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I went to the local chain pet store this afternoon and bought a couple of the unusually-packaged aquarium plants. Mostly just to see if they grow as well as the ones in the tanks. I got one of the java ferns that was grown in gel. After I unpacked that I now suspect they're not grown in the gel, just packed in it. I also got a package of bulbs that claims to contain "onion" "aponogeton" "barclaya" and "water lily." I'll try to let you know how they do! Anyone else tried these unusually packaged plants? Right now three of the four bulbs are still floating in the tank, but the java fern looks really good.

I'm placing all of these plants in my 10 gallon planted tank with two 15-watt CF "daylight" lights, three drops of Kent fertilizer per day and DIY CO2.

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The java fern should do really well. however the bulbs are a crap shoot. ideally they should work but often do not. i know of lots people to tried planting the bulb packages and non have blossomed or sprouted for that matter.. I would like to be kept informed if your result are different..

At the store, some of the onion bulbs were already sprouting. I picked a package without the sprouted plants (which looked really cramped in the small plastic container), but in which the bulbs didn't appear extremely dessicated.

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I have bought packages of bulbs from walmart, they are mainly a hit or miss. I noticed only about half actually sprouted and the floaters usually don't.. I still have a few in my tank, they floated to different parts and I hadn't messed with them much. They tend to be pretty hardy and weren't bad little plants. Here's an older thread with some pics of a couple of them http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/33448.1.htm?6#
I haven't however tried the gel package ones, but I have seen them in a local chain pet store. I would like to know how they do though.

What does that mean, Bob? "Till the cows come home." Where have the cows been?

I have had decent luck with wal-mart sealed packaged aponogeton bulbs. A couple don't come up but the rest do. I bury all mine, but if I don't mark the spot I vacuum it out of the gravel. A few times of that & they stress & die.

I bought a used tank with just gravel & fish. I added decor (no real plants) & left the light on about 12 hrs. a day. The previous owner was lax on his lighting routine. Soon a couple leaves up. I inspected & they were attached to what looked like a pop corn seed. I called the owner & he said all he had in there was one wal-mart bulb plant at one time. (from a bulb I had given him) Since then I have had several 'pop corn' seeds sprout leaves from all over the tank. The first one has grown healthy & put out a long stem with flowers on it.

Wal-mart bulbs are fun & grow fast once they sprout. I have large gravel & no ferts. Just lucky I guess.

Well, so far the bulb that sunk to the bottom has already begun to sprout a little white root! No news on the other plants.

If any of them don't sprout after 30 days, I'll send them to the company for a replacement. There's a guarantee on the back of the package.

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I once bough a pack where they all floating
oh well..when i read the box it stated that they were garantee to sprout or just send the back.. eh..
not really worth the time...
dang it walmart, you've betrayed me for the last time

That one bulb has about three roots now.

I did a water change today and nestled the other two brown bulbs into the gravel. They stayed there, and they aren't squishy or anything. However, the onion bulb is still floating - I didn't even try to sink it, because it's rather soft all the way through. I don't know if I'll send that one back, I already have some onion plants in that tank... then again the bulbs that were sprouting in the store looked like they might yield plants a bit bigger than the ones I currently have.

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There are now some brown spots on the ferns, near the spores. According to my previous experience with java ferns, that's pretty normal though.

The one that sprouted is looking good. I'm not sure if the sprouts are roots or leaves. I would expect roots first, especially in a terrestrial plant, but these are growing upward and have chlorophyll in them.

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The one plant that sprouted so far now has leaves about 7-8 inches long and appears to have a flower bud beginning to grow. I believe it is some sort of Aponogeton.

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See! You got at least one plant for a $2 purchase. Not bad in my estimation.

Yeah, and a really good-looking one too!

I was really looking forward to the barclaya and water lily, so I may send the unsprouted bulbs back after the 30 days are up for the guarantee.

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I bought a few of those packs quite a while back. All of them but one aponogeton sprouted for me, but I already had several aponogetons so I didn't really care.

I basically had an aponogeton forest on one side of the tank... it was pretty cool. But the dwarf lilly got shaded out and died after a while, the barclaya got eaten by a cichlid, and I didn't know that I couldn't trim the onion just by cutting the tips off... so those died. All I've got left after about 2 or 3 years are a few aponogetons that haven't gotten eaten or dug up. But I think I got my $6 worth

They're all pretty hardy plants as long as they have enough light. Mine were all in a 29 gal with less light than you have on your 10, so you should be fine on light. Considering that mine survived in a cichlid tank, I think yours'll be fine.

But those aponogetons will grow FAST! After a week or two you'll probably have flowers on them. If you want, you can cross-pollinate them and you may end up with more

Good luck

I already have three flowers! I think it's an aponogeton longiplumulus... really good-looking plant. I think my mom might want one in her 60, so maybe I'll see if I can grow some more. So... cross-pollinate with a paintbrush?

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The stems are usually long enough that you can just rub the flowers together without even using anything. Q-Tips work well if they can't reach.

You may want to let the plants grow a little bigger before you try to get more. They just try to mature as fast as they can so they can reproduce faster/pass on their genes more efficiently. You'd be surprised how big the things can get, so you may not even want anymore. I think about 6 decent sized aponogetons filled about half of my 29 gal tank... so you probably don't need many for a 10 o.O

Today I sent back the three bulbs that didn't sprout. Postage was pretty high for them. But hopefully they'll send back replacements as guaranteed on the package. I included the self-addressed, stamped envelope, a note, the bulbs, the receipt, and the guarantee from the back of the package. I'll let you know what I get back!

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You're the only one I know that took the time & energy to do that. Beware! Do not cross the superlion!

One of the java ferns is growing plantlets from the leaf tips already.

So far I haven't heard or received anything from the bulb people

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I got the envelope back from the bulb folks today!

How many bulbs were within? Not three, not five, but eleven bulbs! Two of them are clearly onions, and I don't know what the others are. I'm sure excited to find out!

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Congrats superlion! I'm happy for you! They gave you extra for the ones of us that didn't collect on ours.
Now you are going to have a planted tank!