# Tropica's Staurogyne sp. growth



## GTR (May 27, 2009)

Will this spread laterally or does each plant just "fill in". Not much info on it out there.

http://www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=049G

SteveU


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

I have a few relatively young stems courtesy of MrJG and it seems to be spreading laterally very nicely. As a matter of fact, I need to move them farther away from each other and pull up some HC.


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## shane3fan (Nov 2, 2009)

Jeff5614 said:


> I have a few relatively young stems courtesy of MrJG and it seems to be spreading laterally very nicely.


Ditto.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Stays super low and spreads laterally for me as well. Awesome foreground plant.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

I just received some as well. On Tropica's website, if you watch the video it explains great ways to trim, to keep them lateral. I believe its just trimming the side shoots, so they dont grow upwards. Ill have to watch it again.


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## GTR (May 27, 2009)

Thanks all. I was hoping it would spread. The thought of having to top it and replant the trims to get it full wasn't a happy thought. lol 

I had a heck of a time getting them to stay in the substrate.

SteveU


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

I just spread mine out a bit since they were starting to overgrow each other and they put down some pretty good roots. You won't have any problem with them staying put after they settle in.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

Ya im having a really hard time keeping them in the substrate. I ended up burying them pretty far down to keep them held in. I keep having to re plant floaters, and two plants have disappeared. I cannot find them!


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## GTR (May 27, 2009)

With the real small ones I cut up some lead weights and wrapped it one-time around the stem. It was either that or bury them all the way. Most were big enough to stay put.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

Thats a good idea, i bet i have some weights laying around.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

If you have some fern or plants at the top of the water you can lodge the trimmings in for a couple of days they will throw some nice roots out for re-planting.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Need to whack the Blyxa back even further, uproot and replant to keep it lower. The back is still in the grow in phase as is the left side in general. Lots of current and the wood blocks a lot of light. Back ground will be mostly P stellata eventually, it'll take another 1-2 months worth of trim, grow out for it to look somewhat where I like. 
I may switch back to Tonina. Both do well in current. The Starougyne responds well to pruning. I pinch off the tops, about 1-2" down, leave the rest still rooted. On clumps that start to get taller than the surrounding areas, I'll thin and take most of the larger dominate stems. Then the other stem tips fill in with a little fluffing and preening. This pic is less than a week after I removed about 70 plants. So it looks fairly good not long afterward. Nothing is worse than a foreground trim/plant etc that looks bad for a long time afterward. I tend to try and hack the plant in the front more aggressively, trying to keep it a safe distance from the front glass. The plants will fill back in those spots in the front in about 2-3 weeks. Slim space is good for the plecos that like to grub in the front and I can lay food out for them.

Cardinals and other critters are happy, frisky, well feed, eat most anything. 

Sorry for the point and shoot photos, I may actually do a real photo shoot someday. This tank is admittedly a long way away from any of that.
Not a difficult plant, not a light demanding plant in the least. 
Leaf size might be a bit large for smaller tanks, but on a large tank, it makes a nice easy to care for weed.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

nice tanki so want to get some of these plants


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## jman (Sep 7, 2009)

Nice! I just have to try this plant now.


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## home grown (Jun 7, 2010)

I just planted this plant 2 weeks ago. already noticing runner being sent out. I currently have pressurized co2 and EI dosing along with amazonia II. Would it be plausible to grow this plant into a nice carpet w/o the EI dosing? EI dosing has been too tedious imo and would like to move away from it. I do have the amazonia as a source of nutrients.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

home grown said:


> I just planted this plant 2 weeks ago. already noticing runner being sent out. I currently have pressurized co2 and EI dosing along with amazonia II. Would it be plausible to grow this plant into a nice carpet w/o the EI dosing? EI dosing has been too tedious imo and would like to move away from it. I do have the amazonia as a source of nutrients.


I'm sure it would be worth a try. AS will help as far as lowering your need for ferts in the water column but it depends a bit on how much light you're using. I've gone from 108w T5HO on my 75g to 54w and repens is still growing fine although a bit more vertical with lower lighting. I'm dosing around 5-10 ppm KNO3 per week, depends on when I think it needs it, and a squirt of PO4 along with a bit of micros and it's doing well.

This is an older pic and all the plants have filled out quite a bit more but you get the idea. Repens is pretty hardy and undemanding.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

[Quote - Need to whack the Blyxa back even further, uproot and replant to keep it lower. The back is still in the grow in phase as is the left side in general. Lots of current and the wood blocks a lot of light. Back ground will be mostly P stellata eventually, it'll take another 1-2 months worth of trim, grow out for it to look somewhat where I like. 
I may switch back to Tonina. Both do well in current. The Starougyne responds well to pruning. I pinch off the tops, about 1-2" down, leave the rest still rooted. On clumps that start to get taller than the surrounding areas, I'll thin and take most of the larger dominate stems. Then the other stem tips fill in with a little fluffing and preening. This pic is less than a week after I removed about 70 plants. So it looks fairly good not long afterward. Nothing is worse than a foreground trim/plant etc that looks bad for a long time afterward. I tend to try and hack the plant in the front more aggressively, trying to keep it a safe distance from the front glass. The plants will fill back in those spots in the front in about 2-3 weeks. Slim space is good for the plecos that like to grub in the front and I can lay food out for them. - Quote]

Useful Staurogyne repens care information, Tom.

You can prevent very short stems from floating by using a 3-inch thread to wrap around the plant and use the remaining length of the thread to anchor the stem in the substrate. Almost like a 'root prosthesis' concept.


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