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Overwintering Ludwigia sedioides

Phill Austen

Member
Joined
23 Jan 2011
Messages
28
Has anybody managed to overwinter this plant in the UK? Does anybody know the set of conditions that this plant requires to grow well in the UK? Thanks in advance for any information that anybody can give me.
Phill.
lud sed flowering.jpg
 
Mosaic Plant is realy a stunner when in great health. Yet never seen it for sale at the pond shops near my place... Would love to try it..
Yours look very good.. Definitaly should take it inside.. :) It's what you call true tropical and even troublesome to keep it outside all year round in subtropical regions.. :)
 
I have found this to be an exasperating plant, because I have not been able to get it through a winter in the UK. My last and best effort, saw it fade away in early February. It did best in a heated tub in the greenhouse with a supplementary mercury vapour spotlight giving a full twelve hours of light. the tub contained rain water from a butt that collects the runoff from a vegetation covered garage roof. I assume that this water contains only minimal mineral content, and plenty of vegetation breakdown products, which I have been told is a primary requirement for this plant. I tried the cuttings free floating and rooted in a peat based substrate. They both grew well in a water temperature of 27c. The plant grew strongly and flowered, until the ambient light level began to fall at the end of the year despite the water temperature remaining at 27. Nothing grew from the root system when the sun reappeared in the spring. It is my guess that this plant has to grow continually from the apical tip and cannot stand still. I am uncertain as to how I can provide it with sufficient light energy to do this. does anybody have any ideas?
 
Your over-wintering experiences are very similar to mine (in Dk). I've managed to keep it alive, in a very high light tank - but really not good-looking.
I agree, that it seem to need continuous growth to stay healthy.
It's a gorgeous plant - but really neither tolerant or adaptable:banghead:
 
Such a pity that a lovely floating plant appears to not be, "doable". it seems so counter intuitive when other plants from the same areas of south America can be easily grown in temperate Europe with a bit of help. Surely, somebody has mastered the requirements of this plant!
 
Hi all,
it seems so counter intuitive when other plants from the same areas of south America can be easily grown in temperate Europe with a bit of help.
I think the problem is that it is a floating plant from relatively nutrient rich "varzea" lakes, and it would get about <"120,000 Lux of daylight (1000 joules m-2 sec-1)"> for several hours every day, and a water temperature of ~30oC.

If you are in the S. UK you are getting similar amounts of solar energy on a cloudless day in June (due to the longer day length), but otherwise it isn't even close.

I think that the <"Giant Water Lily"> (Victoria amazonica) is another plant (from similar habitat) that can't be over-wintered successfully in the UK.

If you really wanted to try to overwinter them, I think you would need "Reef light" intensity, warm water and a nutrient rich substrate.

cheers Darrel
 
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On another forum i red from a philippine guy that he grow it there in a tank under moderate light.. But other references about the plant state it needs sample light when grown inside. It's rather inconclusive.. It might be like Darrel states a combination of parameters spoiling the fun, it also seems to be very pH sensitive rather acid and absolutely needs to stay bellow pH 8 and it likes stagnant water. Might be even more sensitive when 1 of all aquired parameters isn't in check. Warm temp (no drafts) vs. rich fertilization vs. correct pH vs. low flow vs light. :)
 
Can anybody suggest a light source that may be likely to maintain this exasperating plant?
 
If strong T5 tubes can't manage you definitely need to look at Metal Hallides fixture, they are expensive, consume a lot of power and get extremely hot, so it's not a regular bulb to screw into house hold materials, you would need a special fixture for that taking the heat.. Such a bulb can reach easily over 600°C.
http://www.ushio.com/products/aquarium/aqualite.php
 
Hi all,
Can anybody suggest a light source that may be likely to maintain this exasperating plant?
High-pressure sodium lamps still have the highest PAR efficiency (~1.5 µmol J-1), but they run very hot, and the fixtures and bulbs are quite expensive (sorry just saw Marcel's post, what I should have said is that I agree with him). They also show relatively fast lamp lumen deprecation.

LED's are probably a better option and if you didn't want to invest in a Kessil etc., you could try something like a 6500K 50W LED "Floodlight" placed over the plant, probably on a 14 -16 hour day.

If you don't mind the colour rendition a red/blue or blue grow light would be the best option, and they would give you more PAR per watt. "Blue only" would be the most efficient for vegetative growth.

Kessil sell a "blue" lamp (A160 WE Tuna Blue LED Light), or there is a "Tomato growing" LED like a <"PlatinumLED">. I haven't looked, but on "grow your own" forums there will be a lot of information about which LEDs produce most PAR, last well etc.

An array of 3W LEDs is thought to be more efficient than using 1W or 5W LEDs, but I don't know how this compares COB LEDs, my suspicion would that COB LEDs will soon be the light of choice reasonably soon.

There is a review here <"Light emitting diodes in Horticulture">.

cheers Darrel
 

That's an interesting read.. :) Thanks. Finaly something desent to read about it, that's a relief.. Usualy you always end up at those stupid canabis sites when it comes to growlight review. While ago a saw a ledfixture specialy developed for horticulture, it was dimmable too, so it could be regulated to the plants growing specs. But they are still darn expensive. need quite some burning hours to break even.

Well as said and you know the Netherlands everybody in the world does by now.. :rolleyes: If it's about growing something, they sell it on every street corner. (Well not anymore, the branch is heavily under fire since this year, fortunately. But the damage is already done. It's stupid and actualy very unpleasent, if someone asks something about grow lights or even look at one in our country, you are instandly affiliated with something ilegal.
http://www.hetledwarenhuis.nl/webshop/led-voor-groei-en-bloei/led-kweeklamp-apollo/
 
I have recently tried this plant under a little 40w Arcadia daylight LED spotlight. It appears to grow very well. The real test will be at the end of the year, maybe I will manage to over winter it.
 
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