# plant bulbs, is floating bad?



## joephys

I am tying to grow some Apon. and Nymphaea bulbs. The directions say that they should be set on the top of the gravel. A couple of them float, so I was wondering if its ok to put them partially under the gravel to hold them down, or if the fact that they are floating means that they might not be good bulbs and I should just get rid of them.

Any suggestions?

Thanks


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## trenac

It usually means the bulb is bad. What I do with bulbs is to drop them into a glass of water, put the glass in front of a window until they sprout. This way you can tell which end is up and make sure that the bulb is good. Then I plant it into the substrate in the tank.


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## joephys

Great, thanks.


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## joemomma

I just found these at Wal-Mart over the weekend (starting a 10g for my little one). They floated for a bit, but then once the air bubbles on them dissipated they all sank. Are these guys truly low maintenance/easy to grow?


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## bencozzy

if you got the nymphaea lotus they grow to large for a 10g the apon should be all right in there but they can get to 14-16" in size, they are very easy to grow and will let off plantlets from there flower stems once they are acclimated to the tank.


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## John N.

I've had a couple of bulbs that didn't grow for whatever reason. I like Trenac's idea of sprouting them in water first. I've buried mine lightly in the substrate, and I planted so many that I've lost track of the ones that didn't grow. So they're in there somewhere. I'll try Trenac's idea next time to prevent that situation.

When they do grow, they are very easy to keep. Typically they are a type of Aponogeton, and seem to do well in my low/medium light with no dosing tanks. They all grow really lush and vibrant green. Only draw back seems to be they do get rather large if not kept in check.

I like the bulbs. Some of my greatest looking plants came from these bulbs.

-John N.


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## joephys

Well, the nympheae bulb sprouted, strangely enough, it was the floater. It did sink after a coulpe days.


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## jeff63851

Well, when the bulbs float for me, I would usually separate them from the bulbs that sunk. I usually put the bulbs in a small yogurt container and let them sit until they have grown roots and some leaves. Also, if you see white fuzz around the bulb, I would suggest you to wash that. It's just fungus, but sometimes, the bulbs sprout.


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## Shaggathai

I usually wrap a plant weight around bulbs that won't sink, and stick them about halfway in the gravel with the part that'll sprout up. Out of 6 I had 2 not sprout after a month +, so took them out and let them sit dry, just put them back in the tank a few days ago to see if a little rest period does them any good before I toss them.


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## joemomma

Where do you guys find these bulbs? The only ones I've seen were at Wal-Mart, and they only had two kinds (one was the Apon. and the other was some kind of lilly)?


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## bencozzy

wal-mart is the one with the nymphaea lotus and apon. hybrid.


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## jeff63851

I think Petco also carries them.


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## joephys

Joemomma, that is exactly what and where I got them.


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## John N.

Yup Petco and Walmart carry those plant bulb things. That's where I got/get mine. 

-John N.


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