Tips for emmersed growth?

[Cromid]

Hey guys, a wee while ago I cut back and planted replanted the cutoffs of a bunch of rotala rotundifolia from my main tank into my smaller shallow tank, and it’s doing great.
My main hope was that because it’s a shallow tank, that the rotala will grow out of the water and have some great emerges growth giving it a pond like look.

Just wondering if anyone have any tips for promoting some emmersed growth, as just now it’s grown to the water line but hasn’t grown any further for over a month

Any advice or tips would be great! If this can even be done ofcourse!

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

It can be done and will just take time to breach the surface.
Underwater, it's a relatively fast grower, but don't be tempted to give it more light...if you do, it'll devote its energies to spreading underwater.

 

[Byron]

Rotala rotundifolia is a marsh plant so it will grow emersed as well as submersed. It needs good light. Kaselmann says "The plants do not display good protruding growth from the water so that adaptation to emersed cultivation is not easy. However, once this has been established cultivation in the paludarium or greenhouse is so rapid that the species can become a real weed. Inflorescences occur only above the water surface."

 

[Cromid]

Thanks for the replies guys. Hopefully it’ll eventually break through the surface then! But glad to know it is possible eventually

 

[Colin_T]

just let the water evaporate over time and the plant will become terrestrial. keep enough water so the roots remain damp and use a normal liquid garden fertiliser on it.