# Why are the roots of my Submersed C. Wendtii Red shooting out of the ground?



## Cvurb (May 23, 2010)

Okay, I my C. Wendtii 'Red' in my tank has it's roots starting to shoot out of the ground, they are like 1/2" out of the substrate, it is growing GREAT, definitely the faster growingCrypt I have. But why are the roots doing this?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Cvurb,

My Crypts (wendtii, balansae) do that as well once they get well established.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

i have several plants doing that besides my crypt usteriana and my wendtii used to do that. my theory is that they have such a large impresive root system and they just kind of pop-out  other plants that do that in my tanks include hugemongous melon sword, red lotus, green lotus.


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## Cvurb (May 23, 2010)

Haha, yeah because these are the biggest crypts in my tank and are growing FAST, and BIG. Well as long as it is a normal thing the only thing I can really do is add more sand to the roots... But I'll see what happens.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Many, perhaps all, crypts send small roots up out of the substrate when they are well established.

C. aponogetifolia









When nitrogen is low, crypts produce bigger root systems. This C. wendtii plant has been grown under low nitrogen availability, and, even though it is small, it has already sent up roots.


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## Cvurb (May 23, 2010)

Woah that is really cool. But that petri dish is pretty small  That C. aponogetifolia has some crazy root system lol. Glad I got this figured out because I wasn't sure if it was something bad or not... But I guess not haha


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Just speculationg, these upward growing roots may help extract nutrients from the water and they may function to capture debris and build up the substrate in flowing water, bringing the plants nearer the surface. Captured debris, such as leaves, may be a source of nutrients, also.


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## Cvurb (May 23, 2010)

So do you think it could also be that I did not put the rhizome of the plant far enough in the substrate?


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

No. When they grow and spread naturally, their rhizomes are near or at the surface, and they always produce these roots. They grow these upward roots for a purpose, and they can be over two inches long. This is natural for them, just as it is natural for some stem plants to grow roots from the nodes of their stem even when the stem is far above the substrate.


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## Cvurb (May 23, 2010)

Cool, well I will be looking for other plants with the roots coming out like this too.


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