[Piscesgirl]

I'm not sure I agree with that - as it grows extremely well for me. Perhaps I'm lucky? It is easier than the Toninas, however. Against my normal ways, I added some calcium/magnesium/iron to the tank, and my Toninas are turning brown - but the Eriocaulons are still doing fine. I'm going back to no ferts! (have naturally very soft water). Anyway, in my humble opinion, Eriocaulon Setaceum is much easier than Tonina Sp. Belem or Tonina Fluviatilis.

 

[tsunami]

Piscesgirl,

I realize this but there has been some major reshuffling of the difficulty levels of a lot of plants due to an experiment with using "sensitivity" values instead of "difficulty."

This plant was originally labeled as just "difficult," a step below the Toninas. I am helpless due to anything about it until Art digs into the code and switches everything back to the way it was.

Carlos

 

[Piscesgirl]

Ahh ok

 

[pineapple]

The concept of 'difficulty' is hard to pin down since it is relative to ones water chemistry which varies from place to place. I find Ludwigia repens difficult to grow in NYC but Tonina sp. Belem very easy. Diffculty is related to: natural constants such as water chemistry; individual variables such as light type and intensity; filters and much more.

Andrew Cribb

 

[lowcoaster]

I have found it relatively easy to maintain, but difficult to propigate. It will stand there and look nice, but tends to grow slowly.

 

[pineapple]

Growing slowly can (sometimes) be an asset. Once is reaches a point of looking good it stays there for a good while - at least Tonina does. These days, I count "slow grower" as being a positive.

Andrew Cribb

 

[Piscesgirl]

Well, I had found it quite easy to propagate -- but I ferted for a while against my normal way of doing things, and things have gone downhill for my Toninas and Eriocaulon. Although the Eriocaulon is in much better shape than the Toninas and I'm hoping things will get back to normal soon. However, the thing with the Eriocaulon was the stem if cut would not re-grow - but the heads will. The heads will form heads, which if cut will form another plant with new heads. So, forget the stem and plant the heads. And, I will suggest even though others may not agree, that Toninas and Eriocaulons do best in soft, acidic water.

 

[aquaverde]

I'm curious- what did you do differently in your fert routine that caused things to go south?

 

[Piscesgirl]

I increased the amount of Kent Botanica Grow that I had been using. Previously, I used it every once in awhile, but I switched to a few drops daily, and things went South. I tested the GH, and it had gotten high (I don't remember where now, perhaps 5 or 6.

 

[aquaverde]

Thanks for the response. That kind of info can save someone some heartache possibly when dealing with these plants.

Wow, you consider 5 or 6 high? Sounds like lake water. You're not living on Kerr lake, are you? Knew some folks who lived there, I spent lots of time around lake Gaston myself back in the day.

 

[Piscesgirl]

I'm close to the lake, but not on it, nothing that fancy. I'm in the middle of nowhere in a mobile home, lol! My well water is wonderfully soft though, and comes out of the tap with 28 ppms of C02. I wouldn't say 5 or 6 would be high GH, but it is for Tonina, etc. At least per my experience (and many others). I know that many folks are keeping the phs in the 5s just to keep them healthy. I did see that Mr. Barr says his do fine in higher phs/ghs/khs but that has not been my personal experience. I keep my kh at 3 mostly with the addition of calcium carbonate from time to time, which my shrimp use as well it seems.