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…