[Tugg]

Seeds finally showed up. They sent them certified mail and I apparently missed the first two delivery attempts.

 

[Tanan]

Mine hasn't yet.

 

[miremonster]

Seeds finally showed up. They sent them certified mail and I apparently missed the first two delivery attempts.

That in the left bag looks like seed of common lawn grasses, mixed with fertilizer Was it ordered as aquatic plant seeds?

@Tanan: I guess that the waterlily is Nymphaea nouchali (= N. stellata): http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=250097280
A N. nouchali from Sri Lanka was imported to Europe, some hobbyists keep it in their tanks: http://www.flowgrow.de/artenbestimmung/unbekannte-seerose-t16685.html
Maybe the waterlily you've found could be better established in culture by collecting the tubers when the plant is in the dormant phase.

 

[Tanan]

Yes Mire, ordered as aquatic plants. That's what I was thinking too. The colored ball looks like ferts. Maybe tug would be kind enough to post pics of all the seeds in that package? Maybe make another thread for the germination process.
I dont why mine hasn't arrived yet. Pakistan is connected to china by road! What could take it so long?

 

[neilshieh]

Germinating aquatic plants from seeds is actually very easy. I have a small seed bank of sorts of my emersed grown plants, and ive germinated most of them as well. Of my plants the ones I found the easiest to germinate are:hygrophila lancea, lindernia sp. india, polygonum sp (persicaria, kawagoeanum, etc.) i could never get my crypts to send up a spathe but i know someone who grows a bunch of them in hydroponic flats and when they send up spathes he puts in a bunch of fruit flies or fungus gnats and he gets crytocoryne seeds. Anubias seeds are possible too but ive never heard of anyone drying them out for long term; theyre all planted after collecting the seeds from the pods.

 

[neilshieh]

To germinate the seeds just get some substrate and put in water so that theres a very thin film of water right below the surface and just put the seeds on. alternatively ive also germinated the seeds on just wet paper towels and transferred them when they got bigger. ive never germinated them underwater since obviously they float. Id germinate them emersed and then transfer to submersed later.

 

[Tanan]

Just on wet paper towel?! How? Man you need to document it. I couldn't find any stuff on aquatic plant germination except someone here who germinated some erios.

 

[neilshieh]

Yeah, when i first got seeds from my plants i didnt know what to do with them but i figured seeds are seeds so i just put them on a wet paper towel in a plastic ziplock bag and blew in some air so thered be co2. sealed the bag and they grew into seedlings. this way isnt that great though because the roots embed themselves in the paper towel and its near impossible to separate the roots. i recommend just getting a small clear plastic bottle or glass jar with lid and put in some soil or substrate put in water so that its wetter than just moist but not saturated either. (too wet and you get mold/fungus which will kill the seedling) and put it in a place with light but dont let it overheat!!
one of the apc moderators, asukawashere, also has plants that go to seed very frequently. She doesnt collect the seeds though, she lets them fall to the soil and grow into new plants. Seeds are definitely viable for aquatic plants but we probaby dont see them because it takes too much work to collect all those seeds and selling seeds is an odd concept the hobby isnt really set to accept when you could just buy plant clippings/trimmings.

 

[miremonster]

@Tanan: anyway there's no clear-cut difference between aquatic and non-aquatic plant. Aquarium-suitable plants are a motley bunch of disparate plant types.
I've noticed that e.g. Persicaria "Kawagoeanum" and Lindernia rotundifolia spontaneously germinate and grow well in normal, only moderately moist soil (there are weedy, common Persicaria (knotweed) species, perhaps also in your area, even backyard), I think they can also be seen as terrestrial plants tolerating wetness and flooding.
At the other end of the scale are extreme aquatics like Ottelia, their seeds need to be covered with water for germinating because their seedlings can't grow emersed.

But back to the China shipment - if it contains others than lawn seed (apart from the cabbage seed) and the coloured balls are really ferts (and not pelleted seeds), I'd separate the seed from the ferts and rinse it before sowing.

 

[Tanan]

@Mire: I was thinking aquatic plants on the line of true aquatic plants like vals and aponogetons. I do have had aponogetons to flower, seed and produce plants in my tank.
I'm trying to locate some local ditches, swamps and lakes that are left somehow untouched. It's hard to find any freshwater bodies in Karachi. Our boring's and well gives brackish/saltwater. I'm thinking of organizing a small group trip to some ditches in March/April. I think spring is a good time to look for plants. No?
My shipment has yet to arrive. We need @Tugg to find out more about the seeds at the moment.

 

[totziens]

Yes, the blue ones are definitely fertilisers. I have seen those being used by my mother-in-law in her garden. I am not sure of the ingredients. So, it's unknown whether it's harmful or not to the fishes. I agree with miremonster's suggestion to separate the seeds from the ferts.

 

[miremonster]

Yes, the blue ones are definitely fertilisers. I have seen those being used by my mother-in-law in her garden. I am not sure of the ingredients. So, it's unknown whether it's harmful or not to the fishes. I agree with miremonster's suggestion to separate the seeds from the ferts.

Yes, customary mineralic NPK garden ferts here in Europe looks alike, the blue stuff is called "Blaukorndünger" (blue grain fertilizer) in German.
Maybe a mix for sowing lawn or meadow outdoors incl. starter ferts, so probably the content of the shipment can be used to make a nice cabbage patch bordered by grass The longish seed looks to me like that of common temperate grasses (Festuca, Poa, Lolium etc) but I don't know what the big dark and small yellow grains are (seed?), we'll see.

I'm trying to locate some local ditches, swamps and lakes that are left somehow untouched. It's hard to find any freshwater bodies in Karachi. Our boring's and well gives brackish/saltwater. I'm thinking of organizing a small group trip to some ditches in March/April. I think spring is a good time to look for plants. No?

Surely interesting! Is there a possibility to find folks knowing the local flora, botanists or so? Favorable time: I can't really judge that for your area, it's dry period in the spring months, not? Maybe several aquatic or semi-aquatic plants are still dormant or dried, but probably still seed-bearing then. It's surely paying to have a thorough look at every green stuff, also when it looks boring at first glance, in all zones that are at least regularly flooded during the moist period.

 

[alanle]

Wrap them up with a bagb

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Abhijit]

Hello to all the experts,
I am very new in all the aquarium stuff, recently I bought some seeds on ebay and followed the instructions given to germinate ,according to there instruction plants will grow upto 2-3 inches in 8-10 days after which they can be transferred into the aquarium.

Attaching a snap of my plants after 15 days

1) Are my plants dead?
2)Are they good enough to transfer them into an aquarium?
3)if yes what is the right process of doing that

Thank you in advance.