# DIY wild plant gathering



## Bikepainter (Sep 23, 2007)

Do you guys do this? I mean go and gather wild native plants from your local creeks,rivers,ponds,lakes,etc,etc. The area we live is surrounded by natural forest and clearwater streams and rivers are common....I was wondering about gathering various aquatic plants from these places to use in my tank. Are there any do's or don'ts when it comes to doing something like this?


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

I did that this week. I found a local plant like HM in an olive color, but it grows horizontal. I also found some nice stem plants too. I don't know exactly what they are, but I'm going to try them.

Spypet over at TPT found a very nice hair grass plant.


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

Be careful about adding them directly to your tank. You might want to get some Potassium permangate (sp?) to dip them in if you're not using a quarantine tank. You don't know what kind of nasties could have laid eggs on it or in it.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I've done it a bunch of times. Among the stuff I have collected are L. repens, L. palustris, B. caroliniana, hornwort, various Sag and Vals, P. palustris, and some stuff I never did id. Of course it helps to live in Florida where the climate lends itself to it. I do agree with Mike - make sure you go over it really carefully to remove any hitchikers.


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## kwc1974 (Jan 4, 2006)

Is ther a store bought product that you can use to dip plants in. I am worried not only with snails but with algae. Not to mention any thing I am not thinking of.


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

There's maybe a dozen plants around here suitable for tanks, but they don't do well at higher (60-70F) temperatures, Ludwigia repens from the store works great for me, but the same species from the river in my bark yard does very poorly.

I did find Riccia once in my river. Blew my mind, but I looked it up and it's "cosmopolitan" that is, it's found all over the world. It didn't grow worth a damn.


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

I've found Bacopa monnieri and Hydrocotyle umbellata, which is similar to a cross between H.leucocephala and H.verticillata. Spawned about a million pond snails from it, too.


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## Johnny Relentless (Oct 6, 2007)

Bert H said:


> I've done it a bunch of times. Among the stuff I have collected are L. repens, L. palustris, B. caroliniana, hornwort, various Sag and Vals, P. palustris, and some stuff I never did id. Of course it helps to live in Florida where the climate lends itself to it. I do agree with Mike - make sure you go over it really carefully to remove any hitchikers.


I live in Florida (Broward County) and have been trying to find information on the best places to look. I just went to Markham Park in Weston today, hoping to find something, but only saw 4' tall grasses and huge lily pads. Do you know any good places to look in South Florida?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Johnny Relentless said:


> ... Do you know any good places to look in South Florida?


I don't spend much time down there, and I have never collected down there, but I would suggest heading west on the Tamiami trail into the Glades area. Then just look around the puddles/ponds, etc. I have noticed the canals seem to be quite barren when it comes to aquatic plants, but the last time I was in the Glades, I remember seeing a bunch of L. repens and other vegetation in some of the areas. Just be sure you're not in the National Park when you go collecting.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Check out the local biotopes forum for lots of information on collecting. Go all the way back to the beginning in 2004 because there is a lot of good early information.http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/local-biotopes/


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