# Windowsill HC Experiment



## Guillermo

Hi APC community, I've been reading this forum for some time but this is my firs post.

I'm by no means an expert, but I wanted to grow some emersed Hemianthus Callitrichoides, Tom Barr's post encouraged me to try 4 different substrates to see how good/bad the HC grows with each one and sunlight.

I bought 4 rectangular plastic containers of 5" l x 3.5" w x 1 ¾" h, cut the lid and put a piece of transparent plastic (just cut some ziplock bags) to keep humidity in check and permits sunlight to be more effective.

These are the contents of each container:

1.- Regular Fluorite
2.- Miracle Gro Sticks (I cut 1 in little pieces)
3.- Black Soil ( Pot Soil )
4.- Mix .- The same mixture I'm currently using in other emersed setup (Coconut fiber, peat moss, Sera Super Peat, Vermiculite, Osmocote and Perlite)

I added a fifth container with the number 4 mix, it's a Ferrero Rocher's 16 pieces pack.

All were topped with regular fine grain gravel.

They are in my office's windowsill where they can receive good sunlight. As they are in the outer side of the windowsill, they can't be seen unless you are courious, lol.

I'm a bit doubtful about the containers' depth&#8230; Do you think they are too shallow ? I'm concerned about the heat but we'll see what happens, if I notice the heat affects the plants I'd buy some deeper ones.

Well, here are the pics, I will be updating this message. I hope it doesn't take ages for the Cuba to grow. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.














































I don't know how could I've done the HC planting without these great tweezers, they are not the fancy ADA's but they are very useful (an a lot cheaper) lol.





































Thanks for reading and looking at the pics :smile:


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## orlando

Wow very cool, keep us posted. Man I wonder what your office thinks. Very cool


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## Guillermo

Thanks Orlando, I don't have trouble at the office, in fact if it works I can use the whole windowsill, we have some blinds to cover the containers. I'm about to setup a 6.6 nano tank, I was allowed to do it, they even let me use a printer stand for it, lucky me, lol.

Regards


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## hoppycalif

This will be a very interesting experiment - and I'm betting that there will be very small differences, if any, among the various containers. Please do keep updating this.

One reason I am interested is that some people say HC is very hard to grow, needs high light, CO2, etc. to succeed. Others say it grows anywhere, low light to high light, and doesn't really need CO2. I'm still reluctant to try it in my tanks. But, my money is on the "easy to grow" side.

I suggest a few pin holes in the clear plastic covers, just to be sure there is always adequate oxygen and CO2 available to the plants.


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## Guillermo

Thanks for the input Hoppy.

The pin hole idea sounds nice, I will do it at lunch time.

I´m about to set up a tiny cube (8*8*8" = 5 gal) only with rocks and emersed HC, once the HC fills in the substrate I will fill the tank with water and put a little azoo mignon filter and a CF light, in this tank I will use the substrate of my windowsill experiment that works better.



> I'm still reluctant to try it in my tanks


So do I Hoppy, specially with a DIY Co2 setup. We'll see how this turn out.



> Please do keep updating this


You can count on it


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## jazzlvr123

Hehe Im one of the ones that say it can grow anywhere. Its a weed in my tanks, all you need is good co2 20-30 ppm. and it will thrive in 2 or so wpg no problem


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## Freshwater

Very nice, can't wait to see updates on this. Great idea, I'm one of the guys that is having trouble growing HC.

Jazz - Curious, are you not using Excel? I've been hearing some things about Excel stunting HC growth and am curious to your opinion.

Todd


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## jazzlvr123

nope no excel, just compressed co2


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## Guillermo

Thanks so much for your input guys, reatly appreciated you dedicated some time to read and answer this post.

Bad news, I was concerned with the heat for a reason... and it happened... the sun "cooked" the HC, but I'm not giving up yet, I planted new HC and put the containers on top of my emersed setup that receives indirect sunlight, I did it last Sat. Feb, 2nd. The only drawback is that this setup is in my step-parents house and I only can see/maintain it on Saturdays. I Didn´t have the camera, but I will take some pics this Saturday. I had a 2 gallon tank laying around and decided to plant it too, I put the mix. We'll see how this experiment turns out. I hope it does not dry up, fingers crossed !

