Najas (guadeloupensis)

RJay ugiansky Resource Conservationist USDA NRCS - Norman A. Berg National Plant Materials Center Bldg 509 Beaver Dam Rd, BARC-East Beltsville, Maryland 20705 301-504-8175 410-504-8741 (fax) rjay.ugiansky@md.usda.gov http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/mdpmc/

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Family Scientific Name:	Najadaceae
Family Common Name:	Water Nymph Family
Scientific Name:	Najas guadeloupensis (Spreng.) Magnus
Common Name:	southern naiad
Species Code:	NAJGUA
Ecotype:	Gunpowder River near Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
General Distribution:	American wild celery is a perennial submerged aquatic, commonly found primarily in fresh water throughout eastern North America, from Canada west to Minnesota and South Dakota and south to the Gulf of Mexico. It grows on soils from gravel to hard clay, but does best on silty sand in water with anywhere from slight to vigorous currents.
Propagation Goal:	plants
Propagation Method:	vegetative
ProductType:	Container (plug)
Stock Type:	Bareroot plants (grown in containers, but used as bareroot transplants or with little soil clinging to roots and stolons)
Time To Grow:	3 Months
Target Specifications:	Plants are considered to be transplant ready when roots have spread throughout the pot and new shoots are developing.
Propagule Collection:	We take cuttings from stock plants maintained in our greenhouse; material for stock plants was originally collected as wrack (floating plant parts) in the field. Cuttings are collected from any part of the redhead grass stem (main shoots, sideshoots, flowering stems, stem tips, and midsections) from stock plants. Cuttings can be taken from greenhouse stock plants any time of year. Cuttings that are at least 7.5 cm long form new roots and shoots more quickly than smaller cuttings.
Propagule Processing:	Cuttings are trimmed, if necessary, and lower leaves may be removed, although this is not necessary. If they cannot be stuck in medium right away, cuttings may be left in room temperature tap water. They will stay green for well over a month; in fact, they may begin to grow new roots and shoots as they float in the water.
Growing Area Preparation/ Annual Practices for Perennial Crops:	Cuttings (as well as stock plants) are grown in a 5130 L freshwater tank in a greenhouse. Water is continuously flushed through a 2 sponge filter and is maintained in the tank at the depth of 45 cm (which is the maximum depth available in the tank) with the addition of tap water as needed. Water temperature fluctuates with the surrounding air temperature in the greenhouse between 20 and 25C. Daylength is kept fairly constant, around 14 h. Natural daylength is augmented during the winter months by 5 hours of light supplied by four 1000 watt sodium lamps suspended along the center tank, 2.6 meters apart and 1.8 meters above the tank. The greenhouse is covered with a whitewash solution that provides 30% sunlight shading from mid-April to October. Growing media for rooted cuttings used is inexpensive topsoil (enough to fill 5 cm wide x 10 cm deep pots to within 1 cm of top, packed) mixed with 1.2 grams of Nutricote slow release fertilizer (18:6:8, 180 day release rate at 25 C). This soil-fertilizer mix is covered with a minimum of 6 mm of washed play sand to cut down on algae formation on growing surface. Filamentous algae tends to be a problem in the tank, and is removed with a hand net when the sponge filter does not adequately capture it.
Establishment Phase:	Cuttings do not require rooting hormone. Cuttings 7.5 cm long generate new roots in 2 weeks and cuttings 2.5 cm long generate roots in 4 weeks.
Length of Establishment Phase:	2 to 4 weeks
Active Growth Phase:	Cuttings continue to generate additional root mass and shoots and rhizomes after establishment.
Length of Active Growth Phase:	10 weeks
Harvesting, Storage and Shipping:	Plants generated from cuttings are ready for outplanting on revegetation sites in 12 weeks.
Other Comments:	Seed Propagation: After 11 months of cold storage and various scarification treatments, redhead grass seeds had a maximum germination of 14%, but more commonly less than 2%. Wildlife Value: Seeds, stems, and rhizomes are valuable food sources for waterfowl, in particular Redhead, Mallard, Ring-neck duck, Black duck, Canada goose, and Tundra swan. The plant also provides habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms.
References:	References: Propagation of Redhead Grass (Potamogeton perfoliatus) Transplants for Restoration Projects, Kujawski, J. and Thompson, R., Native Plants Journal, Fall 2000, 1:124-127.

Citation:

Kujawski, Jennifer; Thompson, Randy. 2006. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Najas guadeloupensis (Spreng.) Magnus plants Bareroot plants (grown in containers, but used as bareroot transplants or with little soil clinging to roots and stolons); USDA NRCS - Norman A. Berg National Plant Materials Center Beltsville, Maryland. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/07/02). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.