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Re: Growing Emersed
Joshua Wiegert wrote:
> I've heard the same is true of Anubias as well -- as soon as they start to
> grow out of the water, they take off growing. I've exprimented with this a
> few times, but failed every time!
I failed miserably to get Anubias barteri nana to grow emersed. I had a
larger Anubias (lanceolata, perhaps) that grew very well emersed, inside
a paludarium.
I've used two ways to get plants growing emersed. The easiest is just
to start with an emersed-grown plant. Commercial growers grow most
everything they can emersed, so all you have to do is start with a
commercially-grown plant and keep it emersed. Another way is to start
with the plant submersed and let it grow emersed as it gets larger.
This takes some time, and conditions above the water have to be
suitable. In particular, if the plant emerges into your light hood it
will probably just dry out.
Most of our plants need very humid conditions. Also most will probably
burn if you put them in direct sunlight. If you live someplace like
Houston or New Orleans then maybe you can grow them on a shaded porch or
balcony; in less humid places you may need to keep them in some kind of
enclosure.
Some plants are exceptions. E. cordifolius (radicans sword) isn't
sensitive to dry air and thrives in very bright light. C. wendtii is
another that seems fairly resistant to dry air.
> As soon as the leaves are lifted out of
> the water, no matter how much is left underwater, they wilt and die back.
At least some plants develop different leaves underwater than they do
out of water. Underwater leaves will probably die if they are exposed,
and leaves that are near the water line where they are under water
sometimes and exposed sometimes often die off.
I'm trying to get an E. osiris (melon sword) to grow emersed, and having
very little success. The plant just wants to stay small and under
water. My starter plant was a plantlet that appeared to be recently
removed from the mother plant. Does anyone have a melon sword growing
emersed? If so, how did you do it?
Roger Miller