# Is it crypt flowering season??!!?



## looking4roselines

Just like our recent socal weather, it really pours when it rains. I have four different sp. of crypts sending out spaths this month. There weren't any drastic environmental changes. Just regular upkeep as usual.

No fancy shmancy here either. All my crypts are grown in either aquasoil or standard potting soil (the cheap stuff from wal-mart. Good size bag for ~$3). Jobes root tabs are added every 3-4 months in each pot. Humidity level is somewhere between 85-90%.

c usterenia.

















c. pontederiifolia

















c.ferruginea 

























c. nurii flowering underwater while being neglected. CO2 ran out and I stopped fertilizing the tank for weeks. 









Oh... I am still having aphid problems in my crypt culture. I tried the insecticidal spray but it melted leaves on the more sensitive crypts. I caught a few lady bugs and threw them in my tank but the aphids are still not under control...look what I caught them doing instead:









If I am not too lazy, I will try to take some more pictures when they open.


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## legomaniac89

Nice! Where in the world did you find C. ferruginea? I haven't seen that one anywhere for probably a couple years. And can I call first dibs on baby plants?


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## Minsc

Ladybug larvae also eat aphids, they are just trying to help
Nice crypt collection!


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## looking4roselines

Most of my crypts are from Mr. G. A few were traded with members here and TPT. I am not sure how long it will take for it to send out a runner. It will probably take a while. 

I want to see how this grows underwater.


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## looking4roselines

This guy opened up today:









Update on the ferruginea. Spath is a little more developed:


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## 954baby

sick plants, if you ever want to sell/trade for a c.ferruginea or anything else send me a PM, i'm always interested in new crypts.


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## legomaniac89

Nice usteriana spathe. Don't forget to give the plants some ferts. Flowering can be a difficult process for these guys if they don't have enough nutrients to go around.


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## looking4roselines

Root tabs were recently added. The usterenia have another spath forming.

I think I am going to yank the nurii out plant it in a pot emmersed. I want to see if I can get the spath to open.


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## Khamul1of9

Nice collection of blooms! Can't wait to see your _C. ferruginea_ in bloom.


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## looking4roselines

This bad boy opened today! LAMO!!! This one needs some deodorant. It's spath smells like sweaty armpits from a UPS truck driver in the middle of summer.


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## legomaniac89

Haha nice description. That is one sweet spathe!


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## ddavila06

is not just an awesome looking plants but beautiful too! congrats


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## Khamul1of9

Eeewww. Totally cool!!! And its ok to smell it cause you know its all plant chemicals, not man made or bacterial haha.


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## looking4roselines

Here are a few more spaths from the last few weeks.

C. ideii









C. noritoi

















C. undulata









C. usteriana x walkeri









Some miscellaneous photos of my 20 gal emersed crypt setup:

C. cordata 'rosanervig' looking hot! They all have the veins, including plantlets. They're grown in standard potting soil supplemented with osmocote.


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## looking4roselines




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## looking4roselines

Last one for now


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## FarCanal

looking4roselines said:


> C. cordata 'rosanervig' looking hot!


NOT WRONG! That is just stunning! So jealous.

Here in Australia we are heading into the cold part of the year and I've had some out of season flowering going on. You can never predict a crypt ...


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## ferchu22

WOW!!

Nice spathes and nice healthy growth!!! The cordata 'Rosanervig' is amazing!!!

All the plants are in standard potting soil + osmocote??

Congrats!!


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## Khamul1of9

I really like the undulata and noritoi. Wow.


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## pianofish

Wow that Rosanervig is fantastic!!


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## Ghazanfar Ghori

You're doing something right! I still havent been able to coax my rosenervig to show the veination!


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## looking4roselines

Thanks. 

Some are grown in pure aquasoil and some in standard potting soil + osmocote. 

