Growing From Seed

[aquarist_in_china]

I'm thinking of buying a selection of aquatic plant seed on the basis that I'll put them in my tank, a minority will germinate, and the others will do no harm and can be fished out at a later date if I feel like it. Does anyone want to shoot me down or tell me to give it a go? Any advice? My tank is doing well so far with me just putting many different plants in, ditching the ones that didn't do well, and leaving the others to grow like crazy. I guess this would work in the same way.

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I had 10 bulbs in my tank and one grew. I would not do it from my experience. Too expensive. 

 

[aquarist_in_china]

where i live someone is selling an assortment of 18 seed online for peanuts. it'll just be a couple of each, but for that price if i get to see one or two germinate it'll be worth it. just wondering if people were gonna say i have to go through elaborate procedures to germinate them, or whatever.

 

[aquarist_in_china]

Guessing no one cares, but I just put two water chestnuts in my tank. Bought them from the fresh market cos they appeared to be sprouting. Left them on my balcony in a bucket of water for so long I was about to bin them, and they sprouted! Put two in my tank. I don't expect them to look great, but they're novel, and if they grow fast will (in my mind) contribute to keeping the water clean.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Never considered doing that  - never found aquatic plant seeds either.  But, I grow terrestrial plants from seeds for my vegetable garden.  Its quite fun and gives me something 'outdoors' to do indoors during the stretch of winter.
 
 
I say "GO FOR IT!" and journal your experience for others to learn from you.  Should be a fun and rewarding experience, and after all, isn't that the point of a hobby?

 

[DrRob]

Many of us care. I was away for the weekend though, so had limited access.
 
You're in an interesting situation compared to us in the UK and US. We can get most things in fairly easily in plant format, with the instant satisfaction that results. The Australians aren't allowed to import all that much anyway, so they're limited for other reasons. You also know what you're getting with cuttings based propagation.
 
Do you know what any of the seeds are? They may have some interesting germination requirements.
 
As for water chestnuts, they like relatively shallow water with a muddy base, but should grow prolifically if happy.

 

[aquarist_in_china]

Thanks for the replies and tips. I had vague ideas about buying dwarf lotus seeds or collecting some wild plants, and already had a relative of the water chestnut with a big (edible) bullhorn-shaped seed. Then it occurred to me that there might be something else 'seedy' in the market I could grow. Other aquatic plants like Lotus root are widely eaten here, grown in aquatic 'fields', and the seeds are eaten, too. I like novelty, and new life. Seeds growing wouldn't beat the first time my fish had fry for amazement-factor, but it'd be nice. Also, however much is available fully grown, it grates on me buying 'adult' plants that have actually just been cut and bundled and die soon after being bought. Where's the fun in that?
 
I'm having an infuriating time trying to post a link here and keep losing what I typed because I can't even copy and paste it back in. I'll post search terms instead in case anyone wants to have a peak at what's available. There are pictures, so even though the text is all Chinese you'd still be able to see what's there. The shopping site is called taobao.com and the relevant search terms are 水草 (aquatic plant) and 种子 (seeds).There ought to be at least some different plants available here.
 
I've just this second ordered a small 10g pack of 25 types of seeds. When it arrives maybe I can take a photo and post it, and then document them not germinating.
 

 

[aquarist_in_china]

This is the water chestnut in the bottom of my tank. It was left on the balcony in an open plastic bag with a splash of water for humidity to see if that would make it sprout, then when that did nothing I thought I'd leave it a while before throwing it out just in case. It was in a bucket of tank water for a month or more, and seems to have germinated in the last week as so when the sun came back at day time temps got to 15-20c again.

 

[DrRob]

Yeah, bulb plants are a pain for doing nothing for ages, but when they get going they tend to get going quickly.
 
I'll have a look in a bit at the links you've posted. Can't at the moment as the work computers don't seem to like the Chinese site.