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Re: terrarium culture of bog plants
On Sat, 22 Jan 2000, Bob Campoli wrote:
> I'm wondering if anyone has grown amphibious plants, fully emmersed, in a
> terrarium?
I grew Spathyphyllum, Anubias congensis (or lanceolata) and Cryptocoryne
wendtii all either fully emersed or with an inch or so of water over the
substrate. The plants were in a 20 gallon tank with a mostly closed top,
so the humidity inside stayed very high.
> My questions - is potting soil a good medium under these conditions? Will
> 'houseplant' fertilizer ( 15-30-15 ) work in this situation? What are the
> chances of the Cryptocoryne flowering?
I used a mix of about 5:1 gravel and peat-based potting soil, and
circulated water through the substrate. I didn't fertilize; I used old
aquarium water instead. Near the end of the time when I kept that tank I
also ran the output from a DIY CO2 generator into the air in the tank.
Generally, that's an awfully concentrated fertilizer and you will probably
need to fertilize with a very dilute solution. Without circulation I
think you can probably give up on any nitrate-based fertilizer. In
saturated potting soil the nitrate will probably be denitrified before
it's used by the plants. Try to use one with nitrogen derived mostly from
ammonia or urea. You probably don't need that much phosphorus in the
fertilizer, especially for foliage plants and especially if you have soft
water.
The C. wendtii in my setup flowered frequently. Unfortunately, C.
wendtii's flower isn't much to look at. The Spathyphyllum flowered as
well, and that is more visually interesting.
Roger Miller