Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae

[John N.]

I received a large portion of this beautiful plant recently after seeing it in Trena's 50 gallon No Name Aquascape.

The plant I received is extremely tall, over 24 inches, and droops across the surface. This is my first time owning Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae and I am not sure how to proceed with a trim. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

-John N.

[Hoppy]

That is a plant I have had no luck with. I have tried it 3 times, as I recall, and every time I ended up losing it. There must be techniques to this that I haven't heard of yet.

[trenac]

I'm glad I inspired you to get this plant, it's amoung one of my favorites. For me is very easy to grow, plant & go (more or less). The way I prune it is that I cut the entire leaf off at the base. I hope you have much success with it.

[Pat7676]

I have some of these and i love them mine are still really young.

[John N.]

Originally Posted by Hoppy

That is a plant I have had no luck with. I have tried it 3 times, as I recall, and every time I ended up losing it. There must be techniques to this that I haven't heard of yet.

Hmm hopefully it's not attributed to the type of hard water we have in our area Hoppy. I have it planted in Aquasoil and very moderate lighting, no CO2, so maybe the lower KH and pH will help keep it stable. I want it to be as beautiful's as Trena's! Boy, I wish I had small one's like yours Pat. Mine are simply too large to do anything with in my 29 gallon.

I'll try trimming/removing the leaves. We'll see how it goes!

-John N.

[Pat7676]

If i get any runners or new ones maybe i will send a few your way John.

[Roy Deki]

When I got this plant I cut all the leaves off and trimmed the roots. Then planted them in Aquasoil and the really took off. I use Ro water buffered up to about 6.8 pH and 4 kh. Also injected co2.

[Hoppy]

Roy, did you remove the leaves because they would have melted in any case? All crypts seem to be a problem for me, even those that grow well will become problem plants when I transplant them.

[Roy Deki]

Originally Posted by Hoppy

Roy, did you remove the leaves because they would have melted in any case? All crypts seem to be a problem for me, even those that grow well will become problem plants when I transplant them.

Hoppy, Yes I have gotten in the habit of doing this with crypts because of the melting issue. Although some crypts are not so proned to melting. It really helps with planting and having the leaves all growing in the same direction to my own tank. If they are long you really can't tell which is the "front or back" of the plant while they were in someone else's tank. Then when they layover they top the are all twisted or floating upside down.

Does that make sense?

[Blue_dolphin]

Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae can be found in my country along the narrow streams in the forest. I have collected somes during my holidays and now they are in good status in my tank. They grow very slow, need low light, low fert. You shoud cut off all the aged leaves before trimming.

[Pat7676]

Thanks for the advice Blue.

[metscaper]

i bought bundles of this plant in hongkong. but now they a reduced to a handful, grown outside of my tank (in paint buckets).

[Guillermo]

I had CCB in a hight lighted DIYed Co2 10 g Nano cube and grew like mad, then I moved it to my 82 low tech and it looks like a different plant, lol. It melted away and the new leaves are short, thin and darker, besides it grows slooooooow. I had some in my emersed setup, but its growth is really slow as well. Amazing plant, no doubt.

Regards

[Robert Hudson]

Over the years most people I have talked to or read their comments seem to agree this plant needs high light levels and high C02 levels to grow well in the aquarium. It does grow slow. Roger Miller had one of the best looking groups of balansae I had ever seen. I never found it to be too problematic or particularly prone to melting. Sudden changes in temp do seem to trigger it though. In a sudden heat wave recently the temp went from 65 one day to 95 the next day and I lost a few plants as a result. I prefer to get larger plants to start and since they grow so slow, I would never intentially cut off all the leaves. Cultivated plants seem more hardy than wild collected plants. I discovered this from importing vs domestic.