# Java Fern



## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

I have a java fern growing emersed in one of my tanks. Recently the reproductive spores on the leaves have started growing fuzzy little arms. I was wondering if I have to do anything to help the plant propagate or will it do a fine job on it's own?


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

i have never grown java emersed... but it will produce small plantlets from those "fuzzy" spots, which can be broken off and planted elsewhere once they get a couple leaves going, or if left alone the leaf will eventually die (underwater releasing the plantlet to colonize somewhere else)

james


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

Can you post some pics? I've always wondered what Java Fern looks like when grown emersed.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

thanks James. Is the leaf going to die regardless, or will it live if I break the plantlets off once they are large enough? 

Here are some pictures of the plant. 


















The fuzzy arms


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## ryan10517 (Oct 23, 2010)

wait til the plantlet is 1/3 the size of the mother plant, then take it off. It has a better chance of making it that way. It'll do the job by itself


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

Pretty cool! Thanks for the pics.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

Thanks kindly for the help. 

& my pleasure on the pictures.


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## bristles (Jan 19, 2011)

Thanks for sharing the photos, I have it in an aquarium but have never seen it emersed, I have the staghorn type wonder if I can get it to grow emersed.


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## MountaineerLegion (Apr 8, 2008)

Gnarly said:


> I have a java fern growing emersed in one of my tanks. Recently the reproductive spores on the leaves have started growing fuzzy little arms. I was wondering if I have to do anything to help the plant propagate or will it do a fine job on it's own?


Way cool Gnarly. How long have you had it planted? I would love to see mine propagate.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

I've had the fern planted a little more than eight weeks or so. It's just recently started to throw up shoots frequently, and then it started to grow plantlets. 

What is the humidity at in the tank where you keep you fern; it looks very nice and full? Mine is extremely high, and the leaves where it's started to grow these plantlets are usually wet against the glass and I believe there might be a correlation between these conditions and the reproductive spores growing.


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## MountaineerLegion (Apr 8, 2008)

The humidity in this tank is VERY high....I'll guess 95%. It has no ventilation. I'll put the hygrometer in tonight and check it in the morning. Most of my tanks have very high humidity and are fogged constantly. 

This is a 10g early grow out tank for froglets and is only opened up for feedings. It's actually been empty for about two weeks and I'm considering leaving it empty to work on the plant growth.

It also gets very high light intensity...a 60w bulb about 1 inch above the tank top, which probably isn't great as a grow out tank. My guess is this accounts for the low dense growth. I've only been at this about 2 years but I'll bet the the froglets prefer a more subdued environment. 

Back in my aquarium days "long or tall" plants were "reaching" to get light. "Low or short" plants had plenty of light. Of course the light spectrum also played a part, with bluish light creating shorter, wider growth and yellowish light creating longer or taller growth. All of this was obviously independent of the "normal" growth pattern of the plant and was meant for H2O tanks where the bluish light penetrated better in H2O...thus the reason deeper water ocean photographs appear very blue.

The bulb is a cf with a daylight spectrum...around 6500k, so I'm guessing it's more about the intensity than the spectrum.

I'm happy with the growth pattern of mine but I'm green with envy that your's in propagating and mine isn't.  Please stay in touch with it's progress and the conditions you provide for it.



Gnarly said:


> I've had the fern planted a little more than eight weeks or so. It's just recently started to throw up shoots frequently, and then it started to grow plantlets.
> 
> What is the humidity at in the tank where you keep you fern; it looks very nice and full? Mine is extremely high, and the leaves where it's started to grow these plantlets are usually wet against the glass and I believe there might be a correlation between these conditions and the reproductive spores growing.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

I use a 20W, T8. I think it's 2,800 K. The light rests just above the top of tank. 
Perhaps you have too much light on the plant? 

I was able to remove a few of the plantlets today and plant them. 

Here is what they looked like right before I removed them: 


















And once removed: 









They are really nifty; they just peel right off he leaf and can be right into the substrate. There were only a few spots where they were pretty attached to the mother plant and left very tiny little tears from being removed.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

a nice clean X-acto type razor helps with removal of tough ones.

james


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## MountaineerLegion (Apr 8, 2008)

Way cool...dang I'm jealous. Do you know how many lumens? I'll try doubling the distance mine sets from the tank. Nice pics by the way.



Gnarly said:


> I use a 20W, T8. I think it's 2,800 K. The light rests just above the top of tank.
> Perhaps you have too much light on the plant?
> 
> I was able to remove a few of the plantlets today and plant them.
> ...


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## GRIMM (Jan 18, 2010)

Is that ever cool!!! I never really concidered using java fern in a tank. Even if I did, due to my ocd tendencies I would have probably chopped that leaf off without even knowing lol.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

MountaineerLegion said:


> Way cool...dang I'm jealous. Do you know how many lumens? I'll try doubling the distance mine sets from the tank. Nice pics by the way.


Its 650 lumens. 
and thanks


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