# Maintaining Madagascar Lace



## Grubs (Jun 2, 2007)

Don't clip the lower leaves until they begin to turn a little yellow in places. I wait until they are a bit tatty and then pull them off. If they don't pull off easily I leave them until they do. The exception is sometimes the old lower leaves can get a little BBA at which point I might cut them off. Provided the leaves are green they are contributing to the plants food production.

The plant can only maintain so many leaves so replacing old with new is how they grow. If you think it should be maintaining a bigger canopy of leaves then you need to feed it. Put some root tabs under it every 3 months. Lace get nearly all their nutrients from the substrate. They love a rich substrate, cooler water, some flow and CO2 with moderate lighting. 

That all said - sometimes you just get a plant with no vigor that persists without thriving. For example in the pic below the two little lace plants at the front are the same age as the big one back left - all grown from seed from the same flower 2 years ago. They creep forward but so far haven't gone BOOM. Maybe they'll explode next year....


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

My substrate/rockwool (temporary) has Osmocote Plus in it and I am using Seachem Excel, the lighting could be better though. Wow you have quite a drastic different in your tank, I put it in a high lighting tank for 1 week and it grew foliage quicker than it could photosynthesize the plants new growth started turning purple! I will continue to watch it I have not had it long enough to draw any strong conclusions yet:


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## Grubs (Jun 2, 2007)

Looks very healthy to me with lots of new growth coming before the previous leaf has fully expanded. This is my measure of when the plants are "happy". If there is a new leaf on its way up before the previous leaf has fully expanded its a good sign. If there isn't a new leaf coming up it tells you the plant has slowed down and this is a good time to check when you last put in a root tab. Go easy on the light - they don't need a lot.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

I cranked the light down 5 days ago and this is the results. As you can see the taper of growth has reversed and I think the lower leaves have quit on me. The red leaves are older than the blue ones, and the blue ones are older than the white...it has a bunch of new tiny leaves too. I think the red leaves were on it from the store, then pretty much everything else grew in my possession so maybe the environment change has shocked the lower foliage from ever establishing maturity. I do not have room for all this foliage if the new tiny leaves are going to turn into this, I may have to choose between growing out a few larger leaves or letting it continue to replace them I am just shocked at how fast and large it is getting this is no Anubias!


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## Grubs (Jun 2, 2007)

What you've described is how they grow. Each new leaf is bigger than the last until they max out.... They can reach 3ft tall with each leaf 8-10 inches wide 

The lower leaves have stopped expanding but they have not quit. They are now healthy leaves photosynthesizing food for the plant.

However... you need to get it into some dirt ASAP. They take their nutrients through the roots and since you have yours in rockwool at the moment it is fueling that strong growth you are seeing by exhausting its bulb.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

The lower red leaves do look matured in color and shape but are dwarfed, don't they look a bit tattered? I think they are starting to become unsightly compared to the other sets. 

I have Osmocote in the rockwool until I know where I wanted to plant it, I figured that was why it was exploding no?


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## BettaBabe (May 1, 2015)

I found a very interesting article about this plant. Says it has a warm water resting phase. It's a beautiful plant. I'd love to try it one day.
The Secrets of the Madagascar Lace Plant | Details | Articles | TFH Magazine®


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