Cryptocoryne Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ Spathe Update 3

I’ve been quite busy lately which would explain my lack of posting but to fill everyone in, the Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ Spathe in update 2 is the spathe fully opened. I imagined that the spathe would have opened more but sadly that is as far as it got; about 2-3 days after the spathe began to melt from the bottom up and eventually just fell over.

Here we are now about 3 weeks later and to my surprise the Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ is beginning to develop another spathe!! I will continue to post pictures as it develops again.

Cryptocoryne Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ Spathe Update 2

It’s been approximately one month and two days since I first saw the Spathe developing on my Cryptocoryne Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ & this morning it finally partially opened. I watched it every hour for the entire day and it didn’t appear to open any further so hopefully by the morning it will be fully open. I at least now know a rough time frame of how long it takes for the spathe to fully develop and open so I can now properly plan when to take pictures in the future.

The next update will show the spathe fully open, stay tuned!

Cryptocoryne Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ Spathe Update 1

The spathe on my Cryptocoryne Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ is finally what looks to be fully developed, so hopefully the spathe will open fairly soon. I have yet to fully understand what it takes to make Cryptocoryne’s flower but if I took an educated guess at it based on my research I would say it has to do with the amount of time the plant itself sits in the pot & the lighting duration. I normally keep my lights on for 12 hours a day but once I cut it back to 9 hours a day the plant begun to produce a spathe; this plant has also been in the same pot for just under a year now without being moved/transferred.

Cryptocoryne Pontederiifolia

Crytpcoryne Pontederiifolia is a great starter Cryptocoryne and contains an even prettier yellow inflorescence. Under different water and lighting parameters C. Pontederiifolia will display a variety of colours and leaf forms from deep green to pink, bullate leaves to smooth, and short plants to tall plants. Here are two examples of C. Pontederiifolia in which I keep in two completely different conditions.

Condition 1
– Four 36″ T5 bulbs with two 6700k bulbs and two colourmax (pink) bulbs.
– PH 8.2+ HARD water
– Homemade substrate mix
– 12 hour lighting period
– Kept in 10 gallon emersed tank with air stone
Results – Under these conditions C. Pontederiifolia displayed it’s newer leaves as pink and and stayed quite small. No signs of any deficiencies what so ever though.

Condition 2
– Two 23 watt 6700k CFL bulbs
– One 18 watt ZooMed plant bulb (pink)
– Neutral water PH 7.5
– MGOCPS substrate (Not a fan due to potential gnats and other unwanted bugs hatching, wouldn’t use again)
– 10 hour lighting period
– Kept in high humidity dome+tray with no air stone or water circulation.
Results – Under these conditions C. Pontederiifolia never displayed any pink in comparison to the other specimens kept in “Condition 1”. The new growth was always green and the green intensifies as the plant matures. Propagation is quite quick via runners sent from the mother plant.

Cryptocoryne Sp. Affinis

This is one of my all time favourite Cryptocoryne’s in terms of appearance, from the deep purple/red colour of the leaves to the bullate part of the leaves, this is a beautiful plant. I’m currently keeping this plant in emersed form and submersed form in which they look completely different from each other. Speaking from experience, this plant does not like any changes in it’s environment, I’ve had the entire plant melt back on me after moving it but as long as it’s roots are in tact the plant will bounce back.

Here is what I’ve been able to tell with the Cryptocoryne Sp. Affinis in which the variety I have I believe is also known as C. Haertliniana

Submersed Form

– Light purple to deep purple or red undertone.
– Green bullate leaves with pink vein coming through the middle
– Can get extremely tall, I’ve had specimens over 22″ in height
– Is said to do best in harder water but my specimen grows extremely well in 6.5 PH+Pressurized CO2+Micro+Macro+Med Light
– Sends multiple runners in a long chain once establishes, propagates very well.

Emersed Form

– DEEP purple,red,pink,brown, and green colours all mixed in a hue. Undertone of leaf is generally very deep purple
– EXTREMELY bullate leaves
– Very “Flat” when grown under high light
– Send’s multiple runners but at a much slower rate than submersed form. Root’s also get bound after a while due to being grown in a pot, this plant does best in a large 4X4 square pot at minimum.
– Doesn’t like the humidity too high, this plant will melt back when humidity exceeds 90% and such high humidity will bring on unwanted mould’s/algae’s.

Cryptocoryne Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ Spathe

Finally my Cryptocoryne Wendtii ‘Mi Oya’ has sent up a spathe. Although this is just a common Cryptocoryne, pictures of it’s spathe are not very common. I will continue to add pictures as the spathe develops and hopefully opens.

                      

Cryptocoryne Cordata Var. Siamensis ‘Rosanervig’

I was lucky enough to get this plant a little over a year ago from a well known hobbyist here in Canada. When I first got the plant it only had two small leaves on it and took roughly 4-5 months to adapt and start forming a new leaf. I unfortunately had to move a short while later so it never had a chance to fully get established, nor did it enjoy the water parameters it was in (very hard water PH 8.2+). After I moved the water parameters which much more favourable (PH 7.5) but with the addition of pressurized CO2 I’ve been able to bring the PH to a stable 6.5. This is where I’ve found the Cordata ‘Rosanervig’ is happiest and has sent 4 runners for me in the last 6 months and roughly 1 new leaf every two weeks/three weeks. It was not easy to figure out exactly what the Cordata Rosanervig preferred but with much patience and experimentation I believe I’ve found it’s ideal conditions.

I’ve done many experiments with substrates, lighting, water parameters, and fertilizing and this is what I’ve found.

1st attempt  (FAILURE)
– PH 8.2 (Water was too hard)
– MGOCPS with silica sand cap (Anaerobic conditions formed and the plant was not happy)
– Tank was near a window (Plant does not enjoy high lighting)
– Excess lighting+nutrients caused algae to form and veins to disappear.

 
2nd attempt (SUCCESS)
-PH 6.5 (Nice and soft)
– MTS+Dolomite+Muriate of Potash+Natural Clay + Seachem Flourite Dark X 1, Red X 1, Black Sand X 2.
– E.I dosing, micro + macro nutrients
– Pressurized CO2 10PSI 4 BPS
– T5HO light with PAR between 20-30. LOW LIGHT IS NECESSARY FOR VEINS TO DISPLAY.