Lobelia Cardinalis viability.

[Henry]

Is Lobelia cardinalis capable of long term survival in a submersed environment? Most of the literature on the internet says it's not a true aquatic, but a marginal. Since this can be said for most of the plants we use in our tanks, I wasn't sure what to believe.

My tank is EI dosed and CO2 injected, if that makes any difference.

 

[stu_]

I had the dwarf variety for the best part of a year in a liquid carbon tank.
After upgrading to pressurised it started to look really good.Nice sized leaves, compact growth.
Good enough to eat.
At least that's what my Amano shrimp thought...

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Had it in the pond for the first year that the pond was set up, absolutely brilliant, bright red leaves and flowers. Next year it re-appeared, but was almost instantly eaten by the pond snails, and I haven't seen it since. It will grow quite happily in damp ground, if you can keep the molluscs off, but as a temperate plant which goes dormant in the winter (and can survive -10oC) I'd be surprised if you can grow it long term submersed.

cheers Darrel

 

[alzak]

Mine grow like a weed ... have it for past 4 years

 

[Henry]

Is yours the dwarf variety? The label on mine did not specify.

The underside of the leaves are a pink colour, I presume this is emersed growth.

 

[Yo-han]

It's used in Dutch setups quite often and can be kept submersed for multiple years without problems! Why wouldn't it? As long as you keep cutting and replanting the tops, how should this plant know it is submersed for a month or 2 years😉 Maybe if you only trim it from the top the lower half will wither away after a while but as long as you make sure it comes nothing short I don't think this will happen very fast.