# New to crypts questions.



## sarahbobarah (Sep 5, 2005)

Ok, I've been keeping crypts for about a year now, and the more I learn, the less I know!!!:ballchain 

For example, is there an easy way to identify what crypt you have if you've forgotten what you bought or traded?

Does the common statement that if you leave a crypt alone after it melts it comes back apply to *all* or *most* crypts?

I have had good luck with taking submersed growth and potting them into a terrarium with no melts or deaths, but how dry can the soil get before it kills them?

And, if I cut the rhizomey thing at the base of the crypt to give out samples, will the baby plants be ok, or should I avoid cutting the rhizomey thing?

Thanks for any help and sorry if these questions are so noobish.


----------



## BSS (May 2, 2006)

Certainly no crypt expert, though I've managed to keep my initial ones alive for 3+ years...



sarahbobarah said:


> For example, is there an easy way to identify what crypt you have if you've forgotten what you bought or traded?


From what I understand, crypts are some of the most difficult of all plants to positively id. For a positive it, you need to let if flower and do some analysis of the flower. Having said that, I think you can typically narrow most down to a couple varieties, but you may never be truly sure  .



> oes the common statement that if you leave a crypt alone after it melts it comes back apply to *all* or *most* crypts?


Very few things in life will apply to 'all' situations . Though never having a crypt melt yet, I'm not the best to be advising on this one.



> And, if I cut the rhizomey thing at the base of the crypt to give out samples, will the baby plants be ok, or should I avoid cutting the rhizomey thing?


My original crypt was sent as a wendtii variety. I'm thinking it's the brown/bronze variety. It's got a huge mass of a root-ball-thingy...not sure I'd call it a rhizome. I get babies separating off it all the time, and I frequently give them out. I've also pushed the mass from here to there inside the tank, and have reached my hand down and pulled off sizable sections of it. Sometimes a 'plant' separates with no trace of root system. I tend to pitch those. Most times, a decent chunk of root comes up with the palnts I've grasped. I've had no complaints with the dozens and dozens I've shared over the years.

FWIW,
Brian.


----------



## sarahbobarah (Sep 5, 2005)

BSS, thanks for the responses! I am disheartened to hear that identifying the crypts is a Herculean effort. 

About cutting the root-ball-thingy (I hope a crypt nut sees this and corrects us!) what you're saying is that as long as I leave some roots intact, it should be ok? I have some crypts that are very old, and they have this thick rhizome-looking stumpy thing with roots and other plants coming off it. If I cut that, stumpy thing, will the plants be ok? I wish I had a diagram of it to post....


----------



## BSS (May 2, 2006)

Based on the root-ball, mass-thingy in my mature stand of wendtii's, I'd love to see that diagram  . I guess I do notice a bit of a stem/rhizome thing on the bottom of some of my new crypt off-shoots on occasion. To the best of my knowledge, that 'thing' isn't needed to keep the plant going.

As a matter of fact, I ripped into my monster wendtii mass today and came away with a pretty big chunk for a fellow forum member. So long as there is something at the bottom of a set of leaves, I'm pretty sure they are good to go.

Though, as always, I do love to hear a better answer if I'm off-base!
Brian.


----------



## sarahbobarah (Sep 5, 2005)

I had a crypt balansae motherplant and cut the rhizomey thing. Now we'll see if the plantlets survive....


----------



## Happy Camper (Jul 22, 2004)

Hi Sarah 

You can cut the Rhizome 'Thingy'  into lots of little small pieces, place on a bed of java moss and keep humid and lots of baby Crypts will sprout from each rhizome, a cheap and nasty way of propogating rhizome plants. Not all Crypts have rhizomes though! This method can also be used successfully on Anubias and even the leaves of African Violets!

Regards
Cameron James
Login (aquatic plants South Africa)


----------



## sarahbobarah (Sep 5, 2005)

Woah!!!! No freakin' way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have GOTTA try this.


----------



## wantabe23 (Apr 6, 2005)

*more information please!*

Happy camper, can you give some more information? I have some anubius that I would like to try this method of propagation, I have a hard time finding them and would like to have a lot more. But I dont really want to have a huge failure and a loss of a perfectly good plant.
Thanks!


----------



## Happy Camper (Jul 22, 2004)

Hi wantabe23

This thread at killies.com explains it all:
http://www.killies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3016&highlight=&sid=3f5e4620eca2f3811e386e0bcdff5496

Good luck

Regards
Cameron


----------



## jassar (Jul 30, 2006)

Happy Camper said:


> Hi Sarah
> 
> You can cut the Rhizome 'Thingy'  into lots of little small pieces, place on a bed of java moss and keep humid and lots of baby Crypts will sprout from each rhizome, a cheap and nasty way of propogating rhizome plants. Not all Crypts have rhizomes though! This method can also be used successfully on Anubias and even the leaves of African Violets!
> 
> ...


Cool! I never knew one could actually do that!
I sure will try this ,
Cheers!
-Jassar


----------



## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

Crypts are interesting. I used to not be able to grow them, but in my new setup I've had success. Have more than a dozen species/varieties now.

I'm not a crypt expert at this time, but have over-all plant experience which may be useful, so here goes...

*propagation*
You don't cut the rhyzome into arbitrary pieces, look for obvious places to divide/snip them. It's obvious from terrestrial plants -- when you pull them apart, they divide at certain spot. You don't want to pull the crypt apart though, so you snip it where it would snap if you pulled it apart. 

*non-rooted stem-like propagation*
For terrestrial plants, I use rooting hormone. I recently got some for hydroponic plants that is a gel instead of a powder. Think this could potentially speed up anubias rooting.

*plant identification*
This is really tough. Fortunately, the varieties most available are limited. Once the plant reaches maturity, you can probably narrow it down to what's most available. This will not work for rare plants though. As stated previously, photo of the bloom is needed.

*crypt melt*
Some crypts melt when you sneeze, others don't do this unless you provoke it by drastically changing things temperature, light, pH, nutriuents over a short period of time.

*root rot*
When you divide or move a crypt, there will be some root rot. On a healthy plant, new roots will replace the old ones. Noticed this after I moved a crypt into a temporary holding tank for a week. The roots were kinda stinky. So, you don't want to keep repeatedly moving crypts...


----------

