Plants

Challenge

Pathology
Crypt Rot
Sword holes

Projects
Lakes Alive

Species
H. hottoniiflora

Winnie's "Swiss Cheese" Syndrome:

At the 3/27/03 club meeting Winnie Bade brought in a new growth leaf with holes. It came from her favorite Sword plant having otherwise healthy looking older leaves. She was hoping we could figure out why her new leaves were getting holes. No snails in the tank, so what's going on? One speculation suggested swords put out great roots and maybe the plant wasn't getting enough nutrients to support well formed new leaf shoots.

5/8/03 Winnie sent an email:

Hello John.

I just wanted to send you an update on the swiss cheese plant syndrome. Within a week after super fertilizing the poor thing (10 tabs around the "dripline"), new leaves appeared, sans holes!  An incredible turnaround. The plant sucked up those nutrients quickly, however, and 2-3 weeks later the swiss cheese started to reappear and I was replenishing the tabs. Maybe this explains why other plants don't seem to do as well next to that aggressive feeder. I used Flourish root tabs with iron, which I already had on hand, instead of the laterite balls you suggested. I like to experiment, though, and will give the laterite balls a try when I run out of the tabs.

I would like to thank you and my MAG friends for the plant identification, diagnosis, and treatment suggestion. Keep up the good deeds!

Photo attached - see happy plant, lower right.
Winnie

Note: The plant appears to be an Echinodorus osiris or some variant of a red sword. Curiously, the only leaves getting holes were the young. (lower right)