# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk > Cryptocoryne Club >  Cryptocoryne propagation

## XnSdVd

Does it work in submersed crypts? Runners or... ?

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## |squee|

Crypts do propagate by runners if I'm not wrong. I've seen my crypts from the defunct Gratiola attached with baby plants by runners.

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## Wackytpt

I think most Crypts do propagate by runners

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## Justikanz

Dun think they are runners like the vallis and echis... They seem to be from the rizhome... which can grow very long...

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## XnSdVd

So you're saying a new plant grows out of the side of the parent? Erm... essentially the same way nanas propagate?

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## Justikanz

Oh, shoots can appear a little far away, depending on the length of the rizhome...

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## XnSdVd

Pardon my ignorance, what's a rhizome? Do you have a plant chart or something?

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## Xema

A Rhizome is a increased root where the plant reserves nutritive substance. With this nutritive reserved the plant can send new daughter plants (runner).

Greets from Spain

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## |squee|

In other words the rhizome is the horizontal "stalk" where the plants come out from. In Anubias new leaves come out from this "stalk".

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## johannes

crypts are runners la... :Smile:  rhizomes are like stem that can grow new shoots,..

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## celticfish

its like the java fern rhizome too.

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## |squee|

Rhizome of a Java fern indicated by the arrow in the picture above. 

In the picture below, it's more relevant to Crypts.

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## Justikanz

> crypts are runners la... rhizomes are like stem that can grow new shoots,..


Actually, at a glance, they can look like runners, but if you look carefully, they are actually rizhomes. Roots can be seen on some parts of the rizhomes, runners don't have roots. Also, the rizhomes can get thick to store extra nutrients, something which runners don't do also.  :Smile:

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## XnSdVd

Ahh... that explains alot =) Thanks guys. Now I'll just have to wait for my crypt carpet to re-grow.

Another question. If crypts flower, do they bear fruit too?  :Opps:

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## Justikanz

But crypts dun flower when submerged in water leh... But got to ask Lorba to confirm...  :Opps:

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## XnSdVd

I'm just wondering what a crypt fruit looks like  :Grin:  And shouldn't you be asleep?

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## johannes

> Actually, at a glance, they can look like runners, but if you look carefully, they are actually rizhomes. Roots can be seen on some parts of the rizhomes, runners don't have roots. Also, the rizhomes can get thick to store extra nutrients, something which runners don't do also.


but i thought runners like vallis and e.tennelus have roots? :Smile:  

if not, damn...i have been wrong for a long time... :Sad:

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## Justikanz

The runners themselves do not have roots. However, the part where the new plant emerges should have roots.  :Smile:

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## bossteck

> Ahh... that explains alot =) Thanks guys. Now I'll just have to wait for my crypt carpet to re-grow.


Crypt carpet... sounds interesting. You mean you can get crypts (what species you growing btw?) to grow in a compact, carpet-liked form? How do you control where, along the rhizome, new leaves will sprout? 

I have a wendtti 'green' that has very big (long) rhizome but comparatively fewer leaves. For such cases, how can we encourage the plant to sprout new leaves?

Cheers

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## Justikanz

I played cheat when I planted my crypts. I twirled the rhizome to bring the plantlets closer to the mother plant...  :Razz:  Just dun break the rizhome!

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## bossteck

i see... would this have any ill effects on the overall plant health? Just curious

also, what size should a rhizome be before we can divide it into several smaller plants without risking damage to the parent plant? 

(sorry XnSdVd for hijacking your thread, but i guess you should be interested in the above as well right?  :Smile:  )

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## XnSdVd

Actually I just planted griftti(sp?) evenly all over the tank. Eventually as the leaves grew broader and longer they covered most of the substrate. So you have a layer of leaves completely covering the substrate and about a 4cm "layer" of crypt stalks under the leaves where my harlequins laid their eggs. Cept my stupid cat fell in the tank and somehow killed all the plants  :Mad:  

According the BFG she got so scared she probably pissed and the chemical change brought about the tankwide melt.

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## XnSdVd

The reason why I'm asking is because I've only got 4 surviving plants. So will they grow back if I wait? or do i need to buy more plants to re-carpet? Cos if I'm not wrong kuching took shots of a crypt bullosa carpet. In some river being destroyed by pollution.  :Sad:

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## Justikanz

Gee, maybe Lorba can help for Bossteck's and XnSdVd's questions...  :Opps:  But in my opinion, there is no standard time for crypts to recover from a melt. But they will.

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