Echinodorus Chocolate Marble is an easy sword plant grown for its marbled leaves. It forms a broad rosette and works as a specimen plant in the background.
Did you know
No two leaves of Echinodorus Chocolate Marble come out alike. The marbling lands differently on every blade and deepens as the leaf ages, so an established rosette shows the whole range at once.
Caring for Echinodorus Chocolate Marble
Bury the roots in a nutrient-rich substrate and keep the growing crown fully above it. Even slight burial rots the crown over time. Echinodorus Chocolate Marble is a heavy root feeder, and root tabs near its roots can stand in for a rich substrate.
Medium light is enough to hold the marbling. Stronger light with iron-rich fertilization deepens the browns, and steady root feeding keeps the colors strong. CO2 is optional but speeds growth. Keep the water at 72 to 82°F (22 to 28°C).
It grows at a moderate pace. Trim old outer leaves at the base so the large blades do not shade everything below them. Shop plants are usually farm-raised in emersed form and switch to underwater leaves after planting. New plants come from plantlets and from dividing the rhizome.
Good to know
Echinodorus Chocolate Marble is a sword plant in the family Alismataceae. It is a trade cultivar of unrecorded parentage, named for the pattern on its leaves. The broad, wavy-edged blades are mottled in chocolate brown, maroon and dark green.
In the wild
Echinodorus Chocolate Marble is a cultivated sword with no wild population. The Echinodorus species it descends from grow in the wetlands of the Americas. They root in soft mud and swing between emersed and submersed growth with the seasons.
Common questions
Does Echinodorus Chocolate Marble need to be planted in the substrate?
Yes. Bury the roots and leave the crown, where the leaves join, just above the substrate.
Does Echinodorus Chocolate Marble need CO2?
No, but it helps. Echinodorus Chocolate Marble can grow without injected CO2, and added CO2 makes it grow faster.
How much light does Echinodorus Chocolate Marble need?
Echinodorus Chocolate Marble wants medium light. A light sold for planted tanks covers it.
Does Echinodorus Chocolate Marble need root tabs?
Yes. Echinodorus Chocolate Marble draws much of its food through its roots. Push root tabs in near it, or grow it in a nutrient-rich soil.
How do you propagate Echinodorus Chocolate Marble?
Echinodorus Chocolate Marble propagates by plantlets and rhizome division. Small plantlets form on the plant and can be detached once they have a few roots. Cut the rhizome into pieces with several leaves each, then tie or plant each piece.
How tall does Echinodorus Chocolate Marble grow?
Echinodorus Chocolate Marble grows to about 15.7 in (40 cm) tall. It grows at a moderate pace.
Medium lightBackground19.7 in (50 cm)
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Medium lightBackground19.7 in (50 cm)
Medium lightBackground19.7 in (50 cm)
Medium lightBackground21.7 in (55 cm)