low light tank ) so i took some cuttings from there for the nano. I can tell you that it does NOT like being glued at all - the part you glue just rots and the rest follows. I am now getting short growth from the remaining stems, but am having to force them into crevices until they take hold. Either that or tie them in place.

Good luck with it.

Tony
 
Resurrecting this old thread to share a thought on pinnatifida. I am now on my third attempt to grow this plant. An online fellow hobbyist told me that he found that he had success only when attaching it to rock or wood instead of planting it to soil. Has anyone else onoticed that? If I am not mistaken none of the Amano tanks have it planted on soil.
 
Hyg. pinnatifida can/will grow evenly well on rock/wood and in soil. Good fertilisation of water-column is self evident, if growing on rock/wood.
I would imagine, that the fact of getting less competition for light and flow, is why some find the plant does better on rock/wood.


Since this thread, I have become a lot "wiser" on the subject of keeping Hyg. pinn. low and compact.
It is by constantly trimming off the dominant (=up-right growing) stems, that you force the plant to produce more "runners"/branches (=horizontal growing). Plant will ofcourse keep doing new dominant stems, so the trimming is an ever ongoing process.......
 
Well Mick my main trouble is keeping it healthy! Still I will follow your advice on keeping it compact as well! What do you do with the cuttings? I am afraid that they don't readily produce roots.
 
If conditions are good for tbis plant it will be strong and healthy - cuttings will then be strong and healthy too, and will easily make roots.
If plant is NOT strong and healthy, cuttings will not be either, and will be more difficult to make roots.

You need to create good conditions for the plant.
Hyg. pinn. is a Hygrophila, yes, but not as un-demanding as most other Hygrophila's. This one need better conditions according to light, flow and added CO2 (this is why it is placed in "medium" category, though most Hyg.s are in "easy" category).
- SO.....if your Hyg. pinn. does not thrive, you probaply need a little more light, more flow, more added CO2....or any combination of those.
Hyg. pinn. is defenitely not a "toletant and adaptable" member of the Hygro-family.......but it is really not impossible either.......
 
I've nothing to add re cuttings as I've not done any yet ... but I placed Hygrophila pinnatifida at substrate level & at "mid-tank" lodged behind some wood - the latter is definitely looking "nicer" re more new growth & lightly pink.
I'd bought 2 pots, then completely mixed which stems came from which pot, the "nicer" Hygrophila pinnatifida is actually in a low flow tank (need to clean the filter type of slow :oops:) against the back glass,
note that the roots of this "suspended" Hygrophila pinnatifida seem to be growing very well (so perhaps something to try with cuttings)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top