A. undulatus, plant contest, put all questions,comments, pictures in here

[kennyman]

So some of these stalks produced seeds and they proved fertile. I had hoped it was Dioecious and mine was simply a male. That would have explained so much about this plant but so much for that idea 

[BigDaddy]

Nope.. these plants have stamens and carpels on the spathe.

[Fishnut]

I wish I could figure out why my plant grew nicely and now every leaf is ugly and crinkled. 

[dan2x38]

Well I had to do it.  My plant was over taking my tank. I had 1/3 of the tank plus it's leafs ran 1/2 way across the top. The light was being blocked out for some of my other plants plus the plant it's self. Fishnut lost her original plant plus she is setting up a shiny new 72g bowfront from BA Boxing Day extravaganza. She took it for her tank. When I pulled it up the root system was huge. The entire plant must have been almost 30" tall or more. I guess I loss the contest...

[Fishnut]

Nah, you didn't loose Dan.  I'll enter it in the contest jointly!  I didn't loose mine completely.  It's still alive but quite ugly with deformed twisted leaves and a quarter of the size.  Maybe if it sees your plant it will be inspired and grow properly!

As tall as my tank is, it is also draping across the top.  I hope I spread the roots out enough though because after I cleared a spot for it in my gravel, the lovely flourite made enough of a mess that I couldn't see the bottom!  Ugh...anyways, it looks lovely in my tank!  I put it next to the powerhead so the leaves are waving in the current with the valesneria.  I put some of the smaller valesneria in front of it as well.  When the tank clears I'll post a pic.

I think next year's plant should be something smaller

[Laura]

I found I have a flower stalk 
Other than leaving it above the water line is there anything I should do?  I brushed it with a soft brush in the event moving pollen around would help, but not sure if that is necessary.

Any tips appreciated.

If I get more of these plants there's a limit to how many I'll be able to keep - some of my leaves must be 30" long and I have a reasonably low-tech tank.  You guys with CO2 must have monsters by now.

[kennyman]

I found I have a flower stalk 
Other than leaving it above the water line is there anything I should do?  I brushed it with a soft brush in the event moving pollen around would help, but not sure if that is necessary.

Any tips appreciated.

If I get more of these plants there's a limit to how many I'll be able to keep - some of my leaves must be 30" long and I have a reasonably low-tech tank.  You guys with CO2 must have monsters by now.

It must be something seasonal! I just got home from work, fed the fish, and noticed 14" tall stem sticking out of my 8" tall ovas plant. It is almost touching the surface and I do not recall seeing it there yesterday 

[Nerine]

mine is growing!! it's in a fishbowl and it's growing LOL

[BigDaddy]

I found I have a flower stalk 
Other than leaving it above the water line is there anything I should do?  I brushed it with a soft brush in the event moving pollen around would help, but not sure if that is necessary.

Any tips appreciated.

If I get more of these plants there's a limit to how many I'll be able to keep - some of my leaves must be 30" long and I have a reasonably low-tech tank.  You guys with CO2 must have monsters by now.

Monster is an understatement.  I had to pull it out of my CO2 injected 75 and put it into my medium light non-CO2 75.  In the CO2 tank, it was dominating a good square foot of actual substrate and the leafs were shading almost 2/3 of my tank.

I just found another small plantlet of it in my CO2 tank mixed in between a couple of my compact black swords I have in my foreground.  I guess a stray seed or two must still be floating around in there somewhere.

[dan2x38]

Hey Daddy-O I had to give mine away it over took my hi-light CO2 tank. That's a drag though I really liked it. Still trying to fill in that corner with growth... it left a big hole...

[Crumpet]

I'm so excited!  Mine grew the white buds on the end of its stalk, too!  Yesterday, nada.  Today, white flowery bits.  Cool plant!  If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was some sci-fi creature trying to take over the aquarium in order to sprout legs a la Triffids.  I'm keeping a weather eye on the stalk to be sure those are just flowery buds and not poison-spitting sacs 

[Kats]

my plant is like FishNut... all brown and small.  I did have 3 stems though and, the last one had seed so.... out of curiosity.... I pinched one seed off, buried it in the gravel and guess what.... a brand new plant is now growing!!!  My original plant won't be contest material but maybe Junior will!!!   

[Adam]

Hahaha,

What a plant contest!  Everyone's plants are outgrowing their aquariums and trimming is out of the question. 

[Kats]

Well, I'm almost out of the contest now 

I blacked out my tank for 5 days and when I opened it up, I had only 2 little leaves close to the roots that were still "alive" the rest of the plant had almost rotted away... I had to do some trimming!!  I hope it perks up a bit!!!  Is there a prize for the worst gardener???  (and I want to try to grow macrandra!!!  )

[RossW]

I am out... I yanked mine a week or so ago.  It had put off one runner that looked really cool but other than that had not grown much.  I am guessing it was too demanding for my setup and investment in non-plastic plants.

[Nerine]

I might be a runner up for worst gardener
I KNOW I won't be able to compete with everyone else here...mine is so small and piddly and just UGLY.
the weird thing, it never grew, everything else in the tank is 3 times the size, the java moss is crazy, the java fern has gone wild and the swords are much bigger!! but silly little contest plant!! grrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Jeff1192]

I didn't have my tank set up in time for the plant contest. However, I now have the chance to get someone's contest plant that is too big for their tank. The plant is the one that was in the auction, it's apparently 24-36" high and about 24" wide. I would like to make a spot for it in my 90 gallon but I'm wondering if my setup is good enough for this plant. I don't want to clear a big spot for it and then in a few months the large leaves all die off and I"m left with a much smaller plant. I have about 1.7 watts per gallon, no CO2 and fluorite substrate. Let me know what you guys think from your experience with this plant.

Thanks,

Jeff

[dan2x38]

It does better with high light & CO2. Mine grew out of control I use DIY CO2, 4wpg, flourite, & dry ferts weekly. I think it would stay together but might not flourish. If you do not have any egeria or vals you can use excel. You use ferts?

[Jeff1192]

I have vals and cryps so excel is out. The only thing I'm fertilizing is nitrogen. I was also dosing potassium and phosphorus but my algae was out of control. I have just started introducing nitrogen back in a couple of weeks ago and so far so good. I just don't want to clear a large spot for the plant and in a month or so it has become a small plant.

Jeff

[Laura]

I would say to try it. 

Mine's doing fantastic (well, I think so anyways ) with no CO2, plain gravel and just under 3wpg.  I don't have a fert schedule, but rather throw in some premixed liquid ferts that I got at an auction whenever I do a water change.  You can see the plant in my gallery, although it looks better now, and better in person than in the photo.

It's working on it's 3rd flower stem.  If I could get more of them I would use them as background in my tank as they are nicer than my stem plants.

(Recognizing that's high wpg to not have CO2, my lights aren't on for 10 hrs and sometimes not all at the same time, and my tank is very tall which I think skews the numbers.)