Ammania Sp. Bonsai AKA True Rotala Indica – Tropica 1-2 Grow UPDATE 4 (Germinated Seeds)

Ammania Sp. Bonsai AKA True Rotala Indica is a fairly easy plant to grow once it’s been established, provided you’re growing it under optimal conditions. I’ve had this plant constantly flowering for quite some time now which has given me the opportunity to experiment with it’s flower and seeds; however I have not figured out how to germinate the seed on it’s own without being attached to the plant.

When I see ripe pink open flowers I take a small paintbrush and collect pollen from one plant and place it on another open flower in an attempt to artificially pollinate the plant; this has worked successfully for me so far in the past four months.

A few weeks later the plant flower will close, followed by the flower turning itself into a seed which then feeds off the mother plant growing tiny baby stem plants with surprisingly extensive root systems. As you’ll see below it there are easily 15-20 tiny stems in each seed but they are EXTREMELY difficult to even plant, for reference the pictures below were taken on my fingertip.

Here shows the life stage of the flower from a tiny flower bud, to open buds, to the seedling now growing off the mother:

 

At the last stage of it’s lifespan the Ammania Sp. Bonsai will begin to rot away after it’s produced a bunch of daughters as you see in the photo above.

As always here are the specs in which the plant is kept in:

Lighting – 4 T5 36″ SHOPLIGHTS (Nothing Fancy!!) The lights don’t even have reflector’s on them.
Light Bulbs – X 2 6700 Natural Daylight, X 2 Rosette ColourMax Bulbs.
Lighting Duration – Lights on at 10:00am, Lights off at 10:00pm = Full 12 hours, I gradually drop this down to 8 when the winter comes.
Substrate – 1 Cow Manure, 1 Sheep Manure, 1 Worm Castings, 3 CHEAP topsoil, 2 Peat, 0.5 Naturally Collected Clay
Humidity – Misting done via MistKing pump for 20 seconds at 1:30pm and at 6:30pm. Humidity stays between 70-80%
Temperature – 68-70 when lights are off and it is night time, 72-74 when all the lights are on in the plant room.
PH – 6.5 with the use of Almond leaves; being sure to keep on top of replacing them not letting the PH swing too much.

I also keep this plant in a submersed state in my main display tank, I try to not let the stems get too tall as I prefer to use it in a Bonsai effect. Once established in your aquarium Ammania Sp. Bonsai is really not all that difficult to grow, just be sure to have sufficient lighting, nutrient rich substrate, and pressurized CO2 supplementation.

Here are some pictures of the plant submersed in my tank.

Ammania Sp. Bonsai AKA True Rotala Indica – Tropica 1-2 Grow Update 2 (Flowering)

I was very surprised to see tiny flower buds appearing on my Ammania. Sp. Bonsai considering how small the actual stems are. I’ve trimmed them twice since purchasing them in order to encourage new growth and re-coupe my costs+on-going costs so the tallest stem is maybe 3.5 inches?

I’ve taken a few of these stems, roughly 5-6 and submersed them in my high-tech planted aquarium to see if they would melt at all considering they’ve been grown emersed; no melt what so ever happened.

This plant is painfully slow growing but is absolutely beautiful, enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for pictures when the flowers get larger.
    

Ammania Sp. Bonsai AKA True Rotala Indica – Tropica 1-2 Grow Update 1

Almost exactly one month ago I first purchased a tub of Ammania Sp. Bonsai from Tropica’s 1-2 Grow tissue culture plants and planted 103 stems in 4 different set ups. Roughly two weeks into it I began to develop a white fuzz on my plants in the humidity domes (I suspect the humidity was too high) and this white fuzz managed to completely destroy the Ammania Sp. Bonsai that I had in there.

Me trying to act without thinking properly tried to salvage the remaining stems & put them into another enclosure with Ammania Sp. Bonsai that was growing great, only to then kill off my remaining supply of everything in that set up as well. It looks as if I have transferred the “disease’ into that tank now also which is a huge pain in the butt because I am now left with only one set up containing the Ammania Sp. Bonsai with roughly 20 stems +/- a few.

I have this plant under four 36” T5 fixtures with two 6700k bulbs and two rosette bulbs, as well as a homemade substrate previously mentioned in my other write ups.

Here are some pictures of the new growth so far
 

Ammania Sp. Bonsai AKA True Rotala Indica – Tropica 1-2 Grow

I’ve always been hesitant with tissue culture plants ever since I had a bad experience with tissue cultured Pogostemon Helferi, but when I saw this plant for sale at a well known store downtown Toronto I had to take the chance.

Here in Canada Ammania Sp. Bonsai is one of those plants you RARELY see, and when you do people charge anywhere from $5-10 a stem, this made the little $9.99 tub of Tropica’s 1-2 grow even that much more attractive.

Quickly after getting home I prepared all my cutting tools, a small bowl of water, a mister to keep the plants moist, and a couple of old tissue culture pots I had from previous purchases to keep the stems in once cut. Once I began working on the Ammania Sp. Bonsai I was super impressed by the root growth on it, although it was a slow and tedious process which took a little over 1 hour. I managed to salvage 103 stems ranging in size from 1/4 inch-2 inches and then distributed them throughout various humidity domes and emersed planted tanks in order to experiment with it’s growing conditions.

I will continue to add pictures as the stems develop and look more so like the Ammania Sp. Bonsai we’ve come to know and love.