This crypt is supposed to be one of the easiest blackwater species. It grows well, propagates fast via runners. However, it never flowered for me. Recently, I repotted this crypt into several pots, with a single plant per pot. The soil is 100% ADA Amazonia. I also added some laterite powder into the substrate. This week, two seperate plants decided to finally flower for me. This is the first one.
Ok, this is the last update on the Cryptocoryne elliptica plantlets. I’ve demonstrated how Cryptocoryne elliptica can be successfully propagated via its leaves. Almost 6 weeks since I started, the plants are now strong and large enough to be planted into individual pots, which I’ve done today. Here’s a picture of the container just prior to me pulling these plants out. Roots are not visible in this picture, but each plant has multiple 2″+ roots and appears to be growing vigorously.
Side note: I pulled some additional leaves off my mother plant last week and those are now rooted already. This is not a common crypt by any means, and if I can propagate some more out, I’ll be able to share it with my fellow crypt enthusiasts.
About a year ago, I received a shipment of cryptocoryne labeled as ‘wild crypt’. It was unclear at the time as to what this plant was. Here’s are a few pictures of that plant from when I received it.
I posted it up on Aquatic Plant Central to get some opinions, and at the end it was concluded that this might be Cryptocoryne shultzei.
I potted it up and it grew decent over the last year, I haven’t lost any plants at all. There are, however, two distinct growing patterns. More on that later. About three weeks ago, I noticed what appeared to be the beginins of a spathe. I was very
excited – at long last, I’ll find out what this crypt really is.
Here’s a picture of the plant and unopened spathe from yesterday.
After waiting impatiently for 3 weeks, the spathe finally opened up today. Take a look….
The color can be best described as a rusty red.
Inside the tube, there are some light speckles of red, which quickly fade out.
No color on the inside walls of the kettle.
Noticed the reddish speckles on the male part of the flower.
The female flower.
So..what the verdict? No clue! The spathe does not match anything that’s currently on Jan’s website. I’m going to email these pictures to Jan and Neils Jacobsen, maybe they can ID this plant for me.
UPDATE:
I’ve heard back from Jan, and also found pictures on his website. The conclusion is that this is Cryptocoryne x purpurea. Even though this is not the common color variety, its still to be considered Cryptocoryne x purpurea.
Well, I’m back from the AGA Convention. I’m exhausted – but wow! That was a great convention. I won’t get into too many details on the convention itself, but I will mention that the first North American Cryptocoryne Society meeting was a hit! We had about 16-18 people attend and although we had little slow start, after the introductions broke the ice, conversations started up and a lot of information was shared. Plants were exchanged and there was much cheer and rejoicing! We were there talking crypts for the next 2+ hours. Its clear that there is a growing interest in crypts here in the US. I have some thoughts on starting to formalize/organize NACS somewhat. We’ll try and get some feelers out there to try and see if we want to proceed along that route.
I’ve been invited to the Seattle Aquarium club to speak on crypts in a few weeks. Should be fun!
One other item that peaked my interest at the convention was the talk Dr. Mike Kane gave on tissue culture. There is a lot of good information I have to share with you on that subject. I’ll have to leave it at that for tonight – more detail to follow soon.
Finally, as I promised, here is the latest picture of the C. elliptica plantlets.
As you can see, things are progressing well. Leaves are getting bigger and the plantlets are getting established. More pictures on this two weeks from now.
I’ve been really busy at work this week so I haven’t had time to take any pictures. However, I did pick up a few plants of C. ciliata this week from the local fish store. Its a cloned variety and the spathe should be identical to my previous C. ciliata (RIP). I’ve planted it in 100% ADA Amazonia since it seemed to like it last time. My last plant died soon after trying to send up a spathe. I’ve chalked that up to nutrient deficiency. I’ll be sure to give it a root tab or something next time I see the beginning of a spathe.
Additionally, I’m headed over to the AGA Convention this week. We’re going to have a little NACS (North American Cryptocoryne Society) meeting; should be fun! A lot of cryptocoryne folks are going to be attending, including Neil Frank and Ron Finlayson. I hope to take a few notes from them, since they’ve been growing emersed crypts for far longer than I have.
I’m taking along a lot of my excess crypts to try and spread them around. Turns out that I have quite a bit to share – I was surprised at the amount of plants I was able to pull out from my setups. It feels good to be able to cultivate these plants successfully enough to distribute them to other hobbyists. Hopefully, they’ll have success as well.
Well, its been a total of 20 days now since I started experimenting with the C. elliptica propagation via leaves. Today, the plantlet roots are about 1″-1.5″ long, and there are multiple roots per plantlet. Most planlets have two young leaves at this point as well. I’ve decided to ‘pot’ them up at this point in about 1″ of ADA Amazonia which is right at water level – creating a slurry of Aquasoil for the plantlets to thrive in. I took several pictures, but my CompactFlash card got corrupted and I lost all the pictures on it. This update will have to do without any pictures. Next update in 1 week.
I received some new plants today from a good friend of mine who’s having incredible success with this species and variety.
The plants arrived in very good shape, with several runners already on there. I hope I’m as successful in growing this one as he is. Its a very attractive plant.
Its been 5 days since I pulled the remaining leaves from the pot and dropped them into the water. Compare these pictures…
Today -5 days
Today
Today -5 days
Today
So it seems, for the initial rooting, putting the leaves in shallow water works well.