# HC Propergator Journal into DSM



## nayr88

Hello Emersed growing people.

I picked up a cheap Propergator from the garden centre on the weekend after seeing 4 for 11pound on some bursting pots on HC in amwell aquatics Epping.

I'm using old ada aqua soil mixed with power sand special, topped with manando jbl as the base. I'm misting 3 times a day with a mix of ada ferts and TPN+ , I wonder if this is TOO much? Is there any adverse effects I should be weary of with 'over dosing'


Light is from an old arcadia 9w cliped on the the side of my tank, it also gets abit of light from my 18w from the tank its near, so hoping that's enough 

Here's the starting picture. There's just over a pots worth in there.


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## nayr88

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

With the lid on, which has a opening to reduce humidity










I planted just over one pot, quite densely. I tried to do single sprigs buut towards to end got just settle for small 2 to 4 sprig clumps


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## nayr88

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

If also change my misting bottle mix.

I'm now using 3/4 ml of TPN+ mxed with 500ml water. This may still be to strong, but after the initial fet heavy dosing the manando should be loaded...a least a little.

Also drained away some water, and am dosing around 4 squirts 3 times a day....things semm good humidity is good judging by the water on the lip. Also some new growth, nothing amazing to need pictures but give it a week and ill update again.


Cheers


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## Tom

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

From what I've noticed in my Mini M, I would lower the water more. Try not to have any standing water, just damp substrate. If I remember right, Tom Barr also recommended misting a couple of times a week only. Looks good though, good luck with it. 

Also, if you get rid of the standing water, I'd shut the lid to keep very high humidity. I've found it got a bit crispy in another tank with a less well-fitting cover!

Tom


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## nayr88

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

Cheers Tom, I've soaked up the standing water with a sponge and closed the lip fully now. Also going to back off with the misting. 

I'm going to get a few more on the go and get a farm going of the more popular plants such as P.hellferi staury and glosso. Should be fun 

thanks again mate


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## ghostsword

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

I am growing HC emersed, open air, at the window sill, with just twice misting a day, on garden soil, and after some melting and two weeks finaly I am seeing some sprouts coming up. Tiny little leaves. 

I would say keep the soil moist and let a bit of air in.


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## foxfish

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

I think you will find the best results come with very high humidity, I would keep the vents closed!
In the summer this is quite easy to do, as you can leave the propagator in a very sunny position with just a tiny bit of vent open but, inside with an external light the prop will steam up preventing the light getting to the plants.
It is a compromise all the time unless you get more technical with a internal light & tiny fan.
I have fond it easy to grow HC in a large prop inside my garden greenhouse, no misting required & no vent open but, in the winter it dies right back!


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## Tom

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

How's this going Ryan?


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## nayr88

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

Really well mate, so well in fact that I stripped my nano down replaced the old crush mud amazonia (down to be rescaping and pulling plants out) and put in a bag on flora base powder and I'm going to scape that and transfer the hc once its filled my propagater. 

Ill check back with a updated pic in 10mate


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## nayr88

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*


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## Tom

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

Nice


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## nayr88

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

Cheers Tom,

Its so easy to grow, I was going to wait till the propagater filled then split it up again and replant it in a really long propagater on the window sill for the summer, but decided to try a dsm on my nano, shouldn't take long to cover it, just gotta get some rock and wait for it to fill out its current propagater and ill start a journal.

Cheers


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## chrisfraser05

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

Like it bud   

Tempted to do some thing like this with my arcadia arc tank after I've bred some minnows in it.


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## nayr88

*Re: HC Propergator Journal*

Hey ppl the prop went super well, and filled so quickly so I decided to try a dry start on my recently emptied nano. 
Went to the LFS and got a bag of 5l bag of clomobo florabase Fine for 12quid! Bargain! 

Any way I messed about for ages and finaly decided on this rock layout. I reeeeeally like it but let me know what you think. 





Its been going for about a week of so and nearly filled right in, plus there was some spare so the prop should be full again in no time 

Not sure when the fill will be. I want a fluval 205 and a new cal aqua intake before I fill for sure though


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## nayr88

I must be onto a winner your all speechless haha.

I filled it yesterday, more to rid the substrate of the old water, and to have a look what it was like flooded. I took a few pics on my fone so here goes

This shot looked amazing in person.


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## nayr88

Got abit carried away when filling it aye! Looks like a cube of water no glass haha


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## LondonDragon

Looking good  any background plant? or leaving it like that?


