# Water Wisteria



## spaceyJC (Aug 9, 2014)

Hello! I've gotten bored of the look of my aquarium. I want a more natural look, so I'm looking into buying some aquarium plants. I'm most interested in Water Wisteria. I've been researching a bit, but some things are still unclear, so I need to ask a few questions:

1. Does Water Wisteria need fertilizers? I've read it needs "nutrient rich" substrate... What do you use? I have gravel right now, a simple Walmart brand, would this be sufficient?

2. Would it be useful to use some sort of plant supplement, such as Seachem Flourish and/or Seachem Flourish Iron? (I remember reading something about Water Wisteria needing iron...) Or maybe Seachem Flourish Tabs.

3. I read when you are trimming Water Wisteria, you cut off a few inches below the leaves, replant the tops, and do something with the bottoms. Is this correct? A few pointers/tips would be nice.

Thanks for all the help, guys! :-D


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

Water wisteria is a relatively cheap plant to experiment with. If you don't plan on taking planted tanks to the next level, I would just plant it in the existing condition and see how it does. 

To answer your questions,

1. Some substrates are better than others. Regular gravel will be fine.
2. Nutrients is the last thing required for a planted tank to do well (imo). I wouldn't bother with dosing or tabs without first having the proper lighting.
3. Like most stem plants, you can replant the top clippings. The bottoms will regrow new nodes. Some discard the bottoms because they start getting scraggly.


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## Raye (Feb 5, 2013)

1. Walmart gravel is inert, meaning it has no nutrients whatsoever. However, for wisteria, you should be able to get away with it.


2. Wisteria is kind of hit or miss. Some people say you don't need ferts, some say you do. In my experience, wisteria is a plant that doesn't need a LOT of fertilization, but it definitely helps. Like Andakin said, how much fertilization your plants need is relative to the intensity/photoperiod of light that your plants receive. But just to be safe, one dose of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive per week couldn't hurt.


3. Andakin already got this one ~


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## kjg1029 (Jun 14, 2014)

i have one small trimming of water wisteria in my 5 gal that has a 13w 6500k bulb and gets does with seachem florish comprehensive a few times a week, and its doing fine, its growing new leaves, it seems to be growing fastish.


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## spaceyJC (Aug 9, 2014)

Thanks! I mostly don't want to get a new substrate because I don't want to screw up the cycle in my tank. 
I want to put some in my divided 10 gal. I had to throw away an artificial plant I had in there because it was started getting brown spots on it. Eek! I've seen lots of pictures of planted tanks on this website, and I really like the natural look. But for right now, I just want to get some decor in there, and when I get a large community tank I would like to take planting to the next level.
I really like the look of sand. Is sand "nutrient rich"? Or would I have to get some sort of aquarium soil/fertilizers?
Also, my tank does have a light, I would guess it is moderate lighting. Not sure the wattage, but it does have a light.


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## kjg1029 (Jun 14, 2014)

sand doesnt have any nutrients you youd either need to dose with liquid ferts, or use root tabs, or both.


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