# Growing Cryptocoryne bullosa



## Kai Witte

(This is a follow-up on thread http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=13553)



> Yeah!!! it´s in my mind... Actually i am working in a Crypt Room. I am planing 2 kind of set up, for swamp grower and for neutral... But I have some dudes, C. uenoi C. nurii and C. bullosa grow in fast flow waters, and with very acid reaction... which would be your recommendation about keep them???


Well, bullosa doesn't require especially acid conditions - the pH is pretty close to 7 in nature (i.e. higher than rainwater). I had moderate success to grow this species submersed for several years in pure rain water (good reverse osmosis water will do, too) with naturally crumbling granite as soil (well topped with quartz sand) and a really heavy current. Velocity is easily around 1 m/s in nature - so, I do mean heavy current! 

I believe the key is to keep the water almost free of nutrients to prevent grow of algae (an individual, healthy leaf has a life span of a year or more!) and to supply only a minimum of nutrients so that leaf survival doesn't get compromised. You'll certainly get faster grow with more nutrients but would need to change the water quite often...

I have never seen convincing emersed growth with this species but would probably try it under really humid conditions if I had a spare plant to play with...


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## Xema

Nice point!!

Maybe the problem of many bullosa grower is try to keep it in acid condition.

Some pictures from the Ichiro Ueno page

Rayon Vert Expedition on 2005/09, Cryptocoryne bullosa sasaki M-SABS 

Of the few things I can read in, I see pH 6,9 and TDS 10 ppm... it agree with your point. So I think we can include it into the C. keei conditions group, don´t you think it?

keeping emersed bullusa would be easy then if we use r/o water, and keep high moisture... I think keep them in a no so height set up (I mean the distance between the water surface and the cap of set up). Using a light acid soil.

About the point of water current... Do you think the velocity is a important factor to take it as a conditional thing? I mean if the physical consecuence of the fast current is important, or the really important thing is the chemistry consecuence in the water parameters as high quatities of dissolved oxygen and so on... Do you think?


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## plantbrain

I've managed to keep C. affinis in emergent conditions.
C bullosa seems similar.

You might try a clay based material, fluorite worked well, as did onyx sand.
Dolomite and kitty litter might be suitable.

I have access to peat bogs in the mountains not far from here as well as many soil types within a short distance.

I would also suggest trying the ADA soils for emergent growth.

The fungal and bacterial colonies play a large role I suspect with Crypts. 
Jan has always held that if you cannot get good growth in 2-3 months, you are doing something wrong.

I agree with that.
Repot the plants and try a different combination for substrate.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Kai Witte

Hello Xema,



> Maybe the problem of many bullosa grower is try to keep it in acid condition.


Well, I don't think that slightly acidic conditions as in rainwater will hurt. And most aquarists never get lower than pH 5 anyway...



> Of the few things I can read in, I see pH 6,9 and TDS 10 ppm... it agree with your point. So I think we can include it into the C. keei conditions group, don´t you think it?


Actually, keei comes from a limestone area and the type locality really is the Bornean version of a whitewater habitat with distinct amounts of carbonates (alkalinity) in the water! Even if diluted by the regular heavy rainfall, the underlying water chemistry doesn't change. Thus, ecological equivalents would be affinis, hudoroi, etc.



> keeping emersed bullusa would be easy then if we use r/o water, and keep high moisture... I think keep them in a no so height set up (I mean the distance between the water surface and the cap of set up). Using a light acid soil.


Well, I wouldn't bet on it - many people tried emersed culture with bullosa and it doesn't seem that easy... That being said, I would aim at 95% humidity and a well aerated soil with diluted hydroponic nutrient supply.



> About the point of water current... Do you think the velocity is a important factor to take it as a conditional thing? I mean if the physical consecuence of the fast current is important, or the really important thing is the chemistry consecuence in the water parameters as high quatities of dissolved oxygen and so on...


Well, that's the 1 million dollar question, I guess.  I can only report that it worked reasonably (that tank used to be at my parent's place about 500 miles away and I only got to visit 2-3 times a year; considering this survival for several years seems fair). And I haven't heard of any other success stories at all...

I believe that the water current helps this plant to recover enough nutrients in those poor waters (note that the reverse osmosis water utilized by many hobbyists often contains more dissolved salts than those clearwater streams on Borneo which usually have a conductivity of approx. 10 µS/cm!). Wether you can supply more nutrients in aquaria without compromising leaf survival remains to be shown (several options come to mind but my best bet would be supplying as much as possible via the root system).


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## Kai Witte

Hi Tom,

Long time no hear! 



> I've managed to keep C. affinis in emergent conditions.
> C bullosa seems similar.


Well both are definitely submersed growers which only survive low water periods by forced emersed growth in nature. However, affinis is a fast grower while bullosa has a much less forgiving ecological strategy.



> You might try a clay based material, fluorite worked well, as did onyx sand. Dolomite and kitty litter might be suitable.


Dolomite doesn't seem that great of an idea for bullosa and neither bentonite based kitty litter (good pumice will do though). Other porous materials may also do well in a mix (if they don't contain notable amounts of carbonates).



> The fungal and bacterial colonies play a large role I suspect with Crypts.


Yup, natural soil is a living ecosystem. We definitely need more observations on the effects of the soil organisms on crypts!



> Jan has always held that if you cannot get good growth in 2-3 months, you are doing something wrong.


I agree, too. Slow growing plants will need a more experienced eye to evaluate positive or negative developments though.


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## Xema

Hello Kai,



> Actually, keei comes from a limestone area and the type locality really is the Bornean version of a whitewater habitat with distinct amounts of carbonates (alkalinity) in the water! Even if diluted by the regular heavy rainfall, the underlying water chemistry doesn't change. Thus, ecological equivalents would be affinis, hudoroi, etc.


I agree with you... they are quite difficult to keep emerged too.



> Well, I wouldn't bet on it - many people tried emersed culture with bullosa and it doesn't seem that easy... That being said, I would aim at 95% humidity and a well aerated soil with diluted hydroponic nutrient supply.


Doesn´t seem very difficult way....



> Well, I wouldn't bet on it - many people tried emersed culture with bullosa and it doesn't seem that easy... That being said, I would aim at 95% humidity and a well aerated soil with diluted hydroponic nutrient supply.


So, poted with a neutral and porous soil with a very oxygenated water running throught its roots would be a good bet...

Greetings from Spain


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## Kai Witte

Xema said:


> So, potted with a neutral and porous soil with a very oxygenated water running throught its roots would be a good bet...


I'd make sure to keep carbonates/alkalinity close to zero and at least the macronutrients highly diluted, too.


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## ts168

Xema said:


> keeping emersed bullusa would be easy then if we use r/o water, and keep high moisture... I think keep them in a no so height set up (I mean the distance between the water surface and the cap of set up). Using a light acid soil.


Hi Xema, how is you Cryptocoryne Bullosa. Any update pic to show and share how you manage to grow it. thanks


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## Kai Witte

An update to this old thread:

In the meantime I've seen exceptional plants of C. bullosa growing emersed in pure beech leaf mold (of varying pH from about 4-7) as well as still really nice growth submersed in acid beech leaf mold without any current. Try to make sense of this... 

If anything, I'm inclined to believe that the beech leaf mold method is nice enough to the plants that many seem to forget their native habitat! 

BTW, all the plants grew in shallow substrate or in one case a porous, well oxygenated soil mix. Thus, oxygen supply was at least decent.


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## wabisabi

Hello Kai,

Could you explain to me what exactly is beech leaf mold? Is it just decomposed beech leaves?


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