Boron deficiency of Luwigia “red”
Here’s what a deficiency of boron looks like in Ludwigia “red” (aka: “super red”). The symptoms appear only on new growth characterized by small, hard leaves that are severely deformed. This is due to the impairment of leaf expansion. The color is also very intense, probably because B deficiency doesn’t impair the production of anthocyanin pigments. You can compare this to the older growth which has normal leaf expansion.
This plant is considered one of the “easy” plants to care for. It typically tolerates a wide range of conditions. It’s also one of the most tolerant of excessive trace dosing. When I dosed excessive amounts of boron that caused toxicity in other plants, this plant took advantage and grew very fast.
Related: Rotala “Vietnam” boron toxicity, Limnophila aromatica boron toxicity
Classical Aquascaping 
I’m experiencing this kind of deficency in my ludwigia and not sure of what it’s going wrong and don’t want to generate new toxicities. Must dose Boron or it’s not a good idea?
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Boron is very easy to overdose. The acceptable range is very narrow so any dosage must be carefully weighed on an accurate gram scale, then diluted in a solution, then dose only some of the solution. I would suggest dosing 0.005mg/L and observe plant response over a couple of days. If needed, add another dose.
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Hi, me again, sorry to bother, reaching a dose of 0.012 for a couple of weeks and the plant is nearly dead. Should rise it or start thinking another thing is the problem? Thanks
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If you are sure it’s a boron deficiency, you may add more. The small, hard growth will not recover but new growth should be normal.
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I don’t think I will be sure of anything related to traces since the things you publish. I started rising Iron insted but don’t know if it was a good idea. I guess I have a deficency, not toxicity but not sure of what. Thanks for the tips about new growth. Could macros be involved in generating a trace deficency?
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Yes, it’s possible that too much macros, including Ca and Mg, prevents the trace elements from being absorbed. In this case, adding more traces or reducing macros+GH can improve plant health.
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Hi, alternanthera reineckii very twisted leaves but still growing with good size could be related to boron deficency? Have you expirience this kind of altered growing?
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AR can twist for many reasons. Low boron could cause it but others may also cause similar growth. It depends on how it twists. This plant may have high zinc requirements so if there isn’t enough, leaves can grow misshapen.
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Thanks a lot. I guess it`s not the total amount of Zn but the ratio with the others nutrients….maybe? I know PO4 could be a problem, also the others micronutrients, I read something about high GH but I am not sure about this point, do you have any information of it?
I see a lot this misshapen growth in forums, and usually came with another problems but can’t see te pattern clearly.
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Yes, the ratio of Zn:nutrients is important. High phosphate inhibits micronutrient uptake and utilization as well as high GH.
The misshapen growth can have many causes such as -Zn, -Cu, too low or high Ca:B… induced deficiencies from excess of other nutrients also occurs. Determining what it is can very very difficult.
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