[Bert H]

I was curious if anyone knows if there is any correlation between anything, ie, lighting, nutrients, co2 levels, and the amount of roots stem plants put out from their nodes. I have noticed that for me, Bacopa puts out roots from almost every node except the top 2 or 3, while my R. indica doesn't do it except in the lower ones where not as much light gets to it. Is it just a difference in species, or are there factors that play into this? Whenever I top/replant my Bacopa I try to trim as many rootlets as possible. I prefer not to see all those white roots streaming down from the stem.

 

[gnatster]

I do not know if there is any correlation but experience the same issue except in the reverse order. My thick planting of B. carolinia have very few roots from the nodes and only in the 1st or 2nd node, while R indica has them almost to top on some stems but not on others.

 

[Phil Edwards]

Some species tend to put out aerial roots regardless of the supplimentation, Alternanthera spp. in particular come to mind. Generally it's a sign that the plants are better able to get nutrients from the water column than they are from the substrate and have chosen to invest their energy in the most efficient manner possible. While unsightly aerial roots aren't necessarily an indication of poor plant health.

Best,
Phil

 

[dennis]

Almost all of my stem plants tend to get large amounts of arial roots when I dose Floursih with high light. IF I don't dose the Flourish for a week or so (actually no trace) then swithch back to it I get lots of roots within a couple of days.

 

[Bert H]

I'm getting the feeling, there's no good answer to my question here.

FWIW, I have 3 tanks with 3 different gravels - flourite only, eco-complete only, and mixture of flourite with river gravel. I dose the same in all of them - 8:1 NO3O4 ratio, adding 10ppm NO3 at water change, and 5ppm NO3 midweek. PO4 is added according to the 8:1 ratio. All get dosed Flourish 5 days a week (when macros not added). I have observed the same internodal root growth in all the tanks. Bacopa puts out tons of it, Rotala not as much. Phil, surprisingly, my A. reinickii doesn't put out that many rootlets from the nodes.

Oh, well, thanks for the replies. I have incorporated 'root pruning' into my weekly routine as needed. If anyone has any more nuggets of wisdom, I'm curious. Thanks.