# How can i get my crypts to flower?



## graedog (Jul 10, 2004)

Hi everyone,

How can i get my crypts to flower?
I have a few types ( common ones not much choice in Perth Australia)
Probably C.Wendetti and C.Becketti, some C.Balansae and maybe a few others.
I would like to get them to flower to confirm what they are.( i haven't found anyone that had definite crypt types here.)
I have tried to grow them emersed and submerged.
Any tips will help 
Thanks guys

Graeme


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Emersed is your best bet, and they have to be large, healthy plants. My crypts seem to mostly bloom in the fall or the spring, and so there may be a photoperiod requirement. Treatment with gibberellic acid has been shown to increase flowering. I don't have the exact reference to the article about using gibberellic acid, but it was written by

Dr. Mike Kane 
Environmental Horticulture Department 
P.O. Box 110670	
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

If you have decent emersed growth to begin with, it's often just a matter of patience with the more common crypts. Sometimes they just need a little (or some more) time to decide that they are ready for flowering... 

As suggested, slight variations in photoperiod may help.

You can also try dabbling with nutrients: Shifting the ratio in favor of K & P (i. e. keeping N in short supply) seems to help, too. Sometimes...


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## graedog (Jul 10, 2004)

*Thanks guys*

I have read your posts guys and will take it all onboard.

I guess im surmising that its a fair amount of patience,lots of luck and learning from others.

Thanks heaps 
Graeme


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## ts168 (Apr 13, 2004)

Did anyone try this one? from Ferka

Rosetta is a nutrient supplement packed in capsules, for aquatic plants to uptake by their roots. It is specially formulated for rosette plants families such as Echinodorus, Cryptocoryne, Eriocaulaceae and Nympheae. It is available in packs of 20 and 50 capsules.

Ferka Rosetta

This should help? Thanks


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I looked at the link for Ferka Rosetta, an ADA product that claims to be a root tab especially formulated for rosette plants, that is, plants that send out their leaves in a rosette like sword plants and crypts. I have my doubts that rosette plants require and benefit from a special formulation of fertilizer that would not equally benefit stem plants. I also don't believe that root tabs help crypts any more than the same fertilizer in the water column. My observations have always been that submersed crypts always respond quickly to the addition of nutrients in the water, even in small amounts if, of course, they were deficient before the nutrients were added.


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

Putting a ripe apple in the same tank as emersed crypts should work too. This is how other plants, for example, Bromeliads are force-flowered. The ethylene gas evolving from the apple is what does it. it ripens fruit and stimulates flowering. Having enough phosphate and jiggling the photoperiod all help too.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Here is an article that shows that gibberellic acid (a plant hormone) induces blooming in emersed Cryptocoryne: 
Gibberellins promote flowering in two Cryptocoryne species
ME KANE, GL DAVIS, TD HOFFNER, RJ HENNY - HortScience, 1995


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Be careful: GA (gibberellic acid) can result in distorted inflorescences, especially if applied in too high concentrations.


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