• 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

Nymphaea stellata Bulb

andyone

Member
Joined
29 Aug 2010
Messages
86
Hi all

Planted a bulb about 6 weeks ago and it started off with three large lovely pink submerged leaves before sending up the typical lily pads to the surface so I initially removed them but it still sent further leaves to the surface. Its growth rate was amazing.

I've grow this before and the root system is massive so given I wanted only the nice (to me anyway) submerged leaves I pulled it out before its got too established. The strange thing was the bulb had a separate small plant with submerged leaves the larger plant was separate from it do they propagate on runners?

I've replanted the bulb with the submerged leaves do you think it will remain truly aquatic or bolt to the surface? Or any tips on controlling it and keeping growing submerged?

Any similar red/pink plants which might be a better choice.

Thanks

Andy
 
If one leave finds the surface the plant will shoot more leaves up. Keep it submerged by cutting leaves that get to high and almost reached the surface.
You can let the plant grow at first and when it got bigger you cut almost all leaves off to let it regrow submerged leaves.
Thanks Martin I'll keep on top of the remaining plant.
 
Yes they do create runners if the conditions are right, thats what the nursery i bought it from wrote me. To cut of the runners if i like to propagate it.:). Mine also started with about 4 beautifull submersed leaves. But as soon as the floaters kick in the submersed leaves slowly wither away and makes no new ones. I guess this is the strategie of how the plant grows. It needs it submersed solar panels to get here floaters going. Once these are at the surface the submersed ones are no longer needed. Also the nymphaea in my pond starts every year the same, with a few submersed leaves till the floaters hit the surface then it makes no more submersed leaves.

I give it extra clay balls in the substrate and it growes a new floater in about 5 days. Because it's in a small tank i keep it down to 4 or 5 floaters i have to cut one out every 2 weeks.

Now after 4 months the one in my tank does the same as yours, it grows a few tiny submersed leaves again. But these are indeed from a runner an inch next to the initial tuber. Cant see the runner yet, its still hiding in the substrate.

What i also find a funny propperty of this plant, i placed the tuber loos on the substrate with a flat stone glewed to it to keep it down. Now it is gone, it developed roots and once these are established it pulls itself down into the substrate.

I vaven't tried yet, but i guess the obvious thing to do, if you only want it to create submersed growth you need to keep cutting it's floaters off.. :)
 
Nymphea's will grow floating leaves - some species faster than others, and even some individuals faster than others of same species......but eventually they will go "floating". Nymphea is actually capable of transporting oxygen from these leaves to their roots. This is how they can survive in the quite anaerobic soil of some lakes and ponds, where other plants must give up.
It is usually possible to "delay" the floating leaves, by the mentioned method of trimming off before they reach surface. Some new submerse leaves will appear......but you can't go down this route forever, since you are seriously starving the plant.
The method of restricting floating leaves to a few is a better approach, long term - this is a bit like trimming bonzai trees; to keep plants on the edge, without starving them to death.
- Some species and variations of Nymphoides, though, are much better at staying submerse........
 
Here a few pics. :)

11-05-2015
Here you still see the tuber with submersed growth and roots reaching into to substrtate.
9RGYUf3.jpg


Today :)
No more tuber totaly pulled down.
tdR9uUK.jpg


Close up
8BHRjNr.jpg


So actualy you can have both submersed and emersed growth. Just find out witch floater is comming from the runner and cut it. The nose from the tuber generaly comes out the substrate like a central point where it shoots out it's new floaters. I'm also still in experiment with this but i suspect in time it wil become obvious which new starting floaters to cut. Eventualy the new runner will develop a new tuber with his nose sticking out. In my case they are now not that far away from eachother. :)
 
Last edited:
hi Marcel

I've noticed like you that the "bulb" is pulling itself down into the soil while the remaining plant is on a runner with small submerged leaves.

So given the inevitability that the plant will want to go walk about and develop only floating leaves is there a viable alternative in terms of shape and colour?

Cheers

Andy
 
Hi Andy,

I do not know the dimensions of your tank nor any other viable option than the ones regularly offered in the LFS like the Stellata or Zenkeri (and banana lily) which have to be proven as somewhat aquarium suitable and still some what difficult for most keepers. Most known Nymphaea just get to big for aquariums. Even the ones offered in the LFS is said not suitable for small tanks. Because of that i sciped those spieces. Next to that, these plants dont like to much flow, they rather have still water. I guess a 10 x turnover tank isnt realt the invironment they realy prefer to grow in. So they are already somewhat stressed in a high flow inveronment and if you stress them even more whit regularly cutting it can have conseqeunces for it to stay healthy for longer terms. I suspect thats the reason why many people have limmited succes with nymphaeas in aquariums. I believe at flowgrow.de they have a nice article about nymphaeas and also there is stated the majority isn't suitable for aquarium live.

It is that in my search i found via ebay a hobby mini garden cultivator in Germany claiming to have cultivated a Mini (bonsai) lily which stays small enough to grow indoors on a dish or a fishbowl without substrate and just feeding over the water collum. I was interested and ordered it. She gave this Nymphaea here own fantasy name (Rosa Nymphaea Bonsai). So i actualy have no idea what kind it realy is. I kept it indoors for a few months in a dish with water and indeed it kept alive and grew very good and only very tiny leaves. Than i decided to build a small tank around this lily and give it a more natural invironment, substrate, clay balls, moderate flow, to see what will happen. And as expected it emediately grew much bigger than without substrate. But still from april till now it stays small enough for the 42 liters it is in, no floater grew bigger than 9 cm diameter till now.. So far the experiment is succesfull and promesing, it making a runner now and i have to wait an see what i can do with that.

So that German hobby cultivator has proven that it is possible to addapt a lilly to only feed from the water colum and stay rather small. My own experiences i have in the garden with lilies tell me the same. If you have patience and want to spend the time on it, you can dwarf any lily, but it takes a few years to make it addapt. This i claim because i got a lily in the garden which i bought as a rather large zone 5 - zone D pond lily (recomended 100 cm deep). I did put it with very little substrate in zone 3 (20 cm deep) i took care for the tuber to prevent it from rotting and it took this lily 5 years to addapt and dwarfed it down to about the same size as the lily in my tank. I'm planing to move this lily as well to a tank indoor this winter. I'll come back to that by than on the forum. :)

So viable options for sale.. I do not know.. Viable options to cultivate, defenitely yes! If you want to spend the time on it. :)
 
Back
Top