# What is the most difficult plant you have grown?



## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

For me it is without a doubt L. pantanal.

At first it grew big and beautiful, but then it started to stunt. The stunting stopped but now the growth is smallish and older leaves curl. Way unimpressive. I will keep strugging with it though, that's the fun!

A close second is Alternanthera reineckii. For some reason this plant's new growth loves to grow deformed, and old leaves are prone to green spot algae.

Everything else I've grown has been easy. Even L. 'guinea' hasn't proven to be very difficult though I suspect I could grow it better.

What has been your most challenging plant, and why? If you conquered your difficulties, what process did you go through and what was the final solution?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Any of the delicate feather like plants (frill,cabomba) don't do well for me. They grow tall & straggly with a lot of distance in between stem nodes.

_Ranunculus inundatus _did nothing, just died almost as soon as I planted it.

_Mermaid weed_ did good for a while then stopped growing then died.

_Micro sword_ I've never got it to spread. It stays alive, but thats about it.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

There's a lot of the so-called 'difficult' ones I haven't tried, but of what I have tried, it's Rotala macranda. Some folks say they grow it in hard water (which I have), but after having tried on 2 different occasions, in multiple tanks, I've given up. It 'survived' for a while, but looked awful.


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## sarahbobarah (Sep 5, 2005)

LOL.... when I first started "trying" to grow plants, everything grew for me but java moss. Go figure!


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I have natural (or mostly natural) tanks so I haven't tried any really difficult, high-care plants. That said, I have had no luck growing any moss except java moss. Alternanthera reineckii did ok, then started melting from the bottom, I moved the remaining healthy tops and it rallied briefly, then died.  I also have trouble keeping Cryptocorne balansae looking good, but I think that is more because the angelfish pair keep pummeling the leaves before they spawn. I've had other casualties, but they were around to briefly to remember their names.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Balansae can be real slow to acclimate to a new tank. You do real well with Bolbitis Catherine!


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Thank you Robert. I do great with Bolbitis because it likes to be ignored; just grows on its merry way without any bother or fuss. My favorite type of plant - low maintenance.


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

For me it's any kind of Tonina...just doesn't like our water here in Arizona.


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## Aquadise (Jul 26, 2006)

Hardest: Tonina sp.
Easiest: Rotala Macrandra

 Is it the water?


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## xcooperx (Jun 24, 2006)

For me, Rotala sp. Green its now 2 weeks on my tank but still the stem are in bend position, not like the Rotala Rotundufilia that straighten up after 3-5 days. Im also having problem growing L. Aromatica but i think its because of my lightning


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## Ajax (Apr 3, 2006)

Cooper, the problem you are having is most likely due to the bush of rotala not being dense enough yet. When you trim it try putting the tops under some of the stems that are bending over to help support it. It took mine about 2 months before all of it straightened out. After a few trims it will get dense enough to support vertical growth.

As far as most difficult, I guess I've been lucky, I haven't had anything die on me yet. I would say my only problem plant has been R. Wallichi. I get some stems that are full, bushy & bright pink, and others that look stunted, real narrow at the top & green. Not sure what the problem is yet.


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## TWood (Dec 9, 2004)

The most difficult ones are all the ones that died. 

I'll try anything once, but if it doesn't take off right away in the water I can reasonably provide, it's a dead experiment.


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

Hey guys, let's try to keep the thread on topic.. I am glad if this creates incentive to start a new thread to investigate why you can't grow plant X very well.. but let's avoid that here, okay? 

Thanks!


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

The Tonina sp.'s for sure. Zero success with fluviatilis, and I have yet to try the others


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## fresh_newby (Mar 13, 2006)

Crinuim is tough for me. I think they grow ok and look healthy, just so slow in comparison to everything else, and my otos love to suckle up and down the leaves and make the ends weak...I mean, do they know how long it took to grow it??? lol


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

I have trouble growing moss for some reason, wish I knew why because I really love it. The plant I am currently having problems with right now is 
Bacopa "colorata" I love this plant, when I first got it grew very nicely but then suddenly the leaves started getting smaller and smaller and now the leaves on the top are barely distinguishable, the plant is growing to a point! What I can't understand is how my Bacopa "carolina" grows so well and this doesn't.


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## phanmc (Jun 21, 2004)

It used to be any toninas and ludwigia sp. pantanal that would never grow for me but ever since using ADA Aquasoil, I've been able to grow them very well. The L. pantanal needs a weekly trimming and the T. fluviatilis is almost as fast. I guess a low kH is very much a requirement for these plants.


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## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

The most difficult I have actually gorwn would have to be HC. I get it to grow and in the plastic canvas and then itgrows out of it and floats around getting into everything. I can't get it to stay in my gravel but that is not a surprise. 

As for having a hard to get it to grow, anything with the word Java in front of it. I killed java moss and my java fern seem to die off every 4 months or so. Anything else may grow slow for me but I have yet to kill anything else.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I would say Glosso would be my hardest plant to grow the way I want it. The tank I have it in, has an uneven spread of light, so some parts are flat, and some are vertical. Very fustrating. My Rotala macrandra seems to be doing well though.










-John N.


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