Growing Echinodorus out of water

[uklau]

Hi all,

When I was at C328 last weekend, I saw them selling Echinodorus in transparent pot in dry substrate & the plant is totally out of water. I'm always amazed by how people can successfully convert an aquatic plants into terrestrial plant. In fact, I had tried a few times on separate occasions but killed all them .

Would very much appreaciate if someone could share the secret of converting an Echinodorus. I do not wish to give up but seeing the plant dying is painful to me .

Thanks in advance.

[illumbomb]

My guess is that the more stable method is to let the echinodorus grow out of the water itself (i.e. plant it in a small tank and let it overgrow the tank) or let the water level slowly reduce by evaporatation. Choose a easier and cheaper echinodorus to try first. I have just started on this too and have killed a e. oriental so far . How about trying this method, something which I saw in Japan:

[CK Yeo]

Oriental is one of the more PITA species to emerse. But once emersed, they are relatively easy to maintain as with the other Echinodorus. Certain species do not usually send emersed leaf out of the water.

Unlike most Crypts, you do not need to keep the air humid once it has emersed.

There are several ways. The idea is to keep the substrate wet and the humidity high as with emersing Crypts. Established, submersed plants with strong roots system emerse easier.

ck

[uklau]

Thanks for the heads up, Illumbomb & CK.

Now, I start to understand how the big bunch of Echinodorus at St Andrew's Cathedral can survive under direct sunlight (no joke, it is there without any shade).

What are the better choices of soil to be used for emmersed setup? Don't think we need those expensive substrate used in our tank .

[juggler]

I used normal soil as those for my outdoor plants.

I keep the pot submerged in water with a betta for some cases as seen in this post: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ighlight=betta

[CK Yeo]

Ben, I have seen it grown in sand, mud, peat, cocopeat, compost, sphagnum moss, hydroponics, gravel, or just floating on the tank surface. It is not as fussy as crypts.

ck

[hwchoy]

Echinodorus aren't aquatic, they are marsh plants and so can managed quite well totally out of water. In their native Amazonian habitat, they also get seasonal flooding and drying due to the seasonal water levels.

[Verminator]

Echinodorus aren't aquatic.

Obviously i'm assuming they are 100% fine to be completely submerged and grow well then? Yes?

Else they wouldnt be sold, or recommended. Just checking ofcourse...

[ZANE]

I'm sure you know, but just in case...Echinodorus are actually quite amphibious... they grow on the banks of different rivers (not just amazon and its tributaries) in South America (east of the Andes mountains). About half the year many of them are emersed and grow quite well. If you do a search on the internet, you will see many people visiting the Amazon have documented this. So as long as the humidity remains high and the substrate wet, Echinodorus shouldn't be too difficult to keep alive above water. Besides, companies like Tropica and Oriental actually propogate them emersed.

[uklau]

Thanks for helping out, guys . I shall get the ball start rolling soon.