Nymphaea Stellata

[nmonks]

Hello,

I have a really nice Nymphaea stellata -- or at least that it was sold as. It's a red leaved lily, with each submerged leaf around 10-15 cm long. It seems to really enjoy the substrate, which is a mix of pond compost covered with a few cm of silver sand. Lighting is nothing special, two ordinary full length fluorescents.

Anyway, my question is whether or not I need to trim off the floating leaves, when they appear. I like the look of them, but I'm wondering if the submerged foliage will die off if I allow the floating plants to stay. As it is, it's sent up 3 or 4 of them, and I've pulled them all off.

Thanks,

Neale

 

[BigC]

I grew Nymphaea stellata a few years ago and if you trim off the surface shoots then this has the effect of making the plant more dense at the tuber. (bushier)

 

[emma12321]

I have them in my 2 bigger tanks and you have to cut some of the leaves off or they will cover the whole surface and block out the light. My loaches come out more since i got the plants as the tank is more shaded. When i went on holiday recently for 10 days the bigger plant put out 13 leaves while i was away, the smaller 9 leaves. Both plants only have a couple of submerged leaves now and all the new ones shoot straight to the top.

Emma