Growing Rotala roundifolia emersed

[spunjin]

Anybody done this before? I have a bunch and I want to see if I can grow them emersed. Suggestions...

[debaric]

completely? mine started growing out of the watere towards the light.

[jmhart]

Completely emersed it lies down flat rooting itself as it grows...almost like a foreground plant and like all emersed growth, it's much slower

[mellowvision]

like all emersed growth, it's much slower

I don't know that that's true at all. Emersed growth is way faster for HC, for example

[inkyjenn]

sounds interesting...

hmmm. i might want to try this someday. make a garden of aquatic plants grown emersed...

[Bk718]

Make sure you have enough humidity and indirect sunlight

[jmhart]

I don't know that that's true at all. Emersed growth is way faster for HC, for example


I disagree on that one. Sure, HC fills in faster emersed....but that's because you don't have fish and current pulling it up all the time.

[mellowvision]

I don't think it's from lack of fish or current. I think it's because it can draw light and co2 better from air than water, and doesn't have to compete with algae for the air or co2. I've seen explosive growth of HC emmersed, growing in very thin - to no - substrate, sometimes directly on cork, without co2 or ferts of any kind.

I'm not saying this is true for every plant, but having grown HC in a tank with low flow and never having it come up (disinterested fish), I just didn't see the same speed.

It also raises a second theory, which came up on another board as well, which is that perhaps HC is a terrestrial plant that just does really well in water. Somewhere I thought i read that it was a shoreline crawler... but I don't remember.

[phanmc]

I don't think it's from lack of fish or current. I think it's because it can draw light and co2 better from air than water, and doesn't have to compete with algae for the air or co2. I've seen explosive growth of HC emmersed, growing in very thin - to no - substrate, sometimes directly on cork, without co2 or ferts of any kind.

This is true because there is usually a much higher concentration of CO2 in the air than in the water, even CO2 injected water. Nonlimiting CO2 equals faster growth. Very effective in growing plants which do not have major variation between emerse and submerse growth (don't try growing marsilea emerse unless you want clovers).


It also raises a second theory, which came up on another board as well, which is that perhaps HC is a terrestrial plant that just does really well in water. Somewhere I thought i read that it was a shoreline crawler... but I don't remember.

Most of the plants we grow aren't true aquatics and spends a significant time emersed, their environment are riversides or shallow riverbeds which can disappear during dry seasons.

[spunjin]

So in short, it would be difficult to grow rotala in a pot by a window. That is all I needed to know. Thanks.