# getting Brazilian pennywort to root in gravel



## ming shipwreck (Mar 24, 2011)

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to get Brazilian pennywort to root? I have a few strands of it in my tank, and it is growing pretty well, putting out new leaves, but it doesn't seem to want to root. When I stick a stem in the gravel, it always seems to rot and there are no roots coming out of the lower nodes. I don't want to extend too much of it horizontally along the gravel, if possible I want it to grow up from the gravel, vertically. Has anybody been able to get their pennywort to do this?


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Its a floating plant. You will not be able to get it to root in substrate. You can pulloff the bottom leaves and leave the stems and roots. Then wrap the roots around the stems and stick it in the substrate. You can drape it over other structures.


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## richy (Nov 8, 2004)

Are we talking about Hydrocotyle leucocephala? If it is, then you won't be able to get more than one node of the stuff to root in substrate. It won't grow straight up either. It grows in many different directions toward the light.


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## ming shipwreck (Mar 24, 2011)

Yeah, I didn't mean that it should be exactly vertical, it kind of zigzags anyway, I was just wondering if it would actually root in the substrate (even one node) in the way that cabomba caroliniana and milfoils root. Like, they can grow floating without roots (or with minimal roots), but if you put one end of the stem in the substrate, sometimes they will put out a lot of roots and basically become permanently anchored there. Or, if I put the roots of hydrocotyle leucocephala in the gravel, will they either rot and fall off, or just sit there as they are, but not grow down into the substrate?


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## richy (Nov 8, 2004)

It should be able to root in the substrate without problems.... not sure why it's rotting on you when you plant it.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I remember seeing an ad in a garden catalog about a liquid fertilizer, "This fertilizer promotes healthy rotting." That's probably not what you have.


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## ming shipwreck (Mar 24, 2011)

Okay. I think it's just taking them a while to adjust to my tank and get settled, and maybe also I bruised the nodes/stems a bit too much when burying them in the substrate. It turns out one of the four stems I planted was rooting nicely (the bottom looked rotten, I pulled it up). They were all pretty beat up when I first got them and it took a while before the leaves really started growing, so I guess same thing with the roots.

Thanks for the advice!


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