# What's up with my anubias?



## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

I noticed something a little out of the ordinary when I came home from work today. One of my anubias plants sprouted what looks like a mini corn cob or pine cone.









It wasn't there yesterday, this thing literally sprouted up overnight. Here is a picture that was taken yesterday.









I've never seen this before, I take it that the plant is propagating. My first instinct is to leave in alone but is there anything I should do to encourage it?


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Don't be afraid, rejoice, your anubias has sent out a spathe (a bloom)! Sally it won't germinate and make seeds unless emersed and you have a blooming separate rhizome you can qtip or paint brush cross pollinate the two (only read of this being done once by a major emersed anubias enthusiast). You can sometimes get a few blooms on the same plant. Generally means the plant is very happy. I've read that increasing phosphorus levels in the water can encourage them to send up spathes. Spathes start out looking like a tiny unopened leaf then open up to look similar to a peach lily spathe.


----------



## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

Thanks Aqua!

So if i understand you correctly, if had another spathe on a different plant I could manually pollinate it and create baby anubias as long as the plants were emersed and not submerged?


----------



## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

OMG! I want that to happen with mine Hahaha

congrats!


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

MikeG14 said:


> Thanks Aqua!
> 
> So if i understand you correctly, if had another spathe on a different plant I could manually pollinate it and create baby anubias as long as the plants were emersed and not submerged?


Correct. I'll link you the forum thread about it in PM. Like I said, I've only read of it being done by one person.


----------



## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

Arrggh! My internet is dog $#!+ tonight. 
Thanks for the link, I'll have to check it out tomorrow at work.

It was a very cool thing to come home to today. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a few more


----------



## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Correct me if I'm wrong, I very well maybe considering how late it is, but aren't immersed and submerged the same thing? To pollinate the spathe shouldn't it be _above_ water?


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I believe the word emersed (with an "E") came from the idea of emergent aquatic plant growth. So if you see ther word emersed again in relation to plants and aquariums it simply means an aquatic plant grown out of water. Sometimes aquarists come up with funny terms.

But yes, Immersed with an "i" means underwater


----------



## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Thanks for clearing that up!


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

kitkat67 said:


> Correct me if I'm wrong, I very well maybe considering how late it is, but aren't immersed and submerged the same thing? To pollinate the spathe shouldn't it be _above_ water?


As ao said, Emersed is not Immersed. Emersed means above water, immersed means below.. we have such a wonderfully confusing language ^^
And yes, the spathe does need to be above water (emersed) for pollination and seed production.


----------



## Lilypad (Oct 15, 2014)

Nice! Mine just threw out a spathe a couple of weeks ago!


----------



## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

If you had a spathe underwater and moved it so that just the spathe, not any leaves are emersed, will it be okay or dry out?


----------



## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

Wow, congratulations! I hope to one day get flowers.


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

kitkat67 said:


> If you had a spathe underwater and moved it so that just the spathe, not any leaves are emersed, will it be okay or dry out?


As long as its very high humidity like a sealed lid with water level reduce an inch or two, (should have a lot of condensation build up on the glass above water) it may work. I've not tried it myself but have read of people with crypt spathes that start underwater bring the 'bloom' to the surface so it will open (some species of crypt only bloom above water) so in _theory _you should be able to do the same with an anubias spathe.


----------



## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

The thing I noticed is that the spathe is growing different than the other leaves. It's completely straight like it's trying to get itself out of the water.

What happens to a spathe if it doesn't pollinate, will it turn into another leaf or die off like a flower?


----------



## Lilypad (Oct 15, 2014)

MikeG14 said:


> The thing I noticed is that the spathe is growing different than the other leaves. It's completely straight like it's trying to get itself out of the water.
> 
> What happens to a spathe if it doesn't pollinate, will it turn into another leaf or die off like a flower?


Mine has been out for a couple of weeks, it was out of the water initially, but when I rearranged some things it is under the water. It is still a flower but looks like it's going to die off as flowers do.


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

MikeG14 said:


> The thing I noticed is that the spathe is growing different than the other leaves. It's completely straight like it's trying to get itself out of the water.
> 
> What happens to a spathe if it doesn't pollinate, will it turn into another leaf or die off like a flower?


It will not turn into a leaf, the spathe simply dies over time, how long it lasts seems to vary by setup. I've read some people say it only says a few days, some a week, some for longer. Min lasted 1-2 weeks at the most.
When the spathe die either pull the stem off at the rhizome base or cut it off with sharp scissors or blade as long on the spathe stem as you can.


----------

