Bacopa Monnieri 'White'

[JacksonL]

Has anyone had much experience with this plant?
A local shop has just received stock of this version of bacopa, and I’m struggling to find many reports of people’s experiences growing it.

Bacopa Monnieri 'White'

Enhance your aquascape with Bacopa Monnieri ‘White’. A rare and stunning aquatic plant. Delivered anywhere in Australia.

schoolofscape.com.au

I’m a bit gun shy when it comes to white variants of plants that seem new to the hobby, and it’s not cheap so hoping to hear from someone whose grown it before I take the plunge!
Does it hold it’s white form? How much more sensitive than regular bacopa is it?

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Has anyone had much experience with this plant?
A local shop has just received stock of this version of bacopa, and I’m struggling to find many reports of people’s experiences growing it.

Bacopa Monnieri 'White'

Enhance your aquascape with Bacopa Monnieri ‘White’. A rare and stunning aquatic plant. Delivered anywhere in Australia.

schoolofscape.com.au

I’m a bit gun shy when it comes to white variants of plants that seem new to the hobby, and it’s not cheap so hoping to hear from someone whose grown it before I take the plunge!
Does it hold it’s white form? How much more sensitive than regular bacopa is it?

I think maybe @Dennis Wong has it or tried it? I do know that many “white” forms retain that color when nitrates are on the low to 0 side, I think excess nitrogen will encourage more green growth than white.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

For $90AUD I'd be nervous to try it either you're about to lose money, or it's about to be an investment that will pay itself off many times over (if you can market/advertise that you have it, and can also grow it well).

 

[Valerio]

I've had it in my tank for three weeks now. I really wanted a white plant, so I decided to give it a shot since you can find it here in Italy now as a tissue culture for 10 euros. Unfortunately, I don't have much to report—it’s basically been at a standstill. My impression is that it needs more light, and either way, it seems to be a pretty slow grower. I’m also waiting to see if anyone else has some tips or feedback.
By the way, I've been seeing Hygrophila polysperma 'White' by Tropica all over the place lately, so you might be able to snag that one at a more reasonable price.

 

[Scaper26]

I actually just planted some 3 weeks back. Seems to be growing white leaves so far, although it is a bit on the sensitive side, fresh aquasoil tends to burn their roots although they seem to be pretty aggressive rooters. I would assume they require high light to maintain their white colour. I had some stems that were green but have since turned white due to high lighting

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Let's see some pics, if you guys can share!

 

[Valerio]

I'm still not able to fix the colors with my phone... It's white IRL. Sadly as I said it's not growing, not a single new leaf. No melting, but now BBA and other black algae are covering it, so I don't think it will survive.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Gwad]

I ended up finding some white bacopa at Petco a few months back and gave it a try in my high tech tank with moderate light levels. It really just never did much until it started to lose lower leaves and turn into twigs, like it was starved for CO2 and/or light. After a couple of months it was just leafless stems and I removed it.

The rest of the tank was growing quite well, so I dont think it was necessarily me being negligent. I think it just needs a lot more light than I was giving it? My understanding is that white/highly variegated leaves are basically incapable of photosynthesis. That is a thing with some exotic houseplants as well.

Tissue culture day 1:


Tank looking cool with fancy white bacopa and Hygrophila Chai (seriously why does Petco stock these plants? Insane when they dont even really sell CO2 systems or real fertilizers)


1 week later:


1 month later just stagnating and losing leaves:

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Beautiful tank and beautiful pictures. White variegation is so unstable and often unhealthy... I mean, the whole point of chlorophyll is that it produces energy for the plant. Without it, eventual death. I was hoping to see some green in the stem on these plants, but maybe it's just not feasible as a true aquarium plant?

A lot of white plants and white variegations can get the energy they need from the solutions used in liquid culture/agar culture media, that they can't get from light itself. So they survive as tissue cultures, but don't actually survive outside of sterile media.

 

[Valerio]

I think it's possible to grow it in aquarium, but I thought it had lower requirements. At least Cheattha Sae-Taw has done it for years, here's one of his tank from FB.
The stem and the lower leaves look green

He uses two Chihiros Universal WRGB set at full 100%.

I will try to save it in a hanging pot, let's go back to my easy Pinto

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Do you have a full tank shot? That's awesome.

 

[Valerio]

I can't find it anymore but here's some tanks by Cheattha Sae-Taw with this plant.
More on his FB page


He has grown it emersed too

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

I wonder if anyone has tried it from APF:

Bacopa Monnieri Platinum APF Tissue Culture Aquarium Plants Factory®

Bacopa Monnieri Platinum is a unique version of the popular Bacopa Monnieri plant used in aquariums. At Aquarium Plants Factory, we're among the first to offer this special type of plant. The original Bacopa Monnieri, also called Moneywort or Water Hyssop, is easy to look after and grows fast in...

aquariumplantsfactory.com