Cryptocoryne Addiction

Despite my trials, despite my care, the plants grow. I keep these species for several months already. None of them flowered yet (correction – C. sp. ‘Yellow Ring’ flowered 2 times), but seeing how they grow makes me happy. This post just a photo documentation of the progress.

In some cases I got two plants per each species, therefore I tried different substrates (mostly based on beech tree litter/mould) and different setups to see in which it goes better. Here are the “pretty” looking plants. If you want to compare the size of leaves, the clay pots are 8/9cm wide.

Since there are a lot of pictures, a lot of species in one post, here is a a quick navigation:

C. affinis | C. bullosa ‘Sarikei’ | C. fusca | C. ideii | C. longicauda ‘Seri Aman’ | (?) C. minima ‘Perak’ | C. noritoi | C. uenoi ‘Serian’ | C. usteriana | C. x purpurea novothovar. borneoensis ‘Lundu’ | C. sp. ‘Yellow Ring’ ‘Bukit Ibam’ | L. meeboldii pink

I put C. bullosa in cover protected plastic pot and the humidity condensates all over so I cannot see through properly. I was surprised when I saw 3 new leaves with pretty vidid green color. The darker leaves are “import” leaves – from nature or farm. Another surprise were tiny bubbles. I suppose it is gas creating in substrate.

Here is the picture when I got this plant.

Another specimen is growing much slowly. This one is in pH approx. 4-4,5 and already has new plantlets. The same goes for following two species.

Here is the picture when I got this plant.

Here is the picture when I got this plant.

Here is the picture when I got this plant.

I am not sure, but when I look at the picture, it resembles me my C. x purpurea from Dennerle. It was labeled as C. minima ‘Perak’, but the leaf pattern confuses me. Lets wait for a spathe.

Here is the picture when I got this plant.

Another specimen is growing much more slowly. Maybe it is because of higher pH. Anyway, I started to lower pH in most of my tanks. I am curious about the results. Here is the picture.

Here is the picture when I got this plant.

I also have several of these usteriana(s) in my fish tank. The leaves were getting larger, were becoming bullated and I could see the reddish color on their underside. Unfortunately it all melted down several days ago… so the pictures of submersed plants…maybe next time.

I have seen plenty of pictures of emersed C. usteriana, but still – I was surprised how easily it grows.

Here is the picture when I got this plant (submersed form of plants).

When I got this Crypt, I was a little bit worried because it was kind of pricey, but it grows really well.

Here is the picture when I got this plant.

I have several pots of C. sp. ‘Yellow Ring’ and it flowers regularly. Here are some pictures.

Bonus:
These plants are not rare, but I add them to the post.

Just in case someone is interested, here is  my pot with common C. affinis. It is covered with lid, so the humidity goes high.

L. meeboldii has actually much prettier color, but the leaf surface makes kind of reflection and it is changing from brown to pink. You can see some pink color in the picture, but not as much as you would in reality. The picture shows large leaves, but in my conditions it often melts down.