November Plant of the Month - Italian Val

[reiverix]

Vallisneria spiralis

Other Names : Italian val, eel grass, tape grass

Origin : Southern Europe and North Africa

Growth Rate : Fast

Planting Area : Background

Lighting Level: Medium high - very high

Propagation: Runners

Difficulty: Easy

Temperature: 70-83 F

Size: 4' +

Availability: Common


The vallisneria species are among the most widespread in the aquarium hobby and make a great option for a background plant, especially if you want that tall grassy look. The demands for this plant is not too great but it does a little bit more than low lighting to thrive. A good substrate also helps and CO2 is always a welcome addition.

Italian val has medium green, narrow leaves that grow almost as long as you let them. I have had leaves of over 5 foot in length but have never let any grow indefinitely. There are two ways to trim off the excess leave growth. The first, and best option, is to cut the leave as close to the crown of the plant as possible. In other words, remove the entire leave. Another method is to cut the leave at a 45 degree angle about an inch below the water line. However, these cut leaves are more prone to algae attacks and even browning, rotting and decay, but it's a useful technique for those hard to reach plants behind a large piece of driftwood.

To plant Italian val, it should be gently placed in the substrate with a small amount of the crown showing. Not long after that it should start producing runners which will branch off from the mother plant and eventually form a new plant. A single plant can produce many runners at one time, each going off in their own direction. When the new plants are about 4 inches high and with a few leaves, you can separate them from the runner and replant elsewhere. Or, you can simply let nature take it's course and have a multitude of val each joined together by the slender runner. If you are lucky enough, white female flowers grow to the water surface on very long stalks

Italian val can spread very quickly and start to become invasive to other plants. Runners can creep a long way from the mother plant just to get to a more suitable spot. When you start with a few plants it can seem to take a age for them to get established but when you think about it, each new runner is going to form new runners and so on. Before long you may end up with a val explosion which will need weekly thinning to keep in check.

Val looks really good if it is left to grow leaves long enough so that they arch over as they hit the surface. If there is some nearby current the leaves look like they are in a natural flowing stream which is very attractive. Just remember that other plants might get shaded out so be careful about placement of some of your light hungry flora. On the other hand, low light plants can get some shade if your tank is light intensive.

Val will also tolerate brackish water as long as you keep it in the low range at 1.005 or less.

[Naps]

love the Val!! Nice write up!!

[joephys]

It is does spread quickly and invade into other plants space. I started with about 8 small plants and in short order it was taking up a third of my tank. I have found that it grew ok with lower light levels, but not as tall or as fast.

[FreddytheFish]

Sorry for highjacking, (if it becomes a discussion I'll start a new thread), but could I keep val in a 10 gallon with 20 watts of 50/50 PC fluorescent lighting?

[Corax]

How would this do in a 55g with 2x65 CFs over it? No C02.. And what do I need to dose with?

[reiverix]

It would do very well. It can be a slow starter but gets prolific when it settles in. Nice plant if you are willing to prune it weekly.

I've found it not to be fussy but likes some KH in the water and trace dosing.

[Corax]

I disagree on the slow starter part. I bought 3 plants about 2 weeks ago, and 2 of them have already sent runners out and I have 2 new 2" tall plants going. Lovely stuff, thanks for posting it!

Question.. re: the runners.. Now that the new plants are established and doing well, if I want to move the new plants, can I cut the runners? Furthermore, will the newly cut runners produce additional plants?

[mvigor]

Picture links seem broken.

[reiverix]

Originally Posted by Corax

Question.. re: the runners.. Now that the new plants are established and doing well, if I want to move the new plants, can I cut the runners? Furthermore, will the newly cut runners produce additional plants?

Yep, cut the plants at the runners, move them to their new spot and they will produce their own runners. Some plants sprout multi runners in all directions.

Originally Posted by mvigor

Picture links seem broken

Fixed.

[Emg]

Very nice write up Reiv !

The vals you sent me seem to be doing rather well...even in my low light tank. I dose with flourish excel and that's about it...with occasional dose of flourish trace....... I also put some in my bw goby tank...which is kept at a 1.004 sg. So far so good !

[RTR]

Well, the former "Mr. Val" agrees that it is good write-up.

One additional hint - val has longish (4" or more) but thin roots. When transplanting, do not hesitate to trim them back significantly (to 1-1 1/2" for me). Leave enough to hold the plant while new roots develop, but trying to preserve all the old root mass is a waste of time and effort - it will grow new roots after transplanting.

Val for me is tricky at low light (~1WPG), it sometimes does okay, sometimes thins out (few blades per crown) and fails to multiply (no or very few runners). At ~2WPG it is vigorous with KH =/>5-6, and will be a bit healthier (more vigorous) with minimal supplements (for me, Excel*) but high water partials (at least 50% weekly). Without either of those things it survives well but is not vigorous. Above that lighting level it really needs full supplements and can be a bit too vigorous - you have to routinely clip runners to keep it in place.

I like long leaves at the water surface with Val - the most visually effective part of its tank use for me. But you cannot expect light hungry plants to do well under its shade - stick to Crypts and Anubias nana or A. nana petite under such shade.

Really neglected Val tanks become jungles, and without frequent partials may go into biogenic decalcification (splitting out the carbon from bicarbonates) with an upward pH crash (pH up to 10 or more) which can do non-trivial damage to anything alive in the tank and even some equipment (do not ask how it is possible to destroy an Eheim).

The species name "spiralis" refers to the bloom spike for the female flower (aquarium plants seem to be all female) which has a long spiral stem. It has nothing to do with curled or spiraled leaves - those plants are are aquarium cultivars.

Fish that dig can easily uproot newly planted Val. Only large-scale diggers can uproot stands established before diggers are added to the tank- there is strength in numbers - but the clump edges may look messy (runners in the water column rather than the substrate).

*Val is a bit sensitive to excess Excel. High doses can damage the foliage, very high doses can kill the plant (such as attempts to kill algae). I do not do the large suggested post-partial dosing which is suggested by Seachem in my val tanks. I can do so and get away with it, but that larger dose sometimes does cause some leaf death.

[Emg]

I'll be sure to dose the excel at the OTHER end of the tank then.....thanks for the info on that RTR..

[plantling]

luv the pic's. very nice healthy looking specimen.