Why can't i grow vallisneria

[Country joe]

I have various live plants that are doing well. But my first batch of Vallisneria along the back of the tank died off, so I sent away 3 weeks ago for a new batch of twisted Vallisneria they were good strong looking plants, now every day there are two or three leaves floating in the top of the tank. And there are spaces were there are now no plants.They were planted with root tabs. And liquid fertiliser applied weekly. Everybody tells me they are easy to grow. So what am I doing wrong.

 

[MattW]

My first val plants died back loads when I got them, after a month I eventually got loads of growth. How deep do you plant them? My val always have roots above the substrate even the runners. Plants can be temperamental ime even the easy to grow ones.

 

[Country joe]

Thanks I know about not planting deeply. They are planted in small gravel, in a well established tank.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Sometimes Val will melt off when moved to a new tank. It may take some time to get established but eventually it will start growing. I've had Val almost completely melt away to nothing, only for a mass of new leaves to start springing back one day. Like I said it may take awhile, be patient and it will grow. There is a reason Val is found on six continents.

 

[GaryE]

Different Val species give different results. Here, every one I've tried grows very easily, but a friend in the next city over, one of the best plant people I know, can't grow any Val. He grows all the difficult stuff, and a lot of the easy plants, but no Val I give him lives.

Sometimes, the answer is "because".

 

[Innesfan]

What was your source for the val, a commercial grower or a hobbyist? I've had some commercially grown val melt when replanted but bounce back. Never had a problem with hobbyist grown val.

 

[gimme30]

Plants are weird. Val is one of the few I haven't murdered. (Yet) Other "easy" plants give up the ghost as soon as they find out they're being shipped to my place.
Like women, they're a mystery I'll never figure out.

 

[Magnum Man]

it had been a long time since I tried val... mine all looked good that tank, but I kept find the leaves floating, then one day I noticed a large angel fish biting them off at the substrate level... could one of your fish be the culprit???

 

[Uberhoust]

I find that my vals do not grow as well in areas that are planted with other plants, they seem to do best in open areas that have some water flow and unblocked exposure to the light. I mostly grow Vallisneria americana, jungle val, but also Vallisneria spiralis, I have to remove 1 or 2 of the jungle val runners monthly to provide light for the spiralis otherwise it will die out due to lack of light. Literature I can find states that Vallisneria americana does well in still water but my observations both from growing it and finding it in Georgia was that it likes full exposure to the light and at least a small amount of water movement. The leaves on mine will grow a darker green, even a bit purplish, when exposed to stronger light, but with lower light levels the leaves stay a yellowish green. A few years back I was trying to get the plants growing better with "liquid CO2" otherwise known as Excel, and fertilizer, but with it I found my Vals did not grow well and seemed to struggle to maintain the leaves they had. Perhaps in your case the vals are struggling because there might be too much fertilizer in the tank. Good luck

 

[raylove]

I can't grow any plants unless I dose CO2. I only have a home made sugar water system but since installing it 11 yrs ago I can grow most plants, including Vallis (I stick to less demanding plants). Previously I couldn't grow it but with CO2 it's rampant.
I did once accidentally use a liquid CO2 type fertiliser and I subsequently lost a tankful of Tiger Vallis. The plants had been massive with leaves sometimes up to 8 feet long when I used to thin them out. Large water changes after I figured out what was happening didn't help, and it all died in about a fortnight. So if you're using that type of fert, that will definitely kill it.