Hi Everyone, 🙂
Came across this informative article that sheds some light on seeds for growing carper plants that are popular on many online shops. This article was posted on High-Tech Planted Tanks ( Facebook group) by Dennis Wong.
Since its a closed group, I thought of posting the article here for the benefit of fellow members of UKAPS.
This article is not mine and it belongs to the rightful author.
So here goes :
On carpet seeds:
Stole this post from Ripple akaname
"Recently there have been a lot of discussions amongst aquascapers about the use of the so called "Magic Seeds" for an instant carpet, claiming to be the seeds of HC Cuba or Glossostigma elatinoides. There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what these seeds actually are, and a general lack of solid information on various discussion forums in English.
Various scapers and hobbyists from the Far East have already tried these seeds out, before they were available for export to Europe, and have found out that these seeds are in fact seeds from various types of plants, such as Oxalis corymbosa, Trichodesma calycosum, and even Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy basil). While many aquarium plants are angiosperms (Flowering Plants), the chances of them flowering in submersed forms are far lower compared to emersed forms.
While it is theoretically possible to grow some aquatic plants such as Glossostigma elatinoides from seed (yes they will flower and produce seeds in their emersed form), propagation is far quicker by means of asexual reproduction, ie. runners. It is therefore far more profitable to multiply the plants in this manner than collecting seeds from them; most aquatic plant nurseries grow plants in their emersed forms for this reason. The amount of work it takes to collect these seeds simply do not pay off for traders. The seeds will, therefore, need to be obtained from fast-growing, quick flowering plants - ideally some type of garden weeds. Many species of Oxalis plants, for example, grow wild in the Far East, and are often considered weeds in these areas. They will survive short periods of time underwater after germination, and the sprouts look more or less like the carpet plants we see today, hence why irresponsible traders in the Far East often sell them under the disguise of "Magic Seeds".
One article regarding this issue (Link will be provided below, original article in Chinese but I have provided a link with automatic English translation - it's far from perfect but you'll more or less get what the auther is trying to say) has also pointed out that seeds from the Oxalis and Ocimum family have often been used to be used as face masks - due to the sticky substance they naturally produce when wet. The seeds are often simply infused into a cotton wool mask, which can quickly turn into what you see in the photo by keeping the mask moist for a few days.
Hopefully this provides some insight into these so called "Magic Seeds". I would urge people not to purchase these as these seeds are highly unlikely to be what they are marketed as, and most likely not suited for aquarium use in the long run. There are currently no easy way out with things such as "instant carpet" in aquascaping, so please do consider investing your money in quality plants from a reputable supplier instead of these cheap seeds.
Link to translated article:
https://translate.google.co.uk/tran...UTF-8&u=www.coco01.net/post/113597&edit-text=
Criticism and discuss welcome.
Take it easy. Ripple"
[url=https://flic.kr/p/SA7hGM]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/SoP6pT]
[/url][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/SA7hGM][url=https://flic.kr/p/SoP6pT][url=https://flic.kr/p/SoP6pn]
Images fro Google.[/url][/url][/url]
Came across this informative article that sheds some light on seeds for growing carper plants that are popular on many online shops. This article was posted on High-Tech Planted Tanks ( Facebook group) by Dennis Wong.
Since its a closed group, I thought of posting the article here for the benefit of fellow members of UKAPS.
This article is not mine and it belongs to the rightful author.
So here goes :
On carpet seeds:
Stole this post from Ripple akaname
"Recently there have been a lot of discussions amongst aquascapers about the use of the so called "Magic Seeds" for an instant carpet, claiming to be the seeds of HC Cuba or Glossostigma elatinoides. There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what these seeds actually are, and a general lack of solid information on various discussion forums in English.
Various scapers and hobbyists from the Far East have already tried these seeds out, before they were available for export to Europe, and have found out that these seeds are in fact seeds from various types of plants, such as Oxalis corymbosa, Trichodesma calycosum, and even Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy basil). While many aquarium plants are angiosperms (Flowering Plants), the chances of them flowering in submersed forms are far lower compared to emersed forms.
While it is theoretically possible to grow some aquatic plants such as Glossostigma elatinoides from seed (yes they will flower and produce seeds in their emersed form), propagation is far quicker by means of asexual reproduction, ie. runners. It is therefore far more profitable to multiply the plants in this manner than collecting seeds from them; most aquatic plant nurseries grow plants in their emersed forms for this reason. The amount of work it takes to collect these seeds simply do not pay off for traders. The seeds will, therefore, need to be obtained from fast-growing, quick flowering plants - ideally some type of garden weeds. Many species of Oxalis plants, for example, grow wild in the Far East, and are often considered weeds in these areas. They will survive short periods of time underwater after germination, and the sprouts look more or less like the carpet plants we see today, hence why irresponsible traders in the Far East often sell them under the disguise of "Magic Seeds".
One article regarding this issue (Link will be provided below, original article in Chinese but I have provided a link with automatic English translation - it's far from perfect but you'll more or less get what the auther is trying to say) has also pointed out that seeds from the Oxalis and Ocimum family have often been used to be used as face masks - due to the sticky substance they naturally produce when wet. The seeds are often simply infused into a cotton wool mask, which can quickly turn into what you see in the photo by keeping the mask moist for a few days.
Hopefully this provides some insight into these so called "Magic Seeds". I would urge people not to purchase these as these seeds are highly unlikely to be what they are marketed as, and most likely not suited for aquarium use in the long run. There are currently no easy way out with things such as "instant carpet" in aquascaping, so please do consider investing your money in quality plants from a reputable supplier instead of these cheap seeds.
Link to translated article:
https://translate.google.co.uk/tran...UTF-8&u=www.coco01.net/post/113597&edit-text=
Criticism and discuss welcome.
Take it easy. Ripple"
[url=https://flic.kr/p/SA7hGM]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/SoP6pT]
[/url][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/SA7hGM][url=https://flic.kr/p/SoP6pT][url=https://flic.kr/p/SoP6pn]Images fro Google.[/url][/url][/url]