Regards


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## lildark185

You can work and sell HC straight from your office at the same time!


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## Guillermo

Good idea lildark185, I'll think about it, or eBay perhaps ? 

Regards


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## Guillermo

As I said before, the first try failed due to the sun "cooked" the HC, I replanted the containers and put them on top of my emersed setup. I added a glass cube I had laying around. The new location is in indirect sunlight, the first week was good, no harmed HC. I put the containers on Feb, 2nd, and took the following pics on Feb, 9th.

New Location :





































I made 4 little holes on the plastic of each container, for gas interchange.










And this hole in the ferrero's










Glass cube added to the experiment.



















I have been testing the following container for 3 months with my mix, it's taking forever to grow, lol.










It had just a few HC in the beginning, like this:










And now :










Thanks for looking


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## DarrylR

Nice experiment!

I wonder why my HC is taking so long to grow :/, flourish 25watts(2 bulbs-25 each) for 10 gallon.


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## Guillermo

Hi Darryl, thanks for your comment.

Do you have your HC emersed too ? 

If it is submerged .... Do you inject Co2 ?

Regards.


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## Felf808

Darryl, What kind of lighting and substrate do you have? I had HC grow with 13w in a 3gal but only because I had a layer of mature mulm under a layer of Florabase so, lighting isn't everything but it definitely plays a big part.


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## Revernance

hey! the HC experiment is coming out great! How long did it take total for the HC to look like the last picture
good luck!


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## Guillermo

Thanks Revernance.

The last HC took 4 months to grow, last saturday I saw some little yellow dots (flowers?) but I didn't have the camera, next Saturdaty I will take some pics (hope the flowers are still there, lol)

And about the experiment of the other four containers, I can't see growth yet.

Regards


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## orlando

Well done Guillermo!


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## Guillermo

Thanks Orlando.


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## jimsuy

very nice... i like to try that experiment... what can you advise to me? thankz..


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## Guillermo

Hi jimsuy, thanks.

Don't put the HC container(s) in direct sunlight, and don't forget to make tiny holes in the lid for gas exchange, that's what I've learned so far of this, my first try at growing emersed HC.

Regards


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## fastang80

Great thread.


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## foofooree

any updates on this?


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## Guillermo

Thanks fastang80 an Foo. Unfortunately I have not taken more pics to update this thread, but the only containers where the HC is alive an growing are the pot soil's and fluorite's, the HC in the Mix & Miracle grow melted  I will take pics as soon as I can.

Regards


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## orlando

How are things Guillermo? Bummer about your melting HC  
Maybe try just regular nutrient rich soil with no fertilizer. Keep us posted..


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## LordSul

What great thread, great experiment. Made me want to do the same...

In a thread above you said compressed CO2, do you mean you give CO2 from a pressuresed cylinder?


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## Augus

wish i see this thread before, cause I cook mine. Did not know to make hole for gas exchange


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## Guillermo

Hi guys, sorry for the late response, I've been busy lately.

I have no pics now, but as soon as I can I will post some .... in the meantime I will tell you some results (or the lack of them, lol.)

In this experiment only the fluorite and pot soil containers survived, the other ones failed. 

Lordsul, the only Co2 the HC receives comes from the atmosphere.

Regards


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## prBrianpr

I grow all my ermesed plants including HC in 50% peatmoss and 50% potting soil in a normal pot. 1 week and half later the HC have 1'' large roots. The pot have holes and water pass with a pump besides the pot and through it (I think that the water passes very slow). all my plants trive with this method. also I use a bit of fertilizer in water. All the pots with the plants are inside the greenhouse. Im thinking to use miraclegro soil, it seems very rich soil. Im tinking to mix it with peat like all the other pots.


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## Guillermo

My HC grows very slow, last Saturday I put a couple of containers with azoo plant grower bed, we'll see how it goes.


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