plants on wood?

[AthagaMor]

can anyone give me a good (short if need be) list of some plants that will grow on wood (submerged) in a tank? I would guess there is a family of them or something.. <shrug> If not, is there a method for fixing them to wood? I've see a couple planted tank pics with plants 'growing' on wood - sparked my curiousity... I'm relatively a novice in terms of aquatic plants... would be important to you I guess.

thanks

[Slappy*McFish]

Java fern, java moss, xmas moss, dwarf anubias nana(petite), riccia, glossostigma.

I would recommend starting with some Java fern..very easy to grow and looks great.

[mogurnda]

Yeah, java fern has to be about the easiest. I just rubberband it in place until it takes hold.

[Leopardess]

Fishing line works great for attaching plants because it is clear and does not rot. Some people choose to use the large cable staples and gently place the plant between the poitns and press it into the wood.

Regular anubias nana works well also.

Riccia can be done using hair nets, though Ive found fishing line is much better when trying to attach it to brancy pieces.

[Robv1965]

Will Java Fern attach itself to fake driftwood (resin) ?

Will Aubias Nana get eaten by Silver Dollars. I 've heard JF is bitter so most herbs won't eat it.

Anyone have a picture of Java Moss?

[OrionGirl]

Not sure about the resin, but I do have several java ferns happily growing into rock.

I would't trust silver dollars with plants--you can try it, but I wouldn't be too surprised if they eat the java ferns.

[mogurnda]

I wouldn't be too surprised if they eat the java ferns. That just reminded me of my favorite LFS here, where silver dollars had pruned a huge java fern like a hedge. It was quite pretty, in a bizarre way.

[goldfish freak]

Most if not all of the Anubias species will attach to wood, as well as Bolbitis heudelotii (african water fern).

Hmmm...Glosso will attach itself to wood? Thats news to me.

[Leopardess]

Yah, I was a little curious about that also. I've seen it grow up from the substrate and over wood that is there, or rocks, though I've not seen it truly covering anything other than the ground. *shrugs*



I can't recall where, but somewhere there's a picture of a tank that has rocks just covered in glosso...but it kind of looked like the glosso was grown in mats and then just put on the rocks.

[Slappy*McFish]

I'm not really sure how it's done either...but the 'grown on mats then attached to the wood' reference sounds about right. It seems if it can be grown on rocks, then it should be able to grow on wood, as well...though I imagine it never really attaches itself, but has to be permanantly held in place.:confused:

[Leopardess]

Well...I'm trying to think....(can't believe I actually had to type that out lol)


Doesn't glosso require a nutrient rich substrate? If so, I would think it couldn't be permanently grown on wood/rocks...but is maybe sometimes used in the "mat" way for pictures/contests?


It'd be cool if it could - cuz I've never thought about it....but somehow it seems doubtful. Not trying to say you're wrong slappy...just wondering:)

Anyone know?

[Slappy*McFish]

TBH, I'm not really sure.

[beviking]

Originally posted by Robv1965
Will Java Fern attach itself to fake driftwood (resin) ?


I currently have a small JF on top of a resin cave. It's been there a while so should be attached. I'll check it out a report back!

[djlen]

Java Fern and Moss will attach themselves to anything that has a somewhat porous surface.
Most Anubia will root into porous surfaces as well.

Len

[Mark_b]

Over the christmas period i have been living away from my flat where my tank is.I have been nipping back to feed the fish, do water changes,put leccuce in my tank for my silver dollars and so on.
I'm sure you can guess what i am about to say!
I dont think my Silver dollars felt like they were getting enough food and so they decided to go after my plants. They ate every plant except my huge amazon sword, my java moss, my java fern and my glosso.
All the new growth on all plants was nibbled a lot too!
They particularly decimated the large Anubia i had on my driftwood!:mad2 So i would say your anubias are safe unless you are going on holiday!

[Timmain42]

Originally posted by Leopardess
Doesn't glosso require a nutrient rich substrate? If so, I would think it couldn't be permanently grown on wood/rocks...

Anyone know?

Well, IME, I haven't used a rich substrate on this last round of glosso, just an aggressive water column feeding schedule. And the glosso's a little leggy while it's growing *outward*, but it's still growing like mad, period.

I have several Amano pix where the glosso has grown over and onto at least three inches of pumice and other porous stone. I also have the Amano microscopic image of the tips of glosso roots, and I can very well imagine those tiny roots grabbing even the smalles of cracks in wood or stone.

I'll let you know for SURE in about three months (when my own field of glosso reaches the Holey Rock in the tank). :)

[Leopardess]

Cool...it'll be neat to see:)


I knew they could grab on to just about anything:)


PS. You know what? I'm a bit forgetfull! I just realized that in my planted 10g, I have a big flat riccia rock. Somehow, when I was planting it, a piece of glosso had gotten stuck under the hair net. Now, it's grown a few leaves since then....so something tells me it could, in fact, grow more. I mean, the fact is that it DOES grow there, not how FAST it grows. Apparently, I can't connect 2 and 2. This whole time I've had glosso growing on just a rock....and was asking if it could be done;)

So, for me, the little bit that I have is taking much longer to grow on the rock; its probably only 6 pairs of leaves long, while the rest of the tank has filled in a thick carpet (from a few sprigs of one pair of leaves per plant.) I guess it will work, it will just take quite a while.

[DIYMatt]

ONe that grows on wood for me is Barclaya Longifolia. Its a beautiful plant, you just have to stay on top of the water column ferts. Actually, the plant rooted itself on the drfitwood voluntarily. It came from a seed from a rooted plant in the substrate. I would think you could simply tie one on a log like you do with other plants. The roots get a little bushy on the log.

Also, won't some crypts root to wood? I thought I have seen some rooted on driftwood somewhere. Will it grow on the wood?

[Slappy*McFish]

Never heard of crypts growing on wood, they're generally fairly heavy root feeders. I suppose it might be possible with some species of crypt...who knows?

[beviking]

Well, my JF is not attached to the resin cave. Must not have enough (any) nooks and crannies to grab hold of. It stays put though. I had it in the gravel for a couple weeks so it could grab hold of a few peices of gravel. Now its a weighted java fern and the gravel keeps it atop the cave.