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## mlgt

Thats looking great mate.


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## nayr88

Cheers guys,

I was thinking about using flame moss behind the right stone when its filled, hair grass is another idea, most likely go with the moss  also a mini moss around the base of the big stone, 

I'd love to get some shrimp in there when its filled and the initial co2 blasting whilst the HC transitions is over, moss and shrimp go hand in had aye haha.

Thanks


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## Mrmikey

Looks like the dsm has really worked out for you, it seems to work well for others ..if I was going to try hc again I'd probably try it to.
Really like the rock layout, definatly drop some moss in there ur shrimps will love it.


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## a1Matt

It is scary how easy HC is to grow emersed isn't it? 

Looking good mate.

I'd be wary of adding too many mosses, if it was me, I think I would just add one as a background and stop there.


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## nayr88

Cheers mikey, it is a good way to go things going, I always seem to get left with buts floating around the tank due to high flow so by doing this its all rooted and ready to go, 

Thanks matt, it is isn't it. I've seen some people grow just as fast if not faster hc immersed, such as viktor but he's an exception due to his skill haha.

I do want to keep the mosses to a minimal, but there are 1 or 2 spots at the base of the big rock screaming to have the tiniest piece of moss attached and kept nice and trimmed. When I fill it ill attach some to minuscule pieces of rock and see what it looks like.


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## jack-rythm

great read


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## nayr88

Cheers mate  shame I NUKED it in the mega hot sun a year back 

I propped the lid a little with a little round stone an when I came back found the stone had popped out and lid had closed whole thing was baked.


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## jack-rythm

Jeez!

Sent from my Nexus 7


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## gmartins

nayr88 said:
			
		

> in the mega hot sun a year back



ah ah. Is that possible in the UK?   

Just kidding... I know what you mean. My emersed plants are in the yard the whole year around but when the summer is starting I need to move the trays onto a shady area of the yards. Otherwise it's all toasted   

cheers

GM


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## nayr88

gmartins said:
			
		

> nayr88 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> in the mega hot sun a year back
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ah ah. Is that possible in the UK?
> 
> Just kidding... I know what you mean. My emersed plants are in the yard the whole year around but when the summer is starting I need to move the trays onto a shady area of the yards. Otherwise it's all toasted
> 
> cheers
> 
> GM
Click to expand...


Haha yeh it was a really got Sumer when I was running this DSM and I got back to a pile of brown mush  
Was a shame as looked really promising.


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## Palm Tree

I do this with hairgrass and it works great, no need for the top of the proporgator though 
I've just started a proporgator for crypts aswell. I need to try some HC as well soon.


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## gmartins

Yeah hairgrass is quite strong actually. I can grow it on plant vases - no cover. I still move these onto the shade during summer cause noon sun can really burn.

I am successufully growing:
Eleocharis parvula,
Hemianthus micranthemoides (such tiny cute leaves in the emersed form)
Hemianthus callitrochoides
Hydrocotyle tripartita (or japan) - this is a weed.
Staurogyne repens (grows slowly)

And I am transitioning:
Echinodorus tenellus
Rotala rotundifolia

By the way, snails will eat HM, Stauro and Hydrocotyle. So whatch for your plants. I nearly lost everything some time ago.

cheers

GM


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## nayr88

Yeh I done a small jar with hairgrass and was OK but I let it dry out too far and it got abandoned  

HC is a weed when grown dsm as soon as it gets hold it's off!! The leaves look great too, I had a little trouble with yellowing leaves at 1st but got past I and if I hadn't burnt it all I think I could f had a great little iwagumi.


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## Palm Tree

gmartins said:
			
		

> Yeah hairgrass is quite strong actually. I can grow it on plant vases - no cover. I still move these onto the shade during summer cause noon sun can really burn.
> 
> I am successufully growing:
> Eleocharis parvula,
> Hemianthus micranthemoides (such tiny cute leaves in the emersed form)
> Hemianthus callitrochoides
> Hydrocotyle tripartita (or japan) - this is a weed.
> Staurogyne repens (grows slowly)
> 
> And I am transitioning:
> Echinodorus tenellus
> Rotala rotundifolia
> 
> By the way, snails will eat HM, Stauro and Hydrocotyle. So whatch for your plants. I nearly lost everything some time ago.
> 
> cheers
> 
> GM



You really should post some pictures up of your setups, emersed is just as addicting as submersed, well even more for me.


