# Spring is Springing Up! Time for Tubbing!



## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Hey folks,

Now that Spring is making her way north it's time to start talking about growing plants outdoors. I know a bunch of us have outdoor emersed setups but for those of us who don't would you please post a one picture reply with a brief summary of what your system is and how you care for the plants? If you have a pond with emersed plants that counts too. 

My plan is to get a number of 4-6" deep plastic organizing trays and keep them out on my porch. Substrate will be potting soil and peat underneath local stream sand. 

Please keep this limited to outdoor growing systems.


----------



## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I am going to try to stay away from plastic, because it damages some of my plants and retards the growth of nearly all of them. I am thinking in terms of pyrex baking dishes to hold water and clay pots standing in the dishes. I may try to erect some kind of plastic tent over the plants to keep the humidity high, but I want to avoid having their roots in contact with plastic.


----------



## clay (Jul 3, 2004)

heypk, i did notice that the leaves on my c. wendtii while using half of a soda bottle. is there some reason why it retards the plants? do all plants have adverse reactions to them, or just crypts?

clay


----------



## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

It seems to affect nearly all plants, but most of them stay alive and some even grow fairly well. They just don't look as healthy. One of the worst-affected plants was Hygrophyla corymbosa compacta. It almost died away completely in its soda pop bottle, and then, when I moved the plant and its soil and water to a glass jar, it recovered. Thus, whatever toxins came from the plastic, they at least did not persist in the soil and water once they were moved to a glass jar.


----------



## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Hi all, I just recently got interested in emersed/semi-aquatic plants, particularly local ones. I live in Hawaii, so there are a lot of plants, especially ferns, that are not found anywhere else in the world. On a hike I went on recently, I was able to find a lot of native ferns and mosses, but didn't take samples because I had no place for them-- I just made a note of where they grew.

When school ends I'm thinking of setting up a pair of 55g's outside-- one for submerged plants and apistogramma and livebearers, and another for emersed ferns, mosses and liverworts. What do you guys think?


----------



## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

I think that's a great idea! I'd like to see more people keeping native plants in aquaria. Two 55g would be really nice in Hawaii, no doubt the Apistos are going to love it. 

Best,
Phil


----------

