Potassium is neat

[shayfish]

Since I started dosing K (Flourish) I have noticed the following: aponogetons and crypts are standing up taller (they were a little floppy before... I didn't know they would look so good) and one of my banana plants has shot a leaf stem straight up to the surface!! This thing just sat around and wilted up until now, and within a matter of a couple of days, it has grown a stem about 18 inches long and now the leaf is starting to open up at the surface! It is crazy.

Banana plants are weird though. Someone told me they are not true aquatic plants. The other one just sits around and dies.

Now all I have to do is trim the staghorn infested leaves off the temple plants and my first attempt at a planted tank won't look like complete garbage

 

[godzilla]

how big of a tank and whats your dosing schedule? im just curious because I dose K also, but havent seen such stellar results!

 

[Plantbrain]

Banana plants are aquatic, they tend to have floating leaves, but also have submersed ones also.

Florida has several species in the genus and they are cute plants.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[shayfish]

The banana plant won't stop! Its great... the stem is now about 2 feet long. Before this, the longest one was no more than 2 or 3 inches. The tank is 55 gallons and I am dosing 10 mL 2-3 times a week. I think I will ease off a bit before long.

I wonder if I am imagining the thing about the crypts and apoongetons. I can't quite tell... I'll have to consult some old pics!

 

[Zezmo]

Banana plants are "Nymphoides aquatica", as Tom said, definately aquatic (it's in the name). On most "lily" type plants, such as banana plants, if you trim all the leaves that hit the surface, the plant will stop sending them up and only produce submersed leaves.