These standard potting soil are really cheap and seems to grow crypts fine but there might be down sides to them. I am suspecting that the soil contained aphid eggs and fungus spores, the root of the fungus and aphid problems in my setup. I wanted to soak the pots and I had to scrape off the top layer and have it capped with eco-complete so the media wont float.


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## mats808

Really nice plants. Great job with the 'Rosanervig'. 

I never used that much potting soil but in a couple pots I mixed some with aquasoil and chopped up New Zealand sphagnum. I also kind of suspect that my soil had some fungus spores. I hate fungus!!!!!!!:yell:


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## looking4roselines

a few species have been flowering prolifically back to back. c. xtimahensis has started to send out a spathe for the first time as well. i wlll take some new photos when i get home from work.

c ferruginea threw up another spathe not too long ago. The tail on this one appears to be longer than the last one. A new spathe is forming again.
here is the older one with a longer tail:


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## Cvurb

Wow! That is a beautiful spathe, that is a crypt on my to get list for sure!


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## ddavila06

Cvurb said:


> Wow! That is a beautiful spathe, that is a crypt on my to get list for sure!


ditto, is reaaaaally pretty!! Congrats


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## looking4roselines

Here it is. Due to fungus infection, this plant was replanted a little over a month ago before the spathe was formed.


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## looking4roselines

This fungus business has become a real problem for me. I repotted one of the 20gal setup not too long ago and it looks like I have to repot this tank as well.

Anyone have good sucess eliminating fungus in their setups? I heard garlic and lemon grass have good antifungal properties. I might make a spray out of them first before repotting.


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## Cvurb

I heard somewhere that moss will help prevent it, I think, I heard it on a German site... But someone else can help you more... Nice plant though


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## rs79

This should in theory take care of the fungus and be safe. Please give it a try and see what happens.

Put 1 drop of oregano oil in a test tube. add 5 cc ethanol (or vodka in a pinch, any pure grain alcohol. I don't know if you can use rubbing alcohol and wouldn't try it unless somebody said it was safe.

Add 10 cc distiller water, shake vigorously. Add this to 1 litre of your regular water. Flush the mould out by pouring water on it and dump all the excess water with mould off. Flush it as best you wan to remove as much of the mould as possible.

Then water it with the water with the oregano oil it it, soak it in the stuff.

This might work if you do it once a week. Or you may have to do it once every 2 days or maybe even once a day, but it should work.

Lemme know...


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## Minsc

Mushroom growers use H202 mixtures to eliminate mold from their cultures without harming the 'shrooms. Perhaps that would be useful here as well?


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## rs79

I've found there's a fine line when using h202, between "rats, that wasn't enough to do any good" and "oops, everything is dead".


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## looking4roselines

rs79 and Minsc-

Thank you very much for the comprehensive procedure and suggestions. 

I actually made some lemon grass juice with a blender last week and tested the juice on two pots. Each pot was treated twice over the last 4-5 days. The pot (c. cordata graboski) was flushed with water each time before a new treatment. The cordata pot appears to be clean now but I'll wait for a week or two to see if it comes back (the fungus normally returns after two weeks when flushed with water alone). The second pot was sprayed twice without flushing.

If this doesn't work, I will try rs79's approach.

Oh and the scent of the lemon grass was refreshing but it didn't taste the same. :crazy:


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## looking4roselines

I found a spathe from a C. sipralis dwarf in the 60 gallon emersed tank I left in the storage room back at my parent's place. This tank was left untouched for months and everything seems to be thriving. It was used as a temporary holding tank for unused aquatic plant and crypts.

I received it from one of the GWAPA guys two years ago and the plant grew emersed for about 6 months in potting soil. The base of the spathe is dark maroon in color, fading towards the tail into a lighter color.

I also found a few sp. of aquatic plants that sprouted from seeds after flowering. Poly. sp. Porto Velho and Aciotis sp. are two of the sp.


