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Re: Growing aquatic plants outdoors; not so simple
On Wed, 19 Jan 2000, D. Chang wrote:
>
>>
>> I'd be very wary of growing plants outside in to get the benefit of
>> Florida's bright sunshine. I have attempted this a few times and its not
>> as simple as it first appears. A few challenges to overcome:
>>
>> 1. The tendency of some plants in REAL sunlight to go immersed on you. Ex:
>> Hydrophila sp., Echinodorus, several stems. Blocking light to other
species.
Then Roger wrote:
I haven't tried this, but instead of fighting the immersed growth,
>couldn't you use the immersed growth to shade the rest of the tanks, so
>avoiding some of the remaining problems?
Answer:
It is a losing battle to "fight" outdoor emersed growth. It is best to
exploit it as the main focus ouf your outdoor design ex: Pond! However,
forget trying to use emergent growth to shade submersed plants from
sunlight at hostile mid-summer hours (in Tropical and Subtroical zones
anyway) b/c the plants have other ideas. It will apper to work at first,
but they will ultimately shade the submersed-bound species to death.
Remember, most swords can and do become GIANTS under ideal conditions;
"Bonzai-ing" their growth w/ shallow pots reduces but does not eliminate
the problem.
You would have to monitor progress constantly and be on em' like
white-on-rice!!! My suggestion is to artificially shade areas (w/ a light
diffuser screen) in which you want to grow submersed species. Then, grow
the "emergent prone" in areas of the pond that gets direct sunlight. They
will then be lothe to invade the shaded submersed areas.
D.Chang
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