I got babies!!! <Java ferns>

[jsoong]

Around Christmas, you might recall that I posted about getting a jave fern "plant" that turned out to be just a bunch of leaves tied together. I planted it anyway, as an article suggested that babies will grow from the leaves.

Well, a month later, I got baby plants! I have roots in at least 2 dozen spots <and more coming each day>, and maybe 3 or 4 plantlets with leaves. If all of the roots take, I am going to be overran with plants.


My questions is: How fast will the babies grow, and when can I detach them & tie them to my drift wood. My largest one is now 1/2" big (leaves), with roots of 3/4".

 

[Billsgate]

I wait until the new plant leaves are about 1,5-2 inches long before I take off the top of the 'old' leave and tie it to a piece of wood (or rock, whatever you like).
Glad to hear that you have some new plants instead of only the leaves!

 

[Kasakato]

I got the same thing. Any ttips on hoe to grow the baby plants? There are a few comming out of the leafs risht noe. Is it ok it there is some brown stuff around them?

 

[jsoong]

Java fern roots are supposed to be brown. I noticed that in mine, the roots were green when they first came out, but the fine rootlets coming out of that are brown.

I am excited to see new plants, but I guess I'll have to wait longer before I can detach them from their mother.

 

[BobthePlec]

hmm...jsoong, that's what my java ferns looked like when I bought them too!

You didn't buy them at Big Al's by any chance did you??

 

[jsoong]

Yep, prob. the same batch as yours! At least I got them on sale for only $3.50.

 

[malkore]

Its funny...I only ever bought 2 java ferns...about 14 months ago...and I now have at least 30 in all my tanks that came from those 2 originals.

 

[TankGirl]

You don't have to do anything special for them, once they have a good root system (brown stuff) and they have at least three leaves you can pull them gently off the mother leaf and tie them somewhere, or just leave them and they will fall off on their own.

 

[SwerveDriver]

One thing about those large Java Fern leafs with no roots is that they grow new baby plantlets quickly. My original Java Fern with rhizome and roots has grown only a few baby plantlets compared to the bunched Java leaves which has grown about 5-8 times more. They breed like guppies!

I'm just waited for my ferns to grow a little more. For now I just weight them down in the substrate any old place until they grow somewhat then I'll relocate them.

 

[Lance M.]

The only thing I don't like about the baby plants is that when they come off the mother plant, they always get stuck in the filter intake and clogs up the water flow

 

[extremenewb]

I might actually have to prune the java's coz they look like they're approaching the top of the water. Just wondering, would it be bad to actually chop the "mother leaf" off with the little new baby and just tie the baby down using the pruned mother leaf? (what I'm concerned is that I may damage the baby when I remove it from the mother leaf).

I apologise for my un-technical terms. I still hope u can grasp my meaning

Also, how would I go around pruning the ferns when they get too tall? Would I like chop the leaves in half or something? Or maybe get a taller/bigger tank? hehe

 

[malkore]

you should only remove the leaf from the base. if you cut it in half, it'll simply die off anyway.

 

[Lance M.]

I might actually have to prune the java's coz they look like they're approaching the top of the water. Just wondering, would it be bad to actually chop the "mother leaf" off with the little new baby and just tie the baby down using the pruned mother leaf? (what I'm concerned is that I may damage the baby when I remove it from the mother leaf).

Or you could just wait until the baby plant grows a little bit bigger (3-4 .75 inch leaves) and rip them off the mother leave. That's what I usually do.

 

[jsoong]

I am trying this: bend a mother leaf down & tie it so the babies touch the driftwood, & wait for the babies to "catch" before removing the mother leaf. I figure this would be easier than trying to detach & tie the small babies.

In case this doesn't work, I still have another 2 dozens or so babies to try different methods!

 

[gone fishin]

Whenever I want a "new" fern I just cut off a good leaf and let it float on the top for a week. Usually I have 2 or 3 new shoots and just tie the whole leaf to something. I like the little "sprouts" all over and sometimes the smaller the better. I drill little holes in my driftwood and just push 'em in. Looks like new life sprouting everywhere.