Cryptocoryne blassi

Cryptocoryne blassi is an East Asian plant that grows in boggy, nutrient rich environments. It prefers a pH-value between 6.5 and 7.5 and a water hardiness of dGH 4.0-18.0. The recommended water temperature is 22-28 degrees C and this plant requires medium strong lighting. Cryptocoryne blassi can grow up 60 cm in length and produce leaves that are 15 cm long and 7.5 cm wide. The leaves are of a deep olive green shade at the top and wine red underneath.

Propagating Cryptocoryne blassi by runners

If you want your Cryptocoryne blassi to produce runners, there are several things you can do to improve your chances.

Provide sufficient lighting – not too strong or too weak
As with all aquatic plants, Cryptocoryne blassi needs balanced amounts of light, carbon dioxide and nutrition. Boosting one factor without balancing the others will have no effect, or even worse, have an adverse effect on the plant.

Add additional carbon dioxide
Adding more carbon dioxide is known to promote growth in aquatic plants, but it will not cause propagation on its own. As explained above, several factors must be balanced and carbon dioxide is one of them.

Plant your Cryptocoryne blassi in humus rich soil
In order to get humus rich soil, you can mix humus rich garden soil with peat moss.
 
Use artificial fertilization
Artificial fertilization suitable for aquatic plants can be purchased from aquarium stores or garden shops that cater for pond keepers.

Add chelated iron to the potting substrate
Chelated iron products contain iron in a form that is easy for plants to absorb and will not get trapped in the soil. Chelated iron can seem expensive compared to other iron products, but will last longer and provide better results. You can by liquid, granular or powdered chelated iron.

Do not disturb
Plant your Cryptocoryne blassi and leave it alone. Frequent repotting does not promoting the formation of runners.

Don’t stress
Even if you do everything right, it can take several months before the plant starts to produce any runners. Do not get frustrated and start changing things, repotting the plant, adding more or less of certain substance or so on, this will only serve to disturb your Cryptocoryne blassi.

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