Valisneria questions

[Fishies86]

Is it normal for straight vals leaves to go crinkly at the edges?
And how tall will spiral val grow, and how quickly?
I thought it grew at the same rate and to the same height as straight valis, but I've had a small clump for three weeks now and it's only grown a small amount, whereas my straight val has rocketed away

 

[neilanh]

Not sure which val you're talking about when you say straight val. Do you know the more specific name?

Spiral vals when I had them grew a bit slower than my val nana - not sure if that's the norm or just my experience though. It also may be that they're just still getting their roots reestablished since there only a few weeks old.

 

[Fishies86]

I don't know the botanical name, i wasn't even told what plant it was when I bought it. It's over a foot high now, so I'm guessing it's not 'nana' I have a funny feeling that it might be vallisneria spiralis? When I say straight val, I just meant that it wasn't twisted

 

[neilanh]

have a look here and see if you can ID.

BTW, val nana refers to the small width of the leaves. My val nana overgrew my 24" tall tank.

 

[Fishies86]

Ah ok I just knew that nana means small, and I usually only see it on dwarf plants. I'll see if I can ID it for you

 

[Fishies86]

I can't see the pictures clearly enough to see the difference. I don't have a computer so I'm viewing it on a mobile phone screen. Sorry

 

[Fishies86]

I've been trying to look in google. The twisted one may be val. americana 'mini twister' that stays fairly small, so maybe that's what's going on? The straight ones leaves are about 1cm wide if that's any help? I can't see whether the sides of the leaves are supposed to crinkle though?

 

[Fishies86]

Now I've noticed that my amazon sword is starting to go wavy too, especially the newer leaves. Is there a particular reason why plants do this? I know with terrestrial plants, they get really crinkled because of lack of water. Guess that's not the case here