Emersed Plants

FilteredFun

Hello Everyone,

I have several questions regarding plants that are emersed and TALL.

We plan to have an open top aquarium. One of the reasons is that we want our wood and plants to explode out of the water and drape over the sides of the tank. We'd also desire some substrate carpet like grass and mid depth growth as well.

[Q] I was wondering what are some of the really TALL emerging plants available?

I thought we could grow these emerging plants in a temporary terrarium type scenario allowing them to reach a height well above the aquarium wall height: hopefully reaching their flowering stage if applicable. Then, if we planted them in the aquarium substrate, we would have instant explosion above the water's surface.

[Q] Will this work or will the plant die back???

It seems that most plants that reach the surface then run along the surface creating a floating carpet with their leaves. I was wondering if these plants could be draped and/or tied onto the exposed wood to encourage their growth upward above the water and not on the water's surface.

[Q] Would they succeed [perhaps with a daily misting of water?] or do they require the constant contact with the surface water???

The hope is to find some emerging plants that will attach to the exposed wood while growing their root system either in the substrate or [like Java Moss] on the wood below the surface.

Many Thanks!
Matt

aka FilteredFun

Jay

Well that question is well beyond my experience or interest. Sounds lilke you are talking about bog plants.

I suggest you contact some reputable plant dealers/distributors to discuss your project.

Jay

nyrmel

Yah I would sat Jay is right about the bog plants We have a large pond we built out back and have several plants sticking out I can try to get you some specific names if you like. I know we have Irisi's (i would have to research type) and the curly willow is darling and has come back twice now after spending the winter under snow. Water Cress (yes that stuff people put in salad's and such) is very pretty it grows fairly quickly outdoors and we have it planted in our waterfall and it does a lovely effect (we have to start over every year there) and you simply buy that in the produce aisle and start it in some water for a bit to let the roots develop. I would show concern though about the type of Fauna you will have in the tank you dont want to have anything that will take advantage of the fact that the tank is open and has bridges to freedom. But if you are still interested in the drappy palnts I know we have gotten several of ours from dr'sfostersandsmith the rest came from transplants or our local pond supply store. (except the cress which we pick up in the produce aisle one a year.) I hope I may have helped with some info (if you can glean it out from all the rambling) good luck and keep us updated.
also if you go with bog plants they will naturally emerge but you will need a deeper than normal substrate as they are looking for the sides of ponds to grow in (in our pond we use special pond soil which doesnt cloud as much and seems more dense and heavy than standard soil even when dry) but you might be able to skip the grow till tall enough setup.

FilteredFun

I can try to get you some specific names if you like.

That would be terrific. The more names I can gather the better. I now have two excellent plant books which allow me to read up on most plants, but getting recommendations from owners is far better.


... you dont want to have anything that will take advantage of the fact that the tank is open and has bridges to freedom.


Actually, that is what we hope to achieve. We really do want to create a connection to the room by having both plants and wood explode above the water's surface and beyond the aquarium walls. We can easily control that growth, but getting to that point is what we have not yet attempted.

Thanks So Much for your reply!

and

Thanks Jay for your reply also!

:Matt

nyrmel

I meant you dont want to have your pets escape as many seem to think they want to be on the outside yet really are better off inside the tank. As a kid we had little crabs that used to get out of a tightly shut tank and we found them in some of the strangest places. like the bathroom floor and carpet in front of the tv and once makeing a true bid for freedom on the back porch???? they where very determined. everytime we would rinse them off (we kept a bowl ready next to the tank just for this purpose and when they where clean we would plop them back in the tank. Never did figure out how they would get out we had the back and half way up the sides of the tank (where all cords and in outs where) Duct taped shut and 2 velcro closures we added to the flap lid so it stayed tight. then we added a websters on top of the lid just in case. Of the 4 we had at least 3 escapes every week, very strange. But back to the point I understand the wanting plants outside I just didnt want you to end up having to look under the sofa for you fiined freinds. I go to work late tomorrow I will try to take our pond book out side and see if I can get some fancy scientific names for you of what we have. ones i know for sure though are the Dwarf curly willow which is a reed and can be planted about 1 foot under the surface but no more than 2 (it would drown. it needs to be able to grow abovethe water and will get about 6-7 inches of height for us above water (remember we are in snow country and all of our plants die back and spend the winter at the bottom of the pond, to be pulled back up in the spring) this plant can be split after it is established into clusters and our came from a water garden store. water hyacaint also does well for us and had pretty flowers it is a floating plant the can be split later it will send out shoots like a stawberry to grow more plants (have to be careful with them they can take over waterways so make sure if you have to thin you do it responsibly) Wwater lettuce also a floater and very nice to look at (though the koi seem to think we put it there for their snacking enjoyment) grows and splits like the hyacainte. we have a lotus we got at the store that we havent been able to id EVER cattails and rushes are nice.

Society Garlic

Variegated Cattail

Zebra Rush

Corkscrew Rush

Horsetail Rush

Dwarf Papyrus

Black Gamecock

Yellow Iris

Humbly submitted for you veiwing pleasure I think maybe I wont need to pull the book out outside as I pulled up the online catalog. Dont forget the water cress it could do such a great drape effect over the side of the tank. hmm anything else... we do not mist our plants they are meant to be out of water and so just think of it as a very very wet planter. With fish happy planting