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## gmartins

Not really a big deal. Plastic trays with potting soil put outside in the yard. I will take a picture so you can see it yourself 

GM


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## Brian Murphy

Really interested in growing my own plants .... recently split my Anubia and tied it to various other parts in my tank but do intend to try it emersed aswell .... going to really get into it soon.  Start selling plants


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## ale36

nayr88 said:


> I'm misting 3 times a day with a mix of ada ferts and TPN+


do you mist with ada fets and TPN+ all mixed in the same spay bottle?


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## jack-rythm

a1Matt said:


> It is scary how easy HC is to grow emersed isn't it?
> 
> Looking good mate.
> 
> I'd be wary of adding too many mosses, if it was me, I think I would just add one as a background and stop there.




Sure is easy, I have no cover on my wabi bowl and I'm loving the outcome, just one spray before a leave the house, I'm getting more and more into my emmersed state look. My Cuba has gone wild, I'm even successfully growing p.helferi emmersed, when it first came out my tank it was All yellow but now it's regaining it's humming vibrant green, my tripartita is loving life outside of the tank. I'm finding everything growing so much more intricately and more colourfully. Got any photo updates? Are u finding plants take on a more metallic look? Shiny leaves etc. ?

Also I'm personally not spraying with Fertz added to my bottle as I'm worried I will get burns on the leaves. I feel misting with water is more than adequate.


Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## nayr88

ale36 said:


> do you mist with ada fets and TPN+ all mixed in the same spay bottle?



Yeah tbh it was bit if a waste of time, the TPN would of been enough.


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## Palm Tree

Anyone wan't to swap some emmersed HC, I need to try this lol. I just found aphids in my emersed tanks, I fully planted a 160l tank with only some of the cuttings, I would advise anyone with emersed setups to have some pestisides or whatever you choose to use close to hand


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## Ady34

Palm Tree said:


> Anyone wan't to swap some emmersed HC, I need to try this lol. I just found aphids in my emersed tanks, I fully planted a 160l tank with only some of the cuttings, I would advise anyone with emersed setups to have some pestisides or whatever you choose to use close to hand


Do pesticides have a negative effect on shrimps if the treated plants ever get submersed again?.....in a tank with shrimps of course.....


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## Palm Tree

Ady34 said:


> Do pesticides have a negative effect on shrimps if the treated plants ever get submersed again?.....in a tank with shrimps of course.....


 
I would think so, thats why i'm going for submersing the plants in a mild soap solution or just converting them to submersed. The pestisides should get washed out/ diltuted eventually but I'm not sure. The pestisides would be for my _Drosera _and _Anubias _which I have no intention of submersing.


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## gmartins

Just some picks of my messy non-fancy emersed set ups.


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## dw1305

Hi all


Ady34 said:


> Do pesticides have a negative effect on shrimps if the treated plants ever get submersed again?


Try just immersing them, after that soapy water would be safest, but a non-systemic insecticide should be safest, as it isn't taken in by the plant. A pyrethroid insecticide would be the normal choice, but these are very toxic to crustaceans, so you would have to make sure it was all washed off.

_Drosera_ doesn't respond very well to insecticides, so it might be worth looking at carnivorous plant sites to see what they suggest.

You can use live greenfly for fish food, fish like Killis and Tetras love them. When I was a kid it was our "secret method" of keeping sticklebacks alive.

cheers Darrel


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## Palm Tree

dw1305 said:


> Hi all
> 
> Try just immersing them, after that soapy water would be safest, but a non-systemic insecticide should be safest, as it isn't taken in by the plant. A pyrethroid insecticide would be the normal choice, but these are very toxic to crustaceans, so you would have to make sure it was all washed off.
> 
> _Drosera_ doesn't respond very well to insecticides, so it might be worth looking at carnivorous plant sites to see what they suggest.
> 
> You can use live greenfly for fish food, fish like Killis and Tetras love them. When I was a kid it was our "secret method" of keeping sticklebacks alive.
> 
> cheers Darrel


On a lot of the cp forums a weak mix of general pesticide is suggested so I went with that option. Most of my plants are emersed so I had to make sure they didn't do much damage fast. I filled up my aqua one 850 (160l) tank with most of my hygrophila salicifolia but I had no space left for anything else except a bit of hydrocotyle so I had to go for the chemical way


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## Balik1

I remember growing hc on my window sil pretty easy to grow just in my opinion need to give some time before it start s to spread 
Keep soil wet ( I used regular miricle grow potting soil ) 

Great plant !


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