L pantanal and substrate fertilization with ammoniacle nitrogen

[Pepere]

Catchy title isnt it. By golly it makes my heart beat faster…

Well maybe this photo can help make up for a dry title..


“Ludwigia pantanal with stunted crowns grown in a tank with high nitrate in the water column (20+ppm) but no ammoniacal nitrogen (left picture) VS Ludwigia pantanal grown in a tank with limited nitrate (0ppm residual in the water column) but with ammoniacal nitrogen in the substrate zone (right picture).”

I was reading this in @Dennis Wong article on the 2 hr aquarist.

Root or water column fertilization?

Should we use root tablets or dose directly into the water column for your planted tank? What works and why..

www.2hraquarist.com

I have grown L Pantanal that look like the photo on the left in a water column only fertilized tank..

Now I was finding the stem grew so fast it would have to be shortened weekly. I uprooted it and shortened it and replanted the upper portion and would cut remaining stems prgressively shorter to form an attractive bush.

I had tried cutting off the top and forming the bush that way and regrowth was affected and the bunch never looked as good.

My question relates to how well a shortened stem without roots absorbs from the substrate? Dies the growth stall from lack of nutrients as it grows roots?

What exactly is the best method of shortening the stems and getting an attractive presentation and good growth using lean wc dosing and rich aquasoil?

 

[Dennis Wong]

By having a taller tank, large sized bush where alternate stems are cut so that there are always taller heads to rotate and show on the outer canopy. Not having that lean of a water column to ease the transition during replanting can also help during the replanting cycles.
Or you can always do what the plant arrangement folks do - trim stems, plant them into substrate then immediately at the same height, take a picture, oh look my stems are all at the perfectly same height.

 

[Pepere]

Thank you for that info Dennis.

My solution was to get rid of the Pantanal. It grew maybe 5-6 inches a week. It looked really good in the tank for maybe 24 hours each week, but only 8 of them were illuminated…

I will keep it in mind for future endeavors…

 

[Pepere]

Ludwigia pantanal with stunted crowns grown in a tank with high nitrate in the water column (20+ppm) but no ammoniacal nitrogen (left picture) VS Ludwigia pantanal grown in a tank with limited nitrate (0ppm residual in the water column) but with ammoniacal nitrogen in the substrate zone (right picture).”

@Dennis Wong , one additional question. Does nitrate limiting of the water column actually help the L pantanel grow better, or are you nust highlighting above how important ammoniacle nitrogen in the substrate is to healthy growth?.

Ie would the plant grow as well if you had the substrate ammoniacle fertilization and rich water column ferts as well?

I am thinking a case where you might be running mostly water column ferts for the rest of your plants because you dont haveaquasoil in and you simply opt to escavate the area where you plan on the pantanel and place some aquasoil in that spot..

 

[Dennis Wong]

No nitrate limiting doesn't help Pantanal grow better, heavier water column ferts do. N limiting can slow its growth so that I can get better alignment of the tops for photos.
You can feed it from both angles, ammoniacal nitrogen just gives it better growth form. You use aquasoil in a spot I guess if you really wanted to, but it still doesn't solve the growth rate issue which is the main problem with pantanal I think. Having a 2ft or 2.5ft tall aquarium makes a huge diff.