# What are the basices to emersed growth?



## T-Bone (Nov 23, 2005)

I tried searching this forum but there are about as many results as there are threads.

How do I transition from submersed to emersed? I just keep getting dried out, and crispy leaves. I want to plant my paludarium, but there are only a few terestrial plants I know of that will survive in really damp soil and very high humidity. So I figured that I could use plants from the fish store and grow them out of water, but I havent had allot of success in the past. I need emersed growth 101 basically. Please start with the basics.

What are some good ground covers to grow emersed? What are other good plants? But I need beginner suggestions, plants that work wel,l and are easy to transition, and grow.

BTW I concur with others, there needs to be a sticky with the basics of what to do. I see some threads with the same question, but not with the answers I need.


----------



## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

Since the leaves are drying out, I suspect that your paludarium isn't keeping enough humidity in. You need a fairly secure covering that will keep most of the humidity in while still allowing some air flow as well as excess humidity to escape. In addition, it may be helpful to spray the plants daily while they are adapting to emersed growth and then occationally later on.

If this still doesn't work for you, you may have to do a slower conversion with the plants you're using. for this you would start with a container that keeps them completely submersed, and then slowly lower the water level over the course of several weeks, until the plants are completely emersed.

If you look in PlantFinder (link at the top of the forum) you'll find that many of the plants are marked as to whether or not they can be grown emersed.


----------



## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

A few plants that are very easy to grow emersed are Ludwigia repens, Ludwigia ovalis, and Hydrocotyle leucocephala. If they grow to the surface and find a way to support themselves, they will happily grow emersed. The emersed leaves tend to be smaller and thicker so it would be best to let the plant poke it's way out of the water on its own. As I remember, the first emersed leaves didn't fair well (dried out), but after a time the new leaves seemed to do better. Definitely keep the humidity high to improve your results. I put some of the emersed growth in a casserole dish with a bit of soil and the lid cracked open and the 3 plants I listed are growing quite well. The Hydrocotyle put out a few dozen flowers a while back and has pretty much taken over the bowl. The two Ludwigias have smaller, neater growth habits and fill in the spaces left by the Hydrocotyle. I just keep the soil wet with used fish tank water so I don't have to mess with fertilizers. 

Moss can be fairly easy as well although very slow growing. I'm trying to get a sword plant to grow emersed, but it doesn't seem to be getting the idea of it yet. I've seen several people here with great batches of emersed HC, so that might work for you as a groundcover.


----------



## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

Since you're looking for ground covers, any of the mosses should grow well in a paludarium. I'd go for Christmas moss, peacock moss, or any of the mosses other than Java, just because I think they look better. Riccia will grow well emersed and stays lower to the soil. Hemianthus callitrichoides, Hemianthus micranthemoides, and Micranthemum umbrosum also do very well. Sometimes you can find them already grown emersed on the For Sale or Trade forum. A terrestrial ground cover that works really well is "baby's tears" (Soleirolia soleirolii) though it may take over depending on the size of your set up.

As Purrbox and CS Gardener said, humidity is the key. If your paludarium is an aquarium, get a glass tank cover for it and mist frequently. If it's small enough, you can stretch some kitchen plastic wrap over the top. Terrestrial plants differ from aquatic plants in that terrestrial plants have a waxy layer of cells on the top and bottom (think the bread on a sandwich) to keep the leaves from drying out. Aquatic plants usually don't have that layer of cells at all or may need to grow new emersed leaves that have that layer, which is why they dry out.

Cheers.
Jim


----------



## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I like to start my submersed plants in my emersed setups just below the surface of the water line. Then I slowly over the course of a week or so lower the water line to allow the plants to adjust. 

At first, super high humidity (almost 100%) is key, but many plants can tollerate lower levels of humidity if adjust over time. I grow a lot of my plants emersed outside in the summertime.


----------



## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

HM & HC grows pretty well emersed.
I use a mixture of topsoil & shultz aqautic soil.. You can use sand too.


----------



## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

i grow crypts anubias and HC emmersed all the time. anubias i grow with plain old SMS with the water line just below the substrate and the anubias love it. I do the smae thing when growing HC except i use ADA aquasoil because HC is a little more demanding of nutrinets I tried this same setup with crypts but they did not respond as well as anubias (I found they dried up easier) so what i do for crypts to keep the humidity up is pot each one then put them in a tank with no substrate just a water line a little below the pot and then just added a pump to circulate the water. This circulation subsequently does a good job at keeping the humidity high in my crypt tank.


----------



## inkslinger (Jan 1, 2005)

hey jazzlvr123 do you add anything to the SMS like frets , i had just added 80 pounds of SMS to my 110g tank and have 2 10 inch bows with saran wrap cover with HC but they look like they are dieing they are in the tank with 216w t5 ho's on for 7 hr they are not growing at all and its been 4 weeks


----------



## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

jazzlvr123 said:


> I do the same thing when growing HC except i use ADA aquasoil because HC is a little more demanding of nutrients


HC is a more nutrient demanding plant and will not grow emmersed in SMS very well becuase of SMS's low nutrient content. change your substrate to Aquasoil and you will see fantastic results. You can try dosing potassium, nitrate and phosphate (liquid form) to the SMS to increase its nutrient availability.


----------