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## ferchu22

Great! Nice Spathe.



looking4roselines said:


> *This tank was left untouched for months and everything seems to be thriving.*


This is very interesting, at least for me. Can you explain a little how this emersed tank is configured (humidity, light, soil, etc).

Thanks. Good job!


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## looking4roselines

The tank is situated in the southeast corner of my parent's storage room. It receives direct sunlight during sun rise from the east side window and indirect sunlight from the south side window during the day. The tank also have a 24" t8 lamp on a timer for about 8 hours a day. 



All the stem plants and crypts are grown on either aqua soil or standard potting soil without any fertilization. I dont have a humidity gauge in the tank but I would assume its around75-85%.


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## looking4roselines

Here is the fully opened C xtimahensis.
Notice the yellowing of the leaves? The plant is exhausting itself to form the spathe. 









Here is another - C xwillisii


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## HoustonFishFanatic

Those are some nice looking spathes. Congrats.


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## Wire Fox Terror

Beautiful! How does the AS compare to potting soil for these emersed plants? I've seen that lots of people use it in emersed setups but am curious how it might be better than a good potting soil.


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## looking4roselines

Wire Fox Terror said:


> Beautiful! How does the AS compare to potting soil for these emersed plants? I've seen that lots of people use it in emersed setups but am curious how it might be better than a good potting soil.


I've had equal success with both but there might be some down sides in using potting soil. Ever since I started using potting soil, fungus and aphids started to appear. I never had these issues in the last year and a half growing crypts using aquasoil and I am suspecting that the potting soil might have been contaminated with aphid eggs and funus spores. The pots also need to be capped with a heavier layer of gravel to prevent debris from floating if you want to soak the pots.

However, potting soil is a much cheaper alternative.


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## HeyPK

It is very doubtful that aphid eggs were in the potting soil. Aphids give birth to young during most of the season. They only lay eggs in the late fall, and the eggs survive the winter and hatch out into parthenogenetic females that crank out little babies generation after generation for the rest of the spring and summer. 

The fungus may well have been there or, something that the fungus could live upon.


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## looking4roselines

I haven't updated this thread in a while and decided to provide an update.

My C cordata rosanervig flowered last night. This is the second time it flowered but I failed to take a photo the first time. The spathe fully opened when I got home from work.


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## ferchu22

Nice!! Which is your culture info, to get that nice veins? Because many people have this plant but the veins are not always like this.

Regards,


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## looking4roselines

It's used aquasoil (~1.5 yrs old) mixed with earthworm casting. Its sitting under two t8 lamps and the humidity level varies in the 90% range.



ferchu22 said:


> Nice!! Which is your culture info, to get that nice veins? Because many people have this plant but the veins are not always like this.
> 
> Regards,


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## Khamul1of9

I thought the veins are genetic for this variety.
Are other Rosanervigs not as colourful?
Its very beautiful!!!!


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## 954baby

That C cordata rosanervig looks amazing if you ever have one to sell PM me ASAP!!!


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## mats808

Xue,
Good job with the C. cordata 'Rosanervig'. Nicely grown. :high5:
Aaron


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## chad320

Beautiful. Super jealous. Does it keep the color submerged?


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## looking4roselines

Chad, the c cordata rosanervig would throw out an leaf or two without the veins but the veins are mostly present when grown submerged in either low or high light.

I have another c cordata (siamesis) that bloomed today. Very clean yellow spathe.


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## looking4roselines

C cordata Thailand from Aaron M.
The color is about the same as the one above but the size is significantly bigger.


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## ddavila06

wow! tempted to start a set up like yours


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## chad320

Nice job on the Cordata 'Tailand' spathe. Its nice to see yours compared to mine being submerged. They look almost identical.


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## looking4roselines

Thanks Chad.

I have a new spathe that opened up this afternoon. Can anyone guess which plant this spathe belongs to?


