# Emmerse: C. bullosa



## ts168 (Apr 13, 2004)

Hi All expert and hobbist, crypt grower, 

I need some advice on how to grow my C. bullosa.
Currently i m able to grow them in emmerse form. What i mean is that it is growing new leaf but the leave color is green and it not brownish red as what we all know.

Is it normal that it turn green in emmerse form? Pls advise thanks

Or is there anything that i have miss out?
I have add some Fert to the plant and it make it grow faster with new leaf growing out faster. but it is still green.

Will post a picture later once i have time.

Thanks.


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Please post pics - brownish red is a color which I haven't seen in bullosa so far...

Plants in nature are usually very dark green and in culture emersed leaves tend to be lighter green with me. Submersed leaves have been also dark green.


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## ts168 (Apr 13, 2004)

Thanks Kai, Sorry i think i m refering to dark green. when i receive the crypt, the leaf was dark greenish color. Now all new leave are light bright green. i wonder if it due to lack of certain nutrient? How can we get it to be more bullated n dark green for the leave.

Thanks


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

you can increase bullate by increasing humidity. With increase in humidity, there is also a higher probability of melting. As for the color, I am not sure. How big is your bullosa and what are you growing the plant in?

If we can get an idea of the different conditions bullosa are growing emeresd, we can come up with an easier theory as to what causes the dark green color.


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

Plants make green pigment when they have sufficient nitrogen. When they don't have enough they make other color pigments.


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

RS, actually the other color pigments just show up better when there isn't enough green to mask them. It's like the trees turning in the fall. Other color pigments are always there, but the chlorophyll masks them during the warmer seasons. In the fall when less chlorophyll is produced, the other colors show through.

Cheers.
Jim


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

I don't buy it. Look at a screaming red maple leaf or a dark bronze crypt leaf. There's no way you can mask that with green.


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## SCMurphy (Jan 28, 2004)

The screaming red maple leaf is a combination of the sugar in the maple tree and the chlorophyll dieing .


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

RS;

As I learned in Horticulture 101.....

Chemistry of Autumn Leaf Color - Fall Leaves

Cheers.
Jim


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

That's all well and good but you can demonstrate this to yourself by witholding nitrate and watching plants turn more red/brown. Perk it back up and they'll go green again - new leaves that is. Older brown leaves will stay brown - they become a little bit more green as new pgments form but bascially stay their original color.

If you mash a leaf up with some alcohol and put in strips of filter paper you can watch the pigments separate. There's damn little brown pigment in green leaves and lots in brown leaves.

There is a lot of green pigment in brown leaves though, still. Just not much brown in green. So no, I don't buy they're green because the brown is masked. And these aren't maple trees.


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

the fact of the matter is nitrogen is necessary for the production of chlorophyll. Other pigments are there regardless. Chlorophyll masks other pigments. More nitrogen, more chlorophyll production which mask the other pigments, greener leaves. Less nitrogen, less chlorophyll, colored leaves. 

Once a leaf is fully developed, there will be minor changes in color in reaction to the environment, but not enough to make a difference. That's one of the reasons why leaves sunscald in too much light or turn yellow with too little. The change in light intensity overwhelms the mature leaf's ability to make minor changes in the amount of chlorophyll inside and the plant sacrifices the leaf to adapt. It's a fascinating chemical process.

Same holds true for Rotala, many of the other stem plants, and tonnes of terrestrials (not just maples). The red is always there and acts as a natural sunscreen. Withhold nitrogen, less chlorophyll, redder leaves, stronger light, more red pigment (sunscreen), redder leaves. Less intense light, greener leaves, more nitrogen, greener leaves.

Cheers.
Jim


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