Re: [APD] Plants for a Paludarium

["Jerry Smith" <jerrytheplater at hotmail_com>]

Cheryl

Have you considered using Cryptocoryne? They are found in areas that have a 
dry and wet season. They flower when they are emersed. Anubias will do great 
in a Paludarium. Spathiphyllum-Brazilian sword is another which would do 
well, it really is a tropical foliage plant, not an aquatic plant. I am sure 
any of the Philodendrons would do well too. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris 
thalictroides) is a fern and does really well in a humid atmosphere with its 
roots dangling in the water. It has an entirely different leaf form when 
growing emersed. I take floating water sprite and drape it over the overflow 
of my 75 gallon tank at work. There is a canopy on top which provides a 7 
inch area above the water before the glass top. It very rapidly puts out new 
growth which is needle shaped. Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) will grow on 
wood you place in your Paludarium. Hair grass (Eleocharis sp.) grows along 
the edges of lakes and streams. It should do well. Lobelia (Cardinal Flower) 
would grow way to tall. Mine in the garden get to four feet at least, but it 
would grow in there as well. You could try Hosta as well. You can stir fry 
its leaves if you need to thin it! Many of the stem plants will grow out of 
the water. The following are the stem plants I see in the Tropica catalog: 
Alternanthera, Bacopa, Cardamine, Eusteralis, Gymnocoronis, 
Hemianthus(Micranthemum), Heteranthera, Hygrophila, I suspect Lilaeopsis 
will do well emersed, Limnophila, Ludwigia, Myriophyllum, and Rotala.

My son just suggested a Venus Fly Trap and other carnivorous plants. The Fly 
traps do really well for us in pure sphagnum peat moss with the pots in a 
constant dish of water. They get full sun outdoors in New Jersey until noon 
when they are shaded. We bring them indoors for the winter. No fertilizer at 
all. They eat whatever insects land on them and the ones my sons feed them 
in the summer. They all have flower stalks now and should bloom in a few 
more weeks. One of our plants is three years old now and I divided it last 
summer. None of them have ever gone dormant and they flower for us each year 
so far. This year I am hoping to get some viable seeds as we bought new ones 
that are sure not to be clones of the first, so they should cross pollinate.

I would be tempted to try an African Violet. If it dies, just throw it out. 
I believe I once read they are found in the spray areas of waterfalls. I may 
be incorrect and I hope someone will correct me.

I can't think of any more now. Hope this helps.

Jerry Smith in Bloomingdale, NJ

>Message: 6
>Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2006 18:01:09 -0500
>From: Cheryl Trine <ctrine at andrews_edu>
>Subject: [APD] Plants for a Paludarium
>To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
>
>I am setting up a 29 gallon Paludarium (got the tank two years ago,
>finally getting around to doing something with it).  I am wondering what
>kind of plants would be good for the "land" part.  I've seen mentioned
>in various places that "tropicals" as sold at WalMart, etc., could be
>used.  Can most of these take the very high humidity without getting all
>kinds of nasty fungus, disease, etc. or rapidly growing too big?
>
>It has a 55 PC lightging.  Water comes down a bank into the aquatic
>part.  The substrate is aquarium gravel, chunks of slate, and a "big"
>log emerging from the water.  I thought I would get Java Moss going on
>the submerged part of the log, and let it creep up the log as far as it
>is comfortable, but I don't know what to put above.  I would think any
>of the plants that are sold for aquariums but grown for retail in the
>emersed condition would do, but I don't know which ones these are.
>
>Thanks for your advice.
>
>Cheryl


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