# Advice on Echinodorus wabi Kusa



## Sarpijk (12 May 2020)

Hi guys!

After creating my first diy wabi kusa ball and with some free time in my hands I have decided to create one with an emersed Echinodorus.


I have fallen in love with the wabi kusa arrangements from ADA. Never have I kept an Echinodorus so I would like to know if there are specific subspecies or cultivars for such a project. 
I have seen Echinodorus Argentinensis and it looks it would fit. Any other suggestions maybe other than total green?

I have attached a picture(3) to show you what I have in mind ( minus the expensive branded glassware)


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## Aqua360 (20 May 2020)

@Sarpijk 
I've had great success with hydrocotyle tripartita, but thats my only wabi so far, I'm going to try monte Carlo, hygrophila pinnatifida then possibly bacopa or something next, have you looked at ADA's example gallery?

2 seconds and I'll find a link


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## Aqua360 (20 May 2020)

https://www.adana.co.jp/en/contents/products/wabikusa/index.html

Really good inspiration!


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## Sarpijk (8 Jul 2020)

Ok so I decided to go with the cheapest option , an Echinodorus Bleheri so in case it all fails I wouldn't mind. 

Well it turned out the shop decided to upgrade my order to an Echinodorus "Red diamond" since the Bleheri was in bad shape. The plant is obviously grown emersed , it is a Tropica pot. 

My question is how do I make sure it doesn't dry out? I thought about putting it in a clear bag, but for how long?


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## Mick.Dk (8 Jul 2020)

Echinodorus 'bleheri' is just about the worst species you can choose for this.  It is very,  very intolerant of low humidity (which is anything,  you can provide with WabiKusa). 
Generally the commercially traded Echinodorus are really not good "house-plants", but the Echinodorus 'red diamond'is not the worst candidate. It will allmost certainly suffer heavily,  adapting to lower humidity, loosing existing leaves,  but I would not be surprised if new leaves could actually adapt and survive,  as long as humidity is in the higher end. 
Echinodorus palaefolius is the species usually recommended for open top aquarium - but it still need a decent humidity to keep healthy leaves emerse.


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## Mick.Dk (8 Jul 2020)

Your best chances of success,  adapting the 'red diamond' to lower humidity,  is probsply to keep it in a clear plastic bag in good light,  but NO direct sun (this will cook your plant) . Leave a very small opening, and ventilate by opening totally at least once a day ( preferably several times).  Gradually enlarge the small opening a little within several weeks,  still ventilating.  With a bit of luck,  the new leaves of the plant will adapt to lower humidity by this gradually change. 
It will grow fine, in a plastic bag,  staying in the pot with rock-wool,  as long as you add water and a bit of nutrients.
- and the Echinodorus 'red diamond' quite readily produce long racemes of quite big (for Echinodorus), white flowers.......... 
Echinodorus would not be my own choice for WabiKusa......  but I defenitely hope you will succeed with this.......


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## Sarpijk (9 Jul 2020)

Mick.Dk said:


> Your best chances of success, adapting the 'red diamond' to lower humidity, is probsply to keep it in a clear plastic bag in good light, but NO direct sun (this will cook your plant) . Leave a very small opening, and ventilate by opening totally at least once a day ( preferably several times). Gradually enlarge the small opening a little within several weeks, still ventilating. With a bit of luck, the new leaves of the plant will adapt to lower humidity by this gradually change.
> It will grow fine, in a plastic bag, staying in the pot with rock-wool, as long as you add water and a bit of nutrients.
> - and the Echinodorus 'red diamond' quite readily produce long racemes of quite big (for Echinodorus), white flowers..........
> Echinodorus would not be my own choice for WabiKusa...... but I defenitely hope you will succeed with this.......


Thanks Mick , I will definitely use the bag for as long as possible. The reason I opted for an Echinodorus Wabi kusa is because ADA has them in their line and actually look great!


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## Mick.Dk (9 Jul 2020)

Sarpijk said:


> The reason I opted for an Echinodorus Wabi kusa is because ADA has them in their line and actually look great!


I can make allmost any  products look great,  when I grow them professionally in a climate-controlled greenhouse......... unfortunately no end-users of such products have same facilities !!!


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## Sarpijk (9 Jul 2020)

Here it is! Planted this morning. I keep it covered with a plastic bag ( not shown in the photo). I am thinking of buy a cheap glass bowl and keeping it in If i add a lid to the bowl I feel it should work.


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## Mick.Dk (9 Jul 2020)

He he - the little Bas..rd already want to give you a raceme of flowers,  I see.......


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## Sarpijk (21 Jul 2020)

An update: Over the past weeks I placed the wabi kusa ball in a small glass bowl which is covered with a piece of saran wrap.

