Bucephalandra Study Group

[snowballs99]

Discussion with a person who brings in large amounts of Buce. Buce talk starts at ~6:45.

I've seen this as well.


I think at least on youtube, this guy below has the most impressive buces grown emersed.
The most important thing seems just to be some aquasoil (he uses fluval stratum so very low ferts), low light, cool temperature, for as long as you can possibly wait.

I asked him a year or so back how his was doing, and he said they ended up getting fungus due to a temperature spike at his place. So cooler temperatures absolutely help with keeping them stress free.

4:18 is where you can see them.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

I just received $90 worth of buce from Daku! It was a TON of buce, all really good looking.

This bowl is massive, the phot doesn't do it justice. It's like 13" across. This is a TON of buce.

 

[Art]

What is your concoction?

I was using APT Dew, but my bottle had floaters, and I was advised not to use it. I've been putting two drops of APT 3 in a quart spray bottle with RO water. Mist every few days.

Nothing special. Just a diluted hydroponic all in one fertilizer.

 

[Art]

Fungus and mold usually means you are running too humid and need to vent.

 

[Art]

Version 2 was needed earlier than expected. The InkBird I purchased from Temu was malfunctioning and the leaves were turning crunchy, if you know what I mean.

This is my makeshift ebb and flow system. I spent all day getting it to work semi-properly. I've ended up turning the pump on for a period of 4 minutes then off for 10 minutes and so on in a cycle. I have to do this to make sure that the finicky bell siphon drains at least every so often.

I will be upgrading the bell siphon with PVC, instead of my inverted water bottle, shortly.

 

[snowballs99]

Version 2 was needed earlier than expected. The InkBird I purchased from Temu was malfunctioning and the leaves were turning crunchy, if you know what I mean.

This is my makeshift ebb and flow system. I spent all day getting it to work semi-properly. I've ended up turning the pump on for a period of 4 minutes then off for 10 minutes and so on in a cycle. I have to do this to make sure that the finicky bell siphon drains at least every so often.

I will be upgrading the bell siphon with PVC, instead of my inverted water bottle, shortly.
View attachment 14085

You might run into some hassle with maintenance on this, you have a lot of great space for algae to grow uncontested.

Buces barely grow even when emersed, whenever I did these complicated set ups I got tired of maintaining them within a few months.

Have you also tested if the same buces produce different leaf coloration based on the light?
Etc, they might produce better darker leaves emersed in low light, rather than high light.

 

[anewbie]

View attachment 14066
I just received $90 worth of buce from Daku! It was a TON of buce, all really good looking.

This bowl is massive, the phot doesn't do it justice. It's like 13" across. This is a TON of buce.

What is a daku? A type of bowl ?

 

[Art]

Thanks for the thoughts.

This is a complete experiment to find what works best for me. I don't mind the algae provided it isn't impacting the plants.

At the moment, I'm running moderate light. You've reminded me that I should go see what PAR I'm hitting them with. Using a 12 hr light period.

My goal is optimal growth rather than leaf coloration. I'm trying to see what combination yields the healthiest growth the quickest. I do think this will result in light green leaves, I'm OK with that.

 

[Art]

What is a daku? A type of bowl ?

This is a Daku: Daku Aquatics

 

[snowballs99]

Thanks for the thoughts.

This is a complete experiment to find what works best for me. I don't mind the algae provided it isn't impacting the plants.

At the moment, I'm running moderate light. You've reminded me that I should go see what PAR I'm hitting them with. Using a 12 hr light period.

My goal is optimal growth rather than leaf coloration. I'm trying to see what combination yields the healthiest growth the quickest. I do think this will result in light green leaves, I'm OK with that.

All good, interested to see how fast they grow in the set-up then.
I think I also did an experiment where I had an auto-misting (spray bottle type of misting) spray a light hydroponic fertilizer on the buces every 30 minutes or so. They were planted in coco coir and extremely high light (300-500 par).

I stopped it because some of the buces ended up getting fungus/mold... which the misting was suppose to wash away and prevent.
On the flipside, my eriocaulon ratnigiri took off like wildfire.

I also had an experiment where I had one of those misting devices you normally have in a humidifier. it would completely fill the tank with mist/fog. To the point where you can barely see through the tank.
I also had to stop that... because of fungus/mold.

I'm starting to remember that temperatures above 75 is just asking for it fungus/mold.

 

[Art]

I'm interested to see if fungus/mold grows in this set up. I was using the fogger but have discontinued it. This is a simple ebb and flow that floods the plants every 10 minutes then allows them to be fully emersed.

Saw a Youtuber have good success with this method and anubias.

 

[gnatster]

Placed my order with Daku today. The temps are warming this week. I've asked him to label the varieties.

 

[TRyan]

I got into terrariums a couple years ago. I would get the clear bins from Walmart, drill two or three holes in it and put little soffit vents in them. I used Landen aqua soil in the bins and wet it with a spray bottle.

I had buce, ludwigia, s repens, tripartita, pogo erectus and many others in there. I put the bins on a 4-shelf rack with cheap under cabinet lights above. I have one terrarium still going strong. It has many different stem plants in it.

 

[TRyan]

I can't grow buce very well in my tank, though. They're just barely hanging on. Some of these I pulled out of my terrarium.

 

[snowballs99]

I can't grow buce very well in my tank, though. They're just barely hanging on. Some of these I pulled out of my terrarium.

what where the issues you ran into when growing buce in the tubs?

 

[TRyan]

No issues in the bins while they were in there. I always had a nice springtail colony going and ran all of my bins and terrariums with springtails in them.

 

[anewbie]

This is a Daku: Daku Aquatics

Yea i found them. In truth i think i like this place in texas a bit better for buces called bucefarm. Been pretty happy with his plants. I have no clue what these are but i took this today - they have been in the aquarium for at least 7 months - no co2 just plain acidic water with no minerals:

 

[gnatster]

The 3 assorted bunches, each with 3 varieties, arrived today.

Split them evenly between 2 containers
Container 1 - ControSoil and Lava Rock with GLA Fertilizer capsule granule at each plant site.
Container 2 - Eggcrate, RO Water to the base of the eggcrate with 2 drops APT3

Container 1


Container 2

​

Buce Propagation Experiment II​
Name ​	Quantity​	Location​
Super Mini	8​	Row 1
Buket	6​	Row 2
Blue Melon	2​	Row 3 Left
Zeus	2​	Row 3 Right
Fire Edge	2​	Row 4 Left
Cherish	4​	Row 4 Right
Red Aphrodite	2​	Row 5 Right
Black Pearl	2​	Row 5 Middle
Green Bell	2​	Row 5 Left

The table formatting from Google Docs got all wonky.