# roots under every node!



## greenfish4 (Nov 7, 2005)

has anyone else experienced extensive roots developing under every node of their stem plants ? (rotalas, ludwiga the worst but also on the cobomba) I have seen it happen to a much lesser degree in my lower light tanks (on egaria) but this is insane it seems to occur on every node until about 3/4 of the way up the plant. It is only annoying because it kind of distracts from the overall beauty. I always trim my stem plants to just a little bit underneath a node before planting them, could this be the cause?
Also the first bunch of rotalas that I put in grew in a corkscrew pattern? this was odd because it developed 2-3 turns on it before growing straight for a while. the newest bunch I put in seems to be growing somewhat straighter but time will only tell.
This is a high light 3+ wpg CO2 (+/-28ppm) tank that is dosed pretty heavily with flourish, Flrsh iron, Flou no3, flou po4, flou KCI, flou fer, and flou excel for good measure  
thnx for your help again everyone


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

That's normal. You can clip the roots off when you see them. Eventually this will encourage the plant to stop making these pesky roots. 

People think these stem plants develop these axial roots as a way to compensate for the fact that the substrate they are growing in is not that rich. Basically, since the gravel they are planted in does not contain a lot of iron and other nutrients, the plant tries to put off more roots to absorb more nutrients.

It is interesting to know that all true aquatic plants are capable of absorbing nutrients through their leaves, though some plants are just better at doing it then others. for example the feathery plants are better then say... cryptocranes (heavy root feeders). You could try buying some fertilizer tabs from your LFS and placing them under the stem plants, though this idea won't help much for plants that naturally make a lot of axial roots like Ludwigia.

Ludwigias normally produce a lot of these roots regardless of conditions as a means to spread themselves along the ground. They keep sending out roots from each new leaf node as the actual stem grows horizontally thereby creating 1 stem that is anchored horizontally. This stem will then send up many new stems from each leaf node and the entire plant will have spread to another location in the tank. 

As for the spiral patterns of growth that you noticed, that's normal too. I'm not entirely sure why the plants stems start spiraling around each other in the same direction, but this seems to happen right after you trim the tops off and replant them, but I have only noticed it in my high light tanks, so perhaps it has something to do with light and trimming..? After a few days-weeks they start growing straight again. I think the straight growth happens once their root systems are developed, so maybe the spiraling has something to do with absorbing nutrients in the water column more efficiently?


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## greenfish4 (Nov 7, 2005)

I think that i will try the flourish tabs. do you think that they would be a good choice in conjunction with the eco complete? I have heard of people pressing there own tablets, this way I could sort of give them just what they are looking for (once I found out what it was) 
thanx again zapins


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

sure, you could make your own, or get the flourish ones. i think i tried those once and the plants kept growing their roots into them.

As for which tab to choose... basically they are all the same IMO with no major differences between their quality that i have heard. i think their major point is to supply the trace elements at a more constant rate, especially iron. root tabs are good at supplying micronutrients like iron because unchelated (iron that is not chemically bound to some other molecule - plants prefer unchelated iron) iron is photo-sensitive and will be converted to other unusable forms when hit by light in the tank. so essentially since root tabs are in the dark under the gravel the iron they release wont be affected by the light and the plants can absorb it.

even with the root tabs you should still keep dosing the water column with your normal ferts. dont be tricked into thinking these tabs will take care of all your fert needs. they are but a useful supplement.


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## Gumby (Aug 1, 2005)

I've noticed now that I've lowered my nitrates and raised my phosphates I'm starting to get a lot more roots at leaf nodes. Check you macro levels and make sure they're where they are supposed to be.


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## Salt (Apr 5, 2005)

It is my understanding that these roots do not form in the presense of low nutrients in the substrate. They are called "aerial roots" and their purpose is to help anchor the plant in place (like the roots that ivy grows to make it cling to walls)... they don't have any more "nutrient absorbing power" than the rest of the plant tissue.


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## imatrout (May 12, 2005)

Salt said:


> It is my understanding that these roots do not form in the presense of low nutrients in the substrate. They are called "aerial roots" and their purpose is to help anchor the plant in place (like the roots that ivy grows to make it cling to walls)... they don't have any more "nutrient absorbing power" than the rest of the plant tissue.


I think this is right and that they also are thea natural way some plants spread. I notice on my rotala that wheneve the stem bends, a root will form on ythe bottom of the node and a new stem on the top of the node.


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## yildirim (Nov 25, 2004)

*Aerial roots*

I nelieve the aerial roots are related with getting more nutrients as the plant grows. You can cut them immediately as you see them. After sometime plant will stop giving these aerial roots but the undergravel roots will grow increadibly.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

My cabomba only grows node roots when the stems get too long and they start to grow horizontally across the surface.


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