Water Sprite
 

Every time I buy Water Sprite it comes as cuttings, ie no roots. I haven't had too much luck planting them. Floating they seem to do OK though. Do they usually develop roots when planted into the substrate as cuttings? Just curious

Steve

I may be wrong but I believe that Water Sprite is meant to float on the surface... and will double, triple and make new plants on the surface.

It can be planted or floated. If you leave it floated it will develop roots. If you put the stem into the substrate it may also put roots into the substrate.

Hey, Steve. I think what you've been getting is floating Water Sprite, not planted Water Sprite.

Try letting them float for a while and they'll grow roots. Then you can plant them easily. Be careful, they grow very fast with sufficient light. When you trim a planted Water Sprite, you can't just trim leaves, you have to cut the whole stalk from the bottom. I tried the other way and a lot of the leaves turned brown.

You can read up on them by clicking here -> Water Sprite

Ah, OK, I didn't know there were 2 different types of water sprite - floating or rooted! Thanks for the quick replies guys! :)

Steve

There are two species commonly seen in aquaria, but either can be floated or planted. There are lots of merits to floating them if that suits your tank. I'm floating some now to cut down on the light some.

Yep, google ceratopteris water sprite. One is C. Cornuta, and I won't try to spell the other. both can be floated or be planted, but they both seem to have a preference.
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Both are referenced in our profile of the floating species, Ceratopteris cornuta (Water Sprite) so there is no need to be googling.;-)

And, if the name shades, it means the species is in the profiles so you can click the shaded name to pop-up the profile.

Third, I'm wondering if you really have Water Sprite? I've never heard of "cuttings," which for this plant would presumably have to be a bit of a leaf. I'm wondering if you actually meant Wisteria...the two are often confused in the common literature. And the latter is in our profile too, and profiles include photos.

Byron.