# Tall Emersed plants ???



## FilteredFun (May 13, 2008)

Hello Everyone,

I have several questions regarding plants that are emersed and TALL.

We plan to have an open top aquarium. One of the reasons is that we want our wood and plants to explode out of the water and drape over the sides of the tank. We'd also desire some substrate carpet like grass and mid depth growth as well.

*[Q]* I was wondering what are some of the really TALL emerging plants available?

I thought we could grow these emerging plants in a temporary terrarium type scenario allowing them to reach a height well above the aquarium wall height: hopefully reaching their flowering stage if applicable. Then, if we planted them in the aquarium substrate, we would have instant explosion above the water's surface.

*[Q]* Will this work or will the plant die back???

It seems that most plants that reach the surface then run along the surface creating a floating carpet with their leaves. I was wondering if these plants could be draped and/or tied onto the exposed wood to encourage their growth upward above the water and not on the water's surface.

*[Q]* Would they succeed [perhaps with a daily misting of water?] or do they require the constant contact with the surface water???

The hope is to find some emerging plants that will attach to the exposed wood while growing their root system either in the substrate or [like Java Moss] on the wood below the surface.

Many Thanks!
Matt

aka FilteredFun


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

> [Q] I was wondering what are some of the really TALL emerging plants available?


The tallest, biggest plants that are grown emersed are sword plants, Echinodorus. There are several hybrids and cultivars



> Q] Will this work or will the plant die back???
> It seems that most plants that reach the surface then run along the surface creating a floating carpet with their leaves. I was wondering if these plants could be draped and/or tied onto the exposed wood to encourage their growth upward above the water and not on the water's surface.


It depends on the plant. Some float across the water surface, some grow above it. They do it naturally, you can't really induce it. They either do it or they don't. Some develop leaves that look radically different above water than below water.



> [Q] Would they succeed [perhaps with a daily misting of water?] or do they require the constant contact with the surface water???


It depends on how close the plants are to the light and how humid the air is. Dry air and heat will dry up many plants above water. Your biggest challenge will be light. You will need intensive light to penetrate the water to the plants below and be enough to give the plants above water what they need without being too close to the them. You will want to limit the plants above water to the back edges of the aquarium so they will not block light to the plants below.

There is a good article you should read called the Open Aquarium.

The Open Aquarium

If you have enough space you can have all sorts of plants around the tank: air plants, bromeliads, house plants, ferns, orchids...


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Some plants that grow out of the water will lose the leaves on the stems below water and grow roots along the stems, so you have a forest of root-covered stems under water and leaves and flowers above water. What I've done is allow a few stems to grow out of the water and keep the rest under water to hide the ratty looking ones. 

Ludwigia repens was really bad about losing leaves below water once it managed to grow emersed. The stems actually died off near the substrate and I had root-covered stems from about mid-way up the tank to the water level and then healthy emersed plants. Hydrocotyle leucocephala was better at keeping leaves below water and it liked to grow along driftwood for support to get out of the water. I'm currently growing it as a houseplant and it's quite hardy once it adapts. Some of the Hygrophilas like H. angustifolia have strong stems, grow tall quickly and can support themselves out of the water, but once again they may lose their leaves below water if the get a lot of emersed growth. I'd keep some submersed in order to hide the stems of the ones growing emersed.


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