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Re The new plants arrived




I think it is worth while to pay the extra bucks to have the vendor send
express.  Priority mail can be five days or even longer coming east from
the west coast in my experience.  Also, if you have a small order, make
sure that the sender puts them in a box too big to fit in your mailbox.
Mailboxes in the summer sun can be ovens.  Mine is painted black, and you
could bake bread in it.  Crypts take the heat better than many of the stem
plants.  Hemianthus does not ship well, and Rotala macandara is notorious
for falling apart during shipment.  Plants can go downhill rapidly if left
in their containers or packages after they have arrived.  I know this, but
still do it sometimes because I may have so much other pressing things to
do.  Typically, I check them---They are still alive.  I check them the next
day.  Still alive.  The next day---Oops! they are dead!

If they are mostly mushy, but some of the stems are still stiff, float them
in a fish tank where they get good light and plant them when you see some
evidence of new growth in the stems. Floating stems do best if they are in
a well planted tank that is not having any algae problems.   They should be
planted where there is no shading from other plants.  It helps to have
chelated iron in the water supplying 0.5 to 1.0 mg/l of iron.

Paul Krombholz, in steamy central Mississippi, with especially jucy
tropical air.