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## ferchu22

Nice!!
It's not so red I, but c. noritoi is my best bet at the moment. Or maybe moehlmannii? :-k


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## rubra22

Hi,
nice spathe, i thing she looks like Lagenandra nairii.

see here:

http://crypts.home.xs4all.nl/Lagenandra/Gallery/lna/lna.html

Mario


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## looking4roselines

You got it! Althought it's not really a crypt. This is my first bloom from a lagenandra sp.


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## speedie408

Just went through the entire thread. Great plants Xue. 

I have a question tho... do you mist any of your emmersed crypts?


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## looking4roselines

Thanks. The setups are not misted. The humidity is kept around 80-90 most of the time.


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## wabisabi

Awesome plants Xue. I'm so jealous!


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## wabisabi

I think this thread needs some updating!


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## nilocg

looking4roselines said:


> This fungus business has become a real problem for me. I repotted one of the 20gal setup not too long ago and it looks like I have to repot this tank as well.
> 
> Anyone have good sucess eliminating fungus in their setups? I heard garlic and lemon grass have good antifungal properties. I might make a spray out of them first before repotting.


Have you thought about baking the soil prior to using it? Im not positive, but I would think that it would sterilize everything.


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## DogFish2.0

It would be interesting to see if H2O2 would kill the fungus as it does Alage.

Maybe spray with a pump bottle and give 5min. then rinse with clear water.


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## 954baby

It's pretty hard to get rid of. I would say try repotting, and soak plants in a 1/10 parts bleach and water solution. I have it here and there in my pots and it's really hard to get rid of. I know that if you submerse the pots it can kill it for a while but it always manages to come back. Also, if you submerse the plants a little bit sometimes they will melt and try to transition into a form more suitable for the semi submersed conditions. I am going to try to use vermiculite next time I repot. Put down a quarter inch layer at the top and see if that stops the growth of unwanted algae and mold/fungus.


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## looking4roselines

There isn't much to update at the moment. Sorry.

Fungus is no longer an issue to me. I plumbed all my emerged tanks with an overflow. The water level is now controlled with a pvc pipe. I just need to raise the water level a quarter of an inch above the rim of the pot for a week or two and they should be gone. 

Frank, I tested the oak leaves over the weekend. I will send you the results tomorrow.


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## looking4roselines

I acquired a crypt as c fusca about 2 years ago. It finally sent a spathe last week and I need your opinion on it's identification. The spathe does not look the c fusca that I am used to seeing. However, I did notice that there are "hairs" on the inner part of the limb that look very similiar to the ones shown here http://crypts.home.xs4all.nl/Cryptocoryne/Gallery/fus/fus.html - third row, first column.

















The colors of the spathe are off and the tip is extremely short compared to the ones shown in the crypt pages:









Your thoughts?


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## chad320

The pic in the second column, second pic says that not all spathes are twisted, some just a split. I looked it over and I would agree that its C. fusca. Do you have any runners of this one?


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## looking4roselines

chad320 said:


> The pic in the second column, second pic says that not all spathes are twisted, some just a split. I looked it over and I would agree that its C. fusca. Do you have any runners of this one?


Thanks chad. I guess this is one of the extreme form of spathes that do not twist

Unfortunately there are no runners. I am repotting it into a different substrate to see if I can get better growth. It has been very slow growing in the last two years


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## chad320

Maybe a second spathe would be longer? What soil mix is this in, straight AS, or the cheap potting soil mix?


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## wabisabi

On Jan's website, says that C. fusca has very tiny hairs (requires a magnifying glass) on the underside and margins of the leaves. Do you see the hairs? 

I do agree that the opening, tube, and kettle looks like C. fusca. The inside of the tube and kettle are also purple. 

Agree with Chad, maybe the second spathe will be longer.


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## looking4roselines

I'll check the leaves when I get home tonight. It pays to read all the info available before asking haha. But I guess its good to get a second or third opinion for reassurance.

Chad, the substrate looks like a mixture of earthworm casting and aquasoil. I'll try to add some leaf litter and powdered clay at the bottom to see if this helps.


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