Older leaves have been cut due to browning. What I have noticed is that there is condensation on the inside which I take it as a good sign. Two days ago a new leaf emersed!


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## Sarpijk (1 Aug 2020)

Update: There three leaves all new growth now, I keep the bowl partially covered now and I plan to totally remove the lid sometime soon. 

Additionally I have inserted a few Osmocote balls in the Wabi Kusa ball.

As you can see the new smaller leaves are a little curved. 

Any insight? Should I change anything?


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## zozo (1 Aug 2020)

Echinodorus in emerged condition indoors definitively is a light hog...

My personal experience in an emerged form they are much easier to grow outdoors than indoors. In outdoor conditions, there is sunlight and even in the summer a different/better air humidity than indoors.

The one i'm growing outdoors already for several years (Dennerle - Kleiner Bär) goes indoors in the winter and it dies back to a few small leaves close to the substrate due to light deficiency and needs to start over again early summer.

I once have seen a rather large and red coloured Echinodorus in a pot on a window sill. I forgot to ask its name. But the guy growing it said it suffers a bit in the winter and for the rest it is easy. Thus there definitively are swords able to coop with this.

Till now i tried several species without much success... Why? It's still a little mystery to me... Because i did choose my species according to the information i found in this topic on flowgrow forum. It's a dedicated topic about growing Echinodorus emerged.

https://www.flowgrow.de/emers/das-echinodorus-jahr-t47155.html

Some people grow them relatively successful but for me, it still fails without doing anything different. At least nothing different I can determine... It could be a number of things, temperature, draft, air humidity, light or maybe Granny is correct because she believes in Earth Rays. For now, I'm non the wiser, still struggling as do my sword plants.

Bottom line, in theory, there are quite a few that can be transitioned to grow successful emerged indoors...

In reality, its experimenting and finding the one that does for you... There is no universal how-to guide to success.

My best guess,
Try the cultivars, these are usually selected on hardiness and ease to grow. And try the ones that also grow in southern USA with a more temporate climate. Such as E. cordifolius and E. Uruguayensis.


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## Sarpijk (1 Aug 2020)

Zozo your tank with the emersed Kleine bar was a true inspiration for me and what made me fall in love with Echinodorus species. 

I will try to provide more light based on your comment!


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## zozo (1 Aug 2020)

Sarpijk said:


> Zozo your tank with the emersed Kleine bar was a true inspiration for me and what made me fall in love with Echinodorus species.
> 
> I will try to provide more light based on your comment!



That experience did the same for me and i'm in love with this species ever since. What i'm currently growing outdoors is offspring from this very same Echinodorus.  And i never was able to grow it back to the same size as its mother. I guess it's because of the die back during the winter period and it needs to start over, the summers are to short i guess.

All tho back then in the scape you refer to it grew extremely fast. And it was a High Tech set up with quite a lot of light and also standing next to  an east facing window. I suspect it was the extra CO² that made it grow so fast. I did empty 10 litres of CO² in this tank over a 3 year period. The day i ran out of CO² i made a low tech from this tank. And the plant slowly grew less and smaller new leaves. At one point i took away the artificial light and it withered completely away. It was my first and last Echinodorus growing this large and easy.

It might be that maturity plays a major role as well, mature and very large root system stores a lot more energy and makes a plant more resilient to survive lesser condition for a period.

Anyway, what might be of interest for you is Echinodorus is an Alismataceae family member. And we have some indigenous plant species < water-plantain - Alisma > in this family with a close resemblance to Echinodorus. I see this plant almost daily growing in a wetland next door. Can't get to it without getting wet feet, that why i never tried to grow it at home. But i guess it must be very easy. And it's almost a Echinodorus twin. I once did read that one of them even was ID't as Echinodorus but later again classified as Alisma sp.


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## ommmartin (26 Oct 2020)

I have a large Echinodorus Argentinensis thriving in emmersed form sticking out of one of my tanks in the corner...it does very well...
I also find ludwigia palustris to be a wonderful and very delicate plant growing out of water...the little square neo glass air is ideal...
And of course tripartita is gorgeous and very easy from cuttings.
Now I'm playing with lucky bamboos in a goldfish tank...looks amazing...like a Thai forest!...they say it's roots shouldn't be waterlogged but I don't find that a problem as long as the leaf growth is out in the air...


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## Sarpijk (2 Dec 2020)

Hi, thought I gave an update. The Echinodorus didn't like it on the Wabi kusa and I decided to plant it in my tank before losing all leaves.

On the wabi kusa ball I decided to add a small Maidenhair fern that comes from the one I have emersed over my 30 cm cube for over 4 years.

I also placed the wabi kusa in a cheap bowl. It seems to have adapted very well.


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