# Wisteria melting???



## ireland (Jun 8, 2010)

I bought a bundle of wisteria a few weeks back and they seem to be.. growing but melting??? The higher up leaves are really green and healthy and roots(?) has started to sprout out of the stem but all of the lower leaves are somewhat dying, as if they were melting.

Is this normal or am i lacking nutrients/lighting?

I have the wisteria in a 10 gallon tank with two 15watt spiral cpf
eco-complete as substrate
and two 2L DIY CO2 with a Hagen mini elite as a diffuser (which works really great)

The anubias, java fern, and java moss seems to be doing really great with the setup; dark green color even pearling and giving off tiny bubbles, but i just have no clue as to why the bottom half of the wisterias are so dead. Could it be temperature??? i have it at 80F by the way

I would greatly appreciate anyone's help and suggestion, Thank you


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Your Water Wisteria*

_Hello ireland. I think your Wisteria is fine. As this stem plant grows, the upper leaves tend to shade the lower ones. Without light, the lower leaves die back. The fact you have roots developing is encouraging, your plant likes the tank conditions. _

_I have a lot of Water Wisteria and when the plant gets a little tall, I clip the top three or four inches and plant it. The stalk that's left will grow new leaves. To me, the plant looks a little better if it's shorter. My problem is, I don't trim it often enough and have a tall plant with leaves at the top._

_I have a low tech tank, no CO2, so I include some liquid fertilizer and following the container instructions, dose the tank a couple of times a week._

_BBradbury_


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## GoodwillTKE (Dec 30, 2010)

My wisteria does that mid stem root sprouting thing as well. I try to trim them when it gets a little unsightly. Sometimes they just kind of fall apart there and then I have a floating piece I have to plant somewhere else.

I have pretty much decided not to let it grow tall, but trim those root spots from the main plant and grow more of a medium high bush thing. Not sure if it will work though.


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## jahmic (Jan 30, 2011)

I've had the same experience with Wisteria in the past. The plant typically will grow different forms of leaves depending upon the water conditions, lighting, and whether the plant is growing emersed or submerged.

Typically, the emersed leaves are broad and flat. When I purchased my Wisteria stems...I didn't know it at the time, but they were probably grown emersed. Once I had the stems in my tank, the plant ended up growing bright green leaves that were also more narrow with "fingers" extending along the edges...the broad leaves at the bottom continued to slowly die. I ended up just clipping those leaves off to allow the plant to grow a little bit faster, and it definitely helped.

Sounds like what you're seeing is normal for sure, I wouldn't worry at all.


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## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

It is normal for the lower leaves of wisteria to slowly decline as they get shaded, but I would not describe that as _melting_, which sounds more extreme.

Are you fertilizing at all other than fish waste and Eco-Complete? If there's a nutrient deficiency, the wisteria will strip nutrients from older leaves, killing them.


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## ireland (Jun 8, 2010)

Thank you all for replying, I dont have any macro fertz (thinking about getting some though) but I do have the Flourish Comprehensive, which is the micro fertz.

And the melting part.. Im probably over exaggerated a bit on that part lol its more like.. its just not as lively and they tend to curl up and degrade itself, it could be like what jahmic said about the broad leaf at the bottom slowly dying because my bottom leafs are broader than the top leafs which are more narrow and "finger" like. And the shade thing from the top leaf and bottom leaf like what BBradbury mention could play a role in it as well.

But all in all thank all of you guys for helping, i feel much better about my wisteria now


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

*Did They Look Like This?*

Anyone explain what's going on? I attached pictures. is it algae? When I first got them there were black leaves on plant top sprout.

I could not help myself (female crowntail & MTS pics) :biggrin:


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