Hello everyone,
I live in Cyprus and now the weather during the summers is around 37 degrees Celsius in the shade and alot of sun. I would like to try my luck with emersed growth and I have a few questions:
1. Will the plants survive this heat outside and of course out of direct sunlight?
2. Do I need to cover my containers so the humidity stays high?
3. If I cover the containers then wouldn't the temperature rise inside the containers?
4. Is it better to keep the containers inside near a window which is a bit cooler rather than outside?
Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks
Hi Jaap
I also love in he Mediterranean coast, if you look out of the window you will see me just some thousand kilometers west (in Valencia, Spain)
🙂 My experiences regarding emersed growing in our warm climate.
My emersed setups (both 'wabi kusa' type -see here
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/emersed-on-a-window-sill.33115/ and propagator type) receive during some months 2 hours of direct sun, but early in the morning. Honestly that is all I would let them under the direct sun. Otherwise you would definitely boil the plants in the container. In the case of 'wabi kusa' type setups, plants get easily dehydrated, although there are some species which are a bit more tolerant.
My propagator is a big clear plastic container on the shade with 5 cm of water to keep humidity very high and little containers floating all over. They are filled with different substrates that are also kept saturated with water (from recycled enriched aquarium substrate to plain porting substrate... All of them work ok). I just plant the stems trimmed from the tanks, as you would do it in your tank. I have opened some small holes to ensure passive ventilation but in any case the lid doesn't close very well. IMO you need some kind of air refreshment, both to reduce temperature inside the container and to refresh it. I spray it twice a day, but once a day or even leaving some days without spraying would be ok.
This propagator is in the terrace. It is large and ugly, so no way to have it inside (wife says...) but honestly it does well there and I do not pay much attention to it. The 'wabi kusa' type is different. It is nice, everyone in the family is interested on its evolution, thus receives some attention (spraying daily) and has the privilege of having a good position in a windowsill with an orchid, Begonia and Tillandsia... I won't keep this one in the terrace, to much water evaporation and would probably need spraying 5-6 times a day as it is uncovered. As you may imagine, the best moment for this kind of setups are our 'two Mediterranean springs' (spring and autumn) with more moderate temperatures and higher humidity.
Jordi
