Spatterdock Tuber - Help Needed

[ikongoni]

Can anyone give me a little bit of advice about Spatterdock tubers?

Do these need to be planted in the substrate or do they saturate and sink to the bottom of they own accord.?

 

[Wolfenrook]

Nuphar are one of the few plants that I haven't grown yet, but I would be tempted to say to plant it the same as other 'bulbs' like nymphae. Plant it in the substrate leaving the 'crown' of the bulb exposed.

I am sure if I am wrong somebody will correct me.

Ade

 

[KraKen]

LOL Spatterdock tubbers sound like something Harry Potter would study in herbology class.

 

[SuperColey1]

Not very likely that it is Spatterdock. Spatterdock can be found in the wild in the UK. More likely Nuphar Japonica which is commonly named Spatterdock although it is an entirely different plant.

I hope you have a big tank. lol. This plant grows huge!!!! Within 2 months with ferts and even in low light it will span 3ft diameter!!!!

Also beware that you should decide before planting wether you really want this plant because once it has become established it will grow roots 2ft+ in all directions meaning to remove it you will have to either remove the substrate and all other content or risk leaving the roots in (which will regrow. lol)

The tuber should look similar to the centre of a cabbage/cauliflower. Imagine the plant you have as being a section of this cabbage.

With the tuber you probably got it may have gotten quite mushy around the edges. Even if it hasn't get a sharp knife and trim it so that the outer of the section to be planted is nice and fresh. To get it to anchor easier you can cut it into an egg timer shape:


-----
\ /
/ \
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Push the whole tuber into the ground leaving the stems to come from the substrate level.

This is the freshly planted example in the centre:

This is after 2 months and was having 3 or 4 leaves chopped away at the crown every fortnight. It was in a 125Ltr tall tank. Hard work and heavy pruning plus notice that the large leaves shade the tank a lot.

This plant eventually came out of the tank after 4 months to make room for other species to grow as it is so greedy for space.

Good Luck
Andy

 

[ikongoni]

@Supercoly1 - Hmmmm, some worrying food for thought there...

It was sold under the name of a red spatterdock tuber. The tuber itself is like a piece of hard bogwood about 4" long with various shoots growing out of it.

I am worried now, because the info that I googled on this plant said that it grows to about 6" tall,
because I only have a small aquarium I thought that would be ideal for what I wanted.

There is a photo below, and I notice that the leaves are very different from the Nuphar that tried to take control of your tank, so maybe it is a completely different species?
Or did your leaves also start out as bright green lily-pads?

I have just done another google search and had the following hit.

http/www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f...atterdock#p4540

Seems I am not alone in being seduced by the photo on Greenline website...

 

[SuperColey1]

Take another look at my tank pictures. Can you see your plant in there?

The plant at the front is Nympheae Rubra, often called Tiger Lotus but not correctly as it doesn't have the distinct markings. Grows from a small hard woodlike bulb and the plant grows from the bulb. The bulb can be seperated from the plant once it grows and moved elsewhere for it to grow another plant.

It can be trained to grow low apparently although I have always let it grow tall as you can see (there are 5 in those pictures. lol)

Apparently if you keep cutting off stems that reach for the surface then it is supposed to eventually stay lower.

If you look at the colour and the stems of your plant compared to the stems on the picture in that link you posted then you can notice the difference in colour and also the stems of yours are thin (giveaway) compared to the fat stems of the links.

Not sure what plant that is in the pic, never seen it before!! The link below is quite good for IDing plants. you can see clearly the difference in appearance from the Nuphar Japonica and Nympheae Rubra, although they have incorrectly named Japonica as Spatterdock. lol. Spatterdock is Nuphar Advena and does have similar rounded leaves to the pic from Greenline. Yours seems to have the usual wavy leaves of Rubra.
[URL="http/hippocampus-bildarchiv.de/db/eng/209/2/0/0/list.htm"]http/hippocampus-bildarchiv.de/db/eng/209/2/0/0/list.htm[/URL]

The plant at the back looks like it could be Spatterdock as it does have the thicker stems but as I say. This is widespread in many lakes and streams so I wouldn't suggest paying for it. lol

Andy

 

[MELVIN ASHLEY]

HI IVE GOT A SPATTERDOCK HAD IT FOUR 10 MONTHS IT WILL SEND PADS UP TO THE TOP OF TANK THEN THEY WILL GROW LIKE A LILLYPADS IF YOU CUT THEM OF AT THE TUBER THEY WILL GROW AT BOTTOM OF TANK AND MAY FLOWER MINE HAVE FLOWERD LOTS OF TIMES MY TUBER IS ONLY 5INCH LONG HOPE THIS HELPS PS OPPS LEFT CAPS ON SORRY MEL

 

[ikongoni]

@Supercoley1 - We are getting confused I think.
I am well aware of the Nymphaea Rubra, as I have kept these for many years, and currently have three other Nymphaea bulbs in the aquarium.

And it is absolutely true that they can be trained to stay low growing with just a little selective pruning.

The plant that I am querying is the bright green one in the background. This was sold as "red spatterdock" but the leaves are completely different to your Nuphar Japonica, so I am certain that it isnt that.

Perhaps it is genuinely is a variety of spatterdock? One that has green/pink leaves?

 

[Wolfenrook]

What kind of lighting do you have iknogoni? Many red plants turn green if kept in insufficient lighting and are only red under intense lighting. It could just be that your red nuphar just isn't getting enough light to be red. The leaves do look like those of a nuphar, or spatterdock (there are many varieties of spatterdock, both european and tropical, much as there are varieties of nymphae) when young. As the plant matures you will see the 2nd leaf form form, much like on nymphae as they age the leaves change form.

Ade

 

[ikongoni]

@Wolfenrook - My aquarium is a Rio 125, and came with the T5 lighting system.

Anyway, here is a photo that I took last night, which shows how quickly this Spatterdock/Nuphar is growing when you compare with the previous photo...

 

[Sanj]

Can anyone give me a little bit of advice about Spatterdock tubers?

Do these need to be planted in the substrate or do they saturate and sink to the bottom of they own accord.?

I planted mine in the substrate, but not covered the end where the leaves sprout.

 

[ikongoni]

The above photo of mine is a bit deceptive.
It looks as though the tuber is fully covered, but its actually in a trench with a little substrate sprinkled over it to keep in from floating away..

 

[Wolfenrook]

Looks fine to me, and if you don't want it getting huge just prune the leaves once they get bigger than you want them, same as you would on a nymphae.

Ade