# Driftwood is growing roots



## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

Wow; crazy. I've never had that happen with any of my driftwood, although I've only ever used spider wood once.

Can you post a picture?

That said, I have seen many, many dead trees that fall over into a river, lake or other body of water and then roots grow out from the part of the tree touching/closest to the water, and new branches grow up in that area so it looks like small trees growing out of a big tree, and the entire rest of the original tree remains dead.


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## jaurex (Jul 25, 2019)

Yeah, I'll post a pic tonight or tomorrow! There is no sign of any active... sprouting... though, just the roots.


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

That's interesting, I've never seen that happen before. Spiderwood is a root, so it's not really driftwood, so I guess that root you received wasn't completely dead.


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## jaurex (Jul 25, 2019)

Asteroid said:


> That's interesting, I've never seen that happen before. Spiderwood is a root, so it's not really driftwood, so I guess that root you received wasn't completely dead.


That's what I was thinking, esp since I didn't boil it.

I've been trying to find out what kind of plant spiderwood is actually from. From the few things I've found online it is "redmoor root" (sp? red moore?) or "water azalea". I'm not having any luck finding info on these plants online though. And some sites list "redmoor root" as separate from "spiderwood" 

Here are pics of the roots. The first two are the pieces in bigger tanks, they just have a couple of roots and are harder to see. The last two pics are of the one in my bettas big bowl. As you can see, that one is going wild!






























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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

That's pretty cool. If the top of the spiderwood was emersed I wonder if it would start to grow leaves. It reminds me of a trend a while back when people would put bamboo branches in their tanks. The bamboo would grow roots and suck up extra nutrients to prevent or solve algae issues.


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## DaveKS (Apr 2, 2019)

Rhododendron or azalea root. Obviously still fresh.... >


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## jaurex (Jul 25, 2019)

DaveKS said:


> Rhododendron or azalea root. Obviously still fresh.... >


i have read that rhododendron and azalea are poisonous. is this actually safe to keep in my tanks, or should i remove it since it's clearly still alive?

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## DaveKS (Apr 2, 2019)

jaurex said:


> i have read that rhododendron and azalea are poisonous. is this actually safe to keep in my tanks, or should i remove it since it's clearly still alive?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk


If dried and cured (spiderwood) I know it’s safe but can’t tell you what ramifications living rhododendron root entail. At this point think we can say not poisonous. I’d be more worried about it sending trying to send up a stem and trying to become a 5ft shrub. 

Could make a really awesome emergent plant display. :nerd:


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## jaurex (Jul 25, 2019)

haha! i tipped it onto the side so two of the roots are now above water, but so far no signs of life besides the roots. but since it's ALL root... it would probably send a shoot up out of the middle of mass, one would think.

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