Ludwiga Repens

[Fishy friend2]

Are Ludwiga Repens a good plant for a low tech set up, as I just found ou that they are native to the River close to me and I can get some from there

 

[catfishblues]

They need medium light and root tabs are most likely necessary. They don't need injected co2 but with co2 and lots of iron they will grow red. Mine have only grown green, but since they're free for you I'd say just try it and if it doesn't work just put it back in the river. I find that they usually lose most of their leaves after a while when subjected to change but that doesn't mean that they are dead. Also if you see any that are growing out of the water try to avoid those because they don't like to change from air to water and they will lose their emerged leaves and act "sick". good luck! They're a really cool plant!

 

[Fishy friend2]

Okay thanks for the info on them,

 

[ian]

root tab??? can i ask why??

 

[Fishy friend2]

Maybe s/he ment liquid fertilizer

 

[catfishblues]

Okay thanks for the info on them,

In my experiences with this plant, they did not grow very well and usually died unless root tabs or any other nutrients in the substrate were added

 

[Teephphah]

I've heard root tabs with these before, but when I had mine, it didn't seem like the roots ever got very extensive. Figured it had to be much more of a leaf feeder than a root feeder. Granted, while mine appeared to be growing well, it didn't have much time to really get established. SOMEBODY (and I still don't know who) decided that my Ludwigia was absolutely delicious and, poof, all the leaves were gone. LFS hasn't had any more since.

 

[catfishblues]

once the roots on mine reached the tabs they spread like crazy. and every time I buy them the leaves that had grown in lfs died off all at once so it MAY have been that

 

[ian]

Just remember all root tabs give are trace elements (unless using TPN+), trace meaning that the plants only need traces of the elements provided by root tabs. While i'm not a believer in the whole 'root feeder' theory, i'm also a great believer in that plants will get most/if not all of what they need from the water column. Especially when it comes to stems. I'm not saying that plants use there roots to feed as they will use them as a reserve, plants will just as easy take from the water column. The main reason we dose the water column. As the water column extends into to substrate anyway.

I'm just gonna try and save people some money and say that Lud doesn't need root tabs, as adding a trace into the water a couple of times a week will do just as good job.

 

[catfishblues]

Just remember all root tabs give are trace elements (unless using TPN+), trace meaning that the plants only need traces of the elements provided by root tabs. While i'm not a believer in the whole 'root feeder' theory, i'm also a great believer in that plants will get most/if not all of what they need from the water column. Especially when it comes to stems. I'm not saying that plants use there roots to feed as they will use them as a reserve, plants will just as easy take from the water column. The main reason we dose the water column. As the water column extends into to substrate anyway.

I'm just gonna try and save people some money and say that Lud doesn't need root tabs, as adding a trace into the water a couple of times a week will do just as good job.

thats probably true. I use an iron rich substrate mixed with my sand because I hated having to buy more and more liquid ferts so I should have said they do well with fertilizers not just root tabs haha

 

[Fishy friend2]

thanks for all the replies, they are really helpful thank you