# An experiment



## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

I've been reading several posts that talk about humidity factors in emmersed crypt tanks. The most recents posts that I have seen indicate that several growers are trying to keep their humidity around 80%+. Here in Gainesville, Fl we live in swamp like conditions relative to heat and humidity (hovers around 80% most of the year). Our university stadium is nick-named "The Swamp" for a reason. Anyway, I thought I might try an experiment growing crypt(s) outdoors on my porch. Because of the trees in the parking lot, my porch only gets direct sun for just a few hours in the morning. Also, does temp play a major factor? I'm mainly thinking high temps as summer is almost here and it will be hot (mid 90s avg). We are already getting into the high 80s.

Would anyone like to recommend a crypt (or two or three) that I could try this with? I have several lucens, ciliata, pontederiifolia at my immediate disposal but they are submersed right now. If anyone has any crypts that you don't mind parting with for this experiment of mine, it would be appreciated. I would gladly pay for them of course if not too expensive.


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

The warm/hot season should work fine; in northern FL you'll have to take preventions against cold during winter though. The crypts you mentioned are pretty tough and should be a good start.

Please take preventions against any crypts escaping into nature. There are already several invading crypts in the US and that won't do any good to native species!


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Florida water sources are usually very hard correct? If so, you might look into some hard water loving species such as usteriana and affinis.


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

Yes, our water is hard here, but I have a couple sources for RO/DI water. Are there any ferts I should know about or just get the correct soil and let them grow?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

cah925 said:


> Yes, our water is hard here, but I have a couple sources for RO/DI water. Are there any ferts I should know about or just get the correct soil and let them grow?


You should be fine using topsoil with a little crushed coral or dolomite mixed in.


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

And so begins my experiment. I'm starting with a base of Organic Ocean Forest Potting Soil and I've added ciliata and pontederiifolia (2 of each). I thought as long as I was experimenting, I would add another factor to this. On the left side is soil only, while the right side has 1/4 Wonder-Gro root tab under each plant. AaronT is sending 1 Crypt moehlmannii & 1 Crypt usteriana that I will add (hopefully) Wednesday night. Thank you AaronT!

Day 1
View attachment 6830

ciliata on top, pontederiifolia on bottom. I did my best to pick 2 plants of each that were very similar in size and # of leaves.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

You might try adding a tall humidity dome at first. Some are made with an adjustable vent. You could use that to slowly lower the humidity to be equal to the 80% in the air outside.


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

Well, things did not go well at first. All the crypts turned to mush within the first two weeks. I kept watering them in hopes that they would bounce back. Yesterday I decided to clean it up and see if any roots were still alive to hopefully salvage. As I pulled off the mushy dead leaves, I found each plant managed to survive and start new growth. I'm very excited and hope each plant continues to thrive.

View attachment 7044
View attachment 7045


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

That's great news. Thanks for the update on the experiment. Definitely keep that soil *very* wet.


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## Yoong (Nov 26, 2007)

Good to hear that they survive.

I am experimenting the same thing too on crypt minima and affinis. From my experience, when I transfer my emerse culture from enclosed aquarium to open air, the original leaves tend to dry up and die off. However, new leaves will grow at a very slow rate. 

In term of maintainance, I make sure that the water is just above the soil and the plant don't get direct sunlight so that it doesn't get too hot for the plant. A friend of mine also recommanded that the place should be too windy as it will dehydrate the leaves, I think it make sense.

One advantage I have is I live in tropical country and my balcony has a humidity of 70-80% and temperature of 26-32C. If these two plants thrive, I will plant more variety in open.

Yoong


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

I live in Florida. Our humidity is somewhat tropical. It's been a very unusual spring here with cooloer weather and lower humidity. I ended up buying a dome to put over the plants until our humidity picks up. July and August can be very humid and hot in Gainesville. I can't even enjoy the pool for more than 1/2 hour during those months. I'm thinking of buying another planter box so that I can have one with dome and one without and see what happens later this summer.


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

I HAVE NEW LEAVES!! I was so excited to see this when I got home from work today. These are my Crypt pontederiifolia showing remarkable improvement after melting down to almost nothing. The are the first 2 of 6 plants to produce a leaf.

View attachment 7083
View attachment 7084


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

cah925 said:


> Well, things did not go well at first. All the crypts turned to mush within the first two weeks. I kept watering them in hopes that they would bounce back. Yesterday I decided to clean it up and see if any roots were still alive to hopefully salvage. As I pulled off the mushy dead leaves, I found each plant managed to survive and start new growth. I'm very excited and hope each plant continues to thrive.
> 
> View attachment 7044
> View attachment 7045


A fellow Floridian, nice.

Please note that your plants, as you have seen, did not die but shed their underwater leaves. New leaves have been produced that are designed for emersed growth. As you will note, the leaves are much harder than submersed leaves.

Maintain high humidity levels and watch the heat. Also, you may be better off in clay pots and the water moving.

Good luck!


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

Art_Giacosa said:


> Maintain high humidity levels and watch the heat. Also, you may be better off in clay pots and the water moving.
> 
> Good luck!


I was talking to Orlando last weekend and he mentioned something similar that he was going to do with his emersed Crypt garden. Unfortunately, I don't have a spare tank to accomplish this task. I have these Crypts growing on my backporch in a large plastic pot that I got from a hydroponic store. The original experiment was to have these grow outside with the Florida humidity, but this spring has been unusally coolor with lower than normal humidity. I put a dome over the plants and almost instantly noticed a difference in growth.


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

A few pics of the emmersed crypts

Full shot


  

I even added some HC to the garden for a nice ground cover (sorry for the blurry pic)


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

It looks like they're still hanging in there. Is the tray in the shade at all? They may be getting too much sun.


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

I have a Coralife T5 light that hangs over the edge of another tank on the porch just enough to give these plants light as well. They get about 12 hours of light each day. I usually turn it on just before I leave for work and turn it off after dinner. There is still some residual sunlight before and after I turn on/off the light.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Any new growth as of yet?? Better yet can you get us some of these rare hard to find crypts I keep seeing pictures of?
I bet you have a connection somewhere..


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

My computer crashed last week so I don't have access to any of the websites I had saved as favorites. I may have to start a new worldwide search to find more crypts. I've been thinking lately of expanding my emmersed crypt garden. I have an empty 30 gal turtle tank that I was going to use and put down Aquasoil as a base substrate and fill it with various crypt species that I can get my hands on. This is still in the dream stage as I have other projects I'm working on right now.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

That would be an amazing garden if you used AS. Plants love it!


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

A quick update - 2 of the original 6 plants have survived. Here's a few pics.

The first is a Crypt ciliata (I think).
 

This other one I bought from AaronT, can't remember what is (sorry).
 

You can see in the pics that the HC is surviving, not growing much, but surviving. I've been keeping them on my back porch all summer, but I don't think they will survive the winter outdoors.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I think I sent you moehmannii and usteriana. It looks like the former in the picture. I can't tell from the picture for sure. Are the leaves bullate?


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

The leaves are smooth.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

cah925 said:


> The leaves are smooth.


It's likely moehlmannii then.


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

I don't think the soil mix is optimal (although ciliata is usually found in pretty similar looking mud!  ) - try several substrates next year for faster growth...


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

I'm mineralizing soil right now according to AaronT's directions. The plants will have to come inside for the winter, not sure how I'm going to accomplish that (need more space in my condo).


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