# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Micranthemum (Hemianthus) micranthemoides "Pearlweed"



## imported_Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 31, 2003)

_Plant name_: *Micranthemum micranthemoides or Hemianthus micranthemoides *(Pearlweed )

First a close up: 









Third: a pic that shows the potential: 









*Some Information:* 
_Light_: medium - very high 
_Growth_: fast 
_Demands_: moderate
_Pruning_: cut the tops and let the rooted parts regrow, or cut and replant. 
_Water hardness_: doesnÂ´t seem to matter 
_Specials_: under very high light it grows horizontaly. 
_Propagation_: New shoots at rooted parts

_Experiences_: very easy to shape & prune

_Planting_: If you want to build an extremely dense bush, let it grow until it reaches a height of about 4 inchs
cut the stems to about 1 inch and replant the cuttings.

*ORIGINAL POST BY EKIM*
http://www.aquabotanic.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1577

[This message was edited by Ghazanfar Ghori on Fri February 07 2003 at 07:45 AM.]

[This message was edited by Birgit & Wolfgang on Wed February 12 2003 at 08:40 AM.]


----------



## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I love this plant!

Can grow as a foreground plant too!










Robert
King admin
www.aquabotanic.com


----------



## imported_mikeW (Feb 9, 2003)

love this plant!








grows lushfully easy and well submersed or floating, as long as suffecient co2 is supplied and enough fertilizer in the water column as well as substrate (flourite).

should be trimmed often to keep the bottom parts turning skinny from lack of light.
great hiding place for fry, and fishes love to swim through this "jungle" very often in search for food bits.


----------



## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

I can't, for the life of me, get this plant to grow upwards. It makes a lovely little bush and then starts growing intertwined with the surrounding plants, much like in Robert's picture. Any advice on keeping it upright?

Proverbs 3:7-8


----------



## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

I had the worst time trying to grow this stuff for about the past year and a half. The first time I planted it, it really did grow like a weed. Then it hit me - I had stopped using Jobe's fertilizer spikes around the time the pearlweed started to languish. It got dark-green, brittle,stunted, and some of the leaves actually turned brown as if burnt, and it simply wouldn't grow! I even moved some into a tank with Flourite substrate and it didn't help. I decided to test out my theory and sure enough, I got results literally overnight! I buried a small piece of Jobe's by the roots and saw the beginnings of lighter-green leaves by the next morning. I don't really think it has to be Jobe's, but pearlgrass may be a particularly weak competitor for macronutrients. I do have a tendency to run my water column very lean.

I tried using the Jobe's on my Rotalas, which are not growing very well, and it's done virtually nothing for them. I am convinced, however, that the pearlgrass' miraculous comeback is a result of the Jobe's addition.


----------



## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

Once I switched to 4x 55w PC from 2x 175w MH, some of the stem started growing horizontal; even when it is 3 inch above gravel!! Roots are growing from that horizontal stem as well. WEIRD growth!!

I didn't expect it to grow and root horizontally without being near the gravel

75 Gal, 3 WPG PC 10 hour, pressurize co2 /w controller 1 bps, Fluval 404, ph 6.8
Mike's Canadian Aquatic Plant Page
A Canadian's Plant Traders website


----------



## imported_molahs4 (Feb 3, 2003)

It sounds like it grows vertically with high light, and horizontally with medium light. I just got some for my tank, so I'll see how it works next to the riccia.

===================
See my profile for tank specs.


----------



## 2la (Feb 3, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by molahs4:
> It sounds like it grows vertically with high light, and horizontally with medium light.


The reverse: more horizontally with high light, more vertically with medium light.


----------



## ekim (Jan 31, 2004)

Another photo to add,









*My Digital Gallery*


----------



## Jane of Upton (Jul 28, 2005)

This is a great plant, and grows well even in a "low tech" aquarium!

I have it under about 2.5 wpg, with a soil underlayer substrate, and it can't decide whether to grow vertically or horizontally. It grows horizontally for a bit, then grows vertically, then ambles back to a horizontal sprawl. Not the tidiest plant, growth-wise, but a really nice addition as a low-growing midground plant. It does tend to be a "mulm collector", which actually fits with the observation that it appreciated your Jobes stick fertilizers. Perhaps its "messy" growth every which-way is devised to slow down water currents and accumulate nutritious debris. Just a thought. I even moved a clump into an area of higher water flow, but it still collected fine debris. It has an uncanny way of always having a bit of mulm at its feet, even shortly after cleaning it up!

Either way, other than needing some occasional siphoning attention (when I can't stand the localized buildup) this is a great, and easy plant, and well suited to a low tech tank run towards the brighter end of light intensities. 

-Jane


----------



## ragn4rok (Jan 23, 2005)

My H. micranthemoides


----------

