# Jungle Val won't grow up.



## tyson2925 (May 11, 2017)

I have had this jungle val for 7 months now. It is spreading nicely but the tallest plant is not more than 6 inches long? I have used oscomote tabs from the beginning and started thrive 2 months ago. No noticeable improvement. My lighting is low to med LED. 60 gallon tank.


Is there a time for establishing a root base and then they take off or anyone else have experiences like this? Looking for suggestions to try.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi tyson2925,

Are you by any chance dosing Excel or glutaraldecide/Metricide?


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## tyson2925 (May 11, 2017)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi tyson2925,
> 
> Are you by any chance dosing Excel or glutaraldecide/Metricide?



I am not. thanks


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi tyson2925,

Hmmm, looks like you are using ADA soil and along with the Osmocote and Thrive you should have plenty of nutrients. I am assuming they were long leaved plants to begin and not a Sagittaria species? Unless you have a fish in there acting as a lawnmower the only other possibility that comes to mind is light.


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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

Just be patient, Val can be finicky like that. Eventually it will just explode and grow much taller.


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## tamsin (Jan 12, 2011)

Maybe take a close up of the plant so we can tell for sure you do have what you think you do. It's a bit odd to be spreading happily but not growing up too.


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## RWaters (Nov 12, 2003)

That doesn't look like jungle val to me.


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## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

tamsin said:


> Maybe take a close up of the plant so we can tell for sure you do have what you think you do. It's a bit odd to be spreading happily but not growing up too.




Yup... was thinking the same. 


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## Quagulator (May 4, 2015)

I also think it is not a val, looks a lot like a sagittaria species, could also be a Helanthium species. A closer pic would help us, and a description of what it looked like when you bought it.


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## splattered (Jun 7, 2017)

Shouldn't bury the roots like that right away. Either weight it down or tie it to something or let it float for a while. Those roots are really delicate and small and probably got damaged/reduced in the shipping process. They need time to recover

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## splattered (Jun 7, 2017)

... It's tempting to plant each little plantlet like that but they can float for months

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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Agree about need to identify, but regardless of the ID, when I add a new plant that tends to grow fast in other tanks but is surprisingly slow in a particular setup (and I can't think of any other problems)), I typically assume the culprit is damaged roots from improper handling/planting on my part. It can take a very long time for some heavily rooted plants to become reestablished after a disturbance like this, but they eventually get back into the groove of things.


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## tyson2925 (May 11, 2017)

Thanks everyone for the insight and suggestions. I am pretty darn sure this is jungle val. I have attached the picture right after planting, the original plants were 15-20" long. I also included a close up of the original plants and the new plants. I should mention all of the original Val plants are gone. Everything in the tank now is secondary growth from the originals that melted eventually. The good news about the low growth is that its giving me the carpet effect I was originally trying to achieve with dwarf sag (which died) but I was hoping for a good tall background plant with the Val. 


At one point I had both a 24/7 LED running full bright 9 hours a day plus a single T8 so I would say I was at Medium light for 2 full months and still no real improvement and a lot more algae so I went back to the LED only.


Thanks again for the help!


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## splattered (Jun 7, 2017)

Might be the "purple" variety

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## aquazone (Jul 9, 2003)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi tyson2925,
> 
> Are you by any chance dosing Excel or glutaraldecide/Metricide?


Excel melted my entire forest in the past. Melted completely to the ground. I thought I had lost them all. Took several months for them to get their sea legs back. Lesson learned! Be careful out there.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi tyson2925,

I apologize, I see you do not have ADA Amazonia aquasoil, instead it looks to be some sort of inert material. That said, you may not have sufficient nutrients available for your plants. I see some chlorosis (yellowing) of leaves but cannot tell if it is new growth or older leaves.

There are three nutrients that can cause stunted growth: zinc (unlikely), nitrogen (possible), or phosphorus (also possible). If it is the older leaves that are turning yellow my first suggestion is to increase your dosing of nitrogen.



> Plants receiving enough nitrogen to attain limited growth exhibit deficiency symptoms consisting of a general chlorosis, especially in older leaves. In severe cases, these leaves become completely yellow and then light tan as they die. They frequently fall off the plant in the yellow or tan stage.


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## stussy28 (Mar 17, 2016)

I’m not saying that it’s not jungle Val, but it does look like sagittaria Chilensis. It does grow tall, but doesn’t get tall enough to lay on the surface.


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## tyson2925 (May 11, 2017)

Thank you again for all of the replys. I will try some of you suggestions and see how it goes.


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