# Question about growth rate of emersed plants



## MaD_Sci (Aug 14, 2009)

I've been reading about the benefits of emersed plants from a number of articles and most of them said that you can store plants for future uses and emersed plants tend to grow and multiply faster than submersed plants.

1. How fast do emersed plants grow? 
2. For example, if I take a small java fern and emersed it, will it grow large in a months time or take longer?
3. What are some plants that grow fast when grown emersed? Can you give a comparison of time between it grown submersed and emersed?


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## Dryn (Sep 6, 2007)

The answers that you are seeking are very subjective. You won't find an answer like N plant(s) will grow X times faster or anything like that. You will get a range of time.

The reason that immersed plants grow faster is that CO2 is no longer a limiting factor and Light is more potent. The limitation comes with your heat and fertilizer. As long as none of the nutrients become deficient, and the temperature is within the plant's preferred range, you will get the maximum amount of growth possible.

Java Fern grows very well immersed, but not in a single month. You may double in size every 2-3 months or so if you start with a baseball-sized plant. The longer it grows immersed, the faster it will grow. 

Keep in mind that you won't see any growth in the first few months because the plant has to adapt to the new conditions.

Stem plants and groundcovers grow very quickly when they are immersed. My java moss doubles in size every couple of days! My anubias throws out new leaves twice a week. My crypt. lucens throws out one leaf a week. My Crypt. Wendtii hasn't adapted yet after three months! 

However, many plants look completely different when they are immersed.

Good luck. Maybe someone can offer their personal experiences.


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## aquatic_clay (Aug 17, 2009)

Most of my plants have been growing slower than when they were submerged but things are starting to speed up since everything is starting to get used to the new set up. The coolest thing about growing emersed is seeing the different leave that the plants will put out while out of the water!


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## MaD_Sci (Aug 14, 2009)

Thank you guys, this is what I'm looking for, your personal experiences with growing emersed plants.


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