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RE: Emerse Grown Plants
I currently have on top of my 100 gallon tank what I like to think of as a
river top filter. I built a glass tank 6 inches high and to the same
dimensions as the tank (18 x 48 inches), and have a pump in one corner (Rio
1700) that pulls the water from the tank below into the filter. Baffles
chanel the water back and forth till it reachers the opposite corner, where
gravity dumps it back into the tank. This is planted with a number of
things, kind of a mini swamp. Ferns, other houseplants and some of the more
difficult aquarium plants like purple waffle, plus a few things like anubias
and crypts to see how they do semi-emergent. Within two weeks of putting a
crypt in this, it flowered and I now have seedlings scattered underneath it.
The filter still in the experimental stages for me, and really needs a
thorough restructuring so that it looks as landscaped as the tank itself,
but a number of things are doing really well.
Here is a partial list of what is in it at the moment;
anubias- A. barteri, A. frazeri, Anubias nana
mini arrowhead fig-Ficus triangularis 'mini' (many other figs would also
work)
Hawaian mangrove seedlings (thanks Lori! They are doing great :)
Brazilian sword/ dove flower- Spathiphyllum 'Petite'
pink monkey bush -Ruellia sps.
gold creeping jenny/ loydellia-Lyssimachia nummularia aurea
java moss- Vesicularia dubyana
crypts- Cryptocoryne walkeri, C. wendtii
purple waffle- Hemigraphis colorata
variegated Peruvian lily- Crinum sp?
dwarf parlor palm
artilary plant- Pilea microphylla
several ferns
pink polka dot plant
Many of the house plants were gotten as 2 inch starter plants from a nursery
in the Seattle area (Molback's) which propagates lots of oddball, hard to
find plants. There are actually quite a few houseplants that do well this
way. The trick is figuring out by the care instructions what might work- if
it says "keep evenly moist" I'll try it. Most of the houseplants I have
potted in clay pots with the top of the soil (or in some cases I tried some
left over Flourish from the tank) above the water level. The plants in the
flourish did really badly initially, but many now look better than those in
waterlogged soil. I just got some "orchid pots" with holes in the sides
which I hope will work better than the terra cotta, and maybe allow things
like the cryps to grow out the sides.
If anyone is interested in trading cuttings, I should have waffle, pink
polka dot plant, ruellia and a few others in a few weeks. I would love to
find some of the emergent crypts, larger anubias (that A. hastifolia set my
mouth watering!) and other emergents to try in the filter.
Brett Johnson
Green Man Gardens
bnbjohns at home_com
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 10:35:32 -0500
> From: "chuckmiro" <chuckmiro at wdn_com>
> Subject: Emerse Grown Plants
>
> I really appreciate the emersed-grown comments. I'm trying to grow emersed
> plants too, and any info based on experiences of others would be extremely
> helpful to me.
>
> I'm trying both the method mentioned by Steve Pushak
> <teban at powersonic_bc.ca> in his "emerse growth humidity requirements"
> message, and also I'm trying to grow plants above the water line
> in an open
> aquarium.
>
> Tips and advice greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks! :)
>
> Chuck
>