# Emersed on a window sill



## parotet (22 May 2014)

Hi all

This is one of my nano emersed cups grown on a window sill, just natural light (3 hours direct sun and good light the rest of the day). Half of the volume is plenty of recycled aquasoil and I just top off the cups with tank water. The only thing I do is dropping the cuttings and let them emerse when they want.




In the pictures Ludwigia, Limnophila aromatica, Rotala rotundifolia, Hydrocotyle tripartita Japan and some Staurogyne repens trying to emerse.


The white one does not exist anymore, well it does… but it has been transferred to a micropond I have in the terrace (a 60 liters container with a hanging basket planted with everything I find). The weather in Eastern Spain is good enough even for the tropical plants coming from the tanks (but avoiding direct sun).
In the picture, the white cup has Hydrocotyle tripartita Japan, local H. vulgaris, local Anagallis tenellus (which a tried to grow submerged and failed…), local Asplenium trichomanes… cannot be seen but also includes Ludwigia and Rotala rotundifolia

Jordi


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## tam (22 May 2014)

They look really good! I'm tempted to try. Do you get algae or is that a benefit to having non clear container?


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## parotet (22 May 2014)

tam said:


> They look really good! I'm tempted to try. Do you get algae or is that a benefit to having non clear container?


Honestly I haven't tried a clear container. I could see some algae on the leaves surface in some species but new growth quickly invaded everything. It took more or less a long month for the plants to break the water surface and get really emersed. Once emersed they grow faster. During this first month I tried to do '100% water changes' everyday or so, but it think it wasn't something absolutely necessary.

Jordi


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## Antoni (22 May 2014)

Nice one, mate! Love it. I used to grow one of my wabis on the window and it was flowering as crazy while it was on East facing window. Did the mistake to put it on South facing windows and the sun....scorched the plants in a day, but anyway that is a very sustainable way of growing wabi kusa


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## Greenfinger2 (23 May 2014)

Hi Parotet, They look great congrats


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## Edvet (23 May 2014)




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## parotet (26 Jun 2014)

It grows...  Redmoor added



Jordi


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## Greenfinger2 (26 Jun 2014)

Hi Parotet,  Fantastic  The Redwood has a nice shape too


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## dw1305 (27 Jun 2014)

Hi all, 

Really good, and it looks nice and healthy.



 

I think for me the point that this photo really reinforces is that a lot of our "aquarium plant" are, at best, really terrestrial plants that grow in wet places and tolerate some periods of submergence. 

I think this offers lot of advantages for the producers. 

The plants are more resistant to drying (truly aquatic plants, or ones that grow solely as emergents from a submerged root stock, don't need mechanisms for preventing water loss).
They look better, because the stems aren't all floppy and the leaves don't collapse when you take them out of the water.
Production is simplified because you can propagate and grow them emersed in a standard glasshouse, you don't need water filled troughs and you don't have to worry about algae. 
What I'm not sure is whether it has any real advantage for the consumer (although the initial cost of purchase should be lower due to the relative ease of production). 

One thing that worries me is that plants that are more truly aquatic, and which may be more suitable for long term aquatic life, are unlikely to fit into this production system. This means plants with potential for long term aquarium life may be ignored, or dropped from production, to make way for plants that are easier to produce, even if they have limited prospects for long term survival in aquaria. 

cheers Darrel


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## Edvet (27 Jun 2014)

dw1305 said:


> One thing that worries me is that plants that are more truly aquatic, and which may be more suitable for long term aquatic life, are unlikely to fit into this production system. This means plants with potential for long term aquarium life may be ignored, or dropped from production, to make way for plants that are easier to produce, even if they have limited prospects for long term survival in aquaria.


  This is where enthousiasts come in, trading/selling/exchanging between themselfs.


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## parotet (27 Jun 2014)

Yep... in my LFS the traditional plant display tanks have been changed for amazing misty "plant cupboards"... To be honest it is really amazing to see such a display of Tropica perfect plants (4 meters long x 3 meters heigh... really large) but my first question was... errrr, where do you keep the truly aquatics? And the answer was... in fish tanks (where obviously they don't have the proper light, most often algae, etc.). The consequence? The only truly aquatic found is Vallisneria, hard as a nail, cheap and popular

Jordi


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