# Propagating Aponogeton Ulvaceous



## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

*Hi BCA, I've been pretty inactive lately, usually I frequent the classifieds section (pretty much on the buying end) but today I'll let you guys in on something I've been working on in one of my tanks. Also just to let you know, I'm more of a plant enthusiast and don't keep fish so I run my CO2 at 3-4bps. The time frame for what happens in my tank will probably be different for others.*

*Here's a flower pod that's just emerging from the water line.*









*After about 2 days the pod will break open and a TWO pronged flower stalk would emerge. This stalk is about 1 inch long but can grow to over 4 inches in a weeks time, of course growth rate also depends on your water parameters and lighting.*









*The majority of the flower stalks produced are TWO pronged but somehow a ONE pronged flower stem emerged from one of the pods.*









*I found that the Ulvaceous species is NOT a self pollinating plant contrary to what some websites say. Two flower stalks from two separate individual plants are required for successful pollination.

Pollination begins when pollen from one flower is transfered to another. For this, I simply just rubbed the two flower stalks together. After 2-3 days you should be able to tell wether pollination was successful. The flower stalks would turn green and then the tips of each pollen stem would close up and turn brown. After another 2 days, the stems would swell up and continue to swell from there.

This is after 21 days from initial pollination.*









*Here's a picture of a flower stalk in "transition". Meaning that the stalk is undergoing pollination. The bottom of the stalk swells up first and then works it's way up to the top.*


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

*More to come in the future...*


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

*Seeds*

*Day 38 - Woke up this morning to find that two of my flower stalks released some seeds.*









*This one looks like it's about to pop.*









*Here's what I collected. Time to germinate...*


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

*Seed closeup*

*Here's a close up of the fruit holding the seeds.*









*On average there are about 4-5 seeds per pod.*


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Very cool Joe. Nice to see another hobbyist propogating plants from seeds.

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

CRS Fan said:


> Very cool Joe. Nice to see another hobbyist propogating plants from seeds.
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Stuart


Aw finally, I thought no one reads these. After two weeks I finally get a reply. I was beginning to think that BCA wasn't really interested in the plant scene when a picture of a discus or cichlid gets an average of 100 views on the first day and my propagation entries have accumulated only 50 views in the last two weeks.

Yea, I thought I'd do something different since I haven't seen much advancement here on BCA in the plant part of the hobby. It's mainly been just tank setups with people planting away but never anyone detailing their experience with the plants.


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## Johnnyfishtanks (Apr 21, 2010)

i have these plant they grow so fast


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## Transposon (Sep 19, 2012)

vdub said:


> Aw finally, I thought no one reads these. After two weeks I finally get a reply. I was beginning to think that BCA wasn't really interested in the plant scene when a picture of a discus or cichlid gets an average of 100 views on the first day and my propagation entries have accumulated only 50 views in the last two weeks.


Aww... How about a reply after 2 months?
New to the forum, I think your project is very exciting! 
I too, have a tank with just plants (and snails). 
It's a bit sad that something that moves automatically gets more attention.



vdub said:


> Yea, I thought I'd do something different since I haven't seen much advancement here on BCA in the plant part of the hobby. It's mainly been just tank setups with people planting away but never anyone detailing their experience with the plants.


So did you just dropped the project? What happened to the seeds?


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

very cool! I recently did this with A. natans! 

thanks for sharing.


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