# Aerial roots



## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

Anyone one have any strategy for keeping stem plants, in particular ludwigias, from growing aerial roots? My L. Repens gets a lot of root growth almost all the way to the top of the plant, and most of my other plants too.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

You can't prevent them from forming. You can only snip them off, as far as imam aware of. Usually, once snipped, it takes a while for the plant to produce more of them. Uprooting and replanting will also help.


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## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for the help.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

It's just the nature of stem plants, man! I think that it helps make them look more natural, but that's just me. Persicarias don't form aerial roots; L senegalensis and verticillata species don't either. L. Arcuata x repens hybrid doesn't form aerial roots either. What are you looking for? Red colored stems that don't form aerial roots?


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## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

Yeah, sort of. I am just really fond of ludwigias, and not too fond of trimming, haha. I will check out some of those that you mentioned, I have been wanting to get some arcuata x repens anyway.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

I have ton I have to get rid of....let me know if you are interested! I have a tank tear down starting.


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## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

You aren't tearing down that 200 are you?

Edit: just went over to your thread and you are...makes me sad. I used your pictures to convince a buddy to start a tank. Congrats on gettin a new house though, and I am looking forward to seeing your next tank.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Don't worry.....I just need a break from such a......attention-demanding system. In that tank, it can become a bit overwhelming, you know?


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

In most tanks aerial roots are normal, but I might have one small tip: a friend of my has almost the same setup as I do, but has much less aerial roots. I'm a heavy water column doser. He relies mainly on his nutrient rich substrate. Maybe with less nutrients in the water column available plants start using their roots more. Not sure this is the right explanation because I would say it could be the other way around as well (less nutrients in the water column, so extra aerial roots to scavenge nutrients) but it might be worth a try if you really don't like them.


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## sandeepraghuvanshi (Feb 22, 2007)

Yo-han said:


> In most tanks aerial roots are normal, but I might have one small tip: a friend of my has almost the same setup as I do, but has much less aerial roots. I'm a heavy water column doser. He relies mainly on his nutrient rich substrate. Maybe with less nutrients in the water column available plants start using their roots more. Not sure this is the right explanation because I would say it could be the other way around as well (less nutrients in the water column, so extra aerial roots to scavenge nutrients) but it might be worth a try if you really don't like them.


I read somewhere that many stem plants sprout aerial roots in nutrient rich water. 
So low water column might help.
This is further reinforced by the fact that I have a low light tank with sand substrate and low water column dosing and aerial roots are absent in this case.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

But there is nothing wrong with aerial roots, like Donald said, learn to appreciate them I've really unwanted aerial roots right now, on one of my willow branches...

















This has all grown in 24 hour after I scraped everything off so, I think I've no other option than taking all the wood out (they are glued to the bottom so it really is unpleasant).


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Johan! Are you using the willow branches to prevent green water? It's too bad you are going to remove it...I was always kind of interested to see how that worked and if it was practical!


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Fortunately I don't have green water. These branches were ment for decoration, see my jounal: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/journals/84716-yo-hans-100g-planted-2.html


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## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

This is an mts tank, so I haven't really added too many ferts to it, just a small amount of csm+b and potassium. However, I didn't really have too much mechanical filtration either, and the water was getting a bit murky. I did a pretty major trim and added some filter floss to the canister. It has cleared the water quite a bit, so we will see how the ludwigias fare this time.


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## Transposon (Jul 16, 2005)

It's amazing (in an unfortunate way) how tough the willow is...


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