Go Back   Aquatic Plant Central > Special Interest Forums > Cryptocorynes
User Name
Password

Advertise on APC

Cryptocorynes Cryptocoryne plant species consists of 50+ plant species, and make a unique addition to a planted tank.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-25-2006, 05:37 PM   #1 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 364
iTrader Ratings: 5
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
Kai Witte is a regular member
Plant Points: 20350
Smile Peat swamp habitat for crypts (in Germany)

Well, I promised to show pics of how I keep my Cryptocoryne (http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...2893#post92893). So here we go!

BTW, I'll owe those of you who correctly identify 50% of the plants a beer when we get together (at an ECS meeting or elsewhere).
People who know my stock don't qualify though...
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Witte.jpg
Views:	1459
Size:	59.6 KB
ID:	2289  
Kai Witte is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote

Advertisement [Remove Advertisement]

Old 02-25-2006, 05:43 PM   #2 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 364
iTrader Ratings: 5
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
Kai Witte is a regular member
Plant Points: 20350
Post



This is a small set-up to house many different blackwater species so it's already getting crowded although most were quite small back-up plantlets/cuttings 4 months ago. Space permitting, it's easy to scale-up this setting so that you can allow more than 1 mother plant within each container. (You can see where I didn't followed my own rule of thumb and need to thin out already. )

All crypts are in pots with acid leaf mould (i. e. highy decomposed leaf litter - cp. Niels' ground-breaking article: http://132.229.93.11/Cryptocoryne/Bo...Fagus_soil.doc) only and pure rain water added to taste. I guess this looks rather messy compared to some of the "clean" set-ups shown by others but, hey, it works! I have kept the water just above ground level to allow a few cuttings without established growing points to catch up with the rest (next time rhizomes with really tiny leaves will go into a dedicated nursery tank though).

The mere stats: Tank with 60 cm (24") width, 30 cm (12") length, and 35 cm (14") height. Winter temperature about 23°C (73 °F), no additional heating. Light (12 h/d) supplied by a single 18W tube (Phillips TLD 840, electronic ballast).

Last edited by Kai Witte : 02-26-2006 at 06:35 AM.
Kai Witte is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2006, 08:14 PM   #3 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 239
iTrader Ratings: 2
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
EDGE is a regular member
Plant Points: 5600
Default

Such a nice and clean looking setup for all those difficult crypts. Your ability and knowledge to grow all those difficult crypts put us to shame.

I cannot find a source that explains the condition each crypts grow in. Do you have any sites you would recommend for this sort of information beside the informative article by Niel? Did you do a lot of experimenting long ago to come to understanding of what each crypts require?

Have you ever tried increasing the amount of light over the setup?

Last edited by EDGE : 02-25-2006 at 09:20 PM.
EDGE is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-26-2006, 12:34 AM   #4 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: the Swamp
Posts: 2,069
iTrader Ratings: 1
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
plantbrain is a regular member
Plant Points: 4100
Default

You or at least Niels should identify the species of leaf mould, it's likely a basidomycetes....
I also know a substantial amount about wetland soil and fungi.
At lower pH's and decent O2 levels, the fungi will predominate, but many have assumed there is no or little fungal influences, in very low pH confier leaf littler, the fungi will no longer grow though, the only way for that to decompose: fire.

I've found numerous species of fungi on many different plants.
Once the roots establish, the fungi should also and then you'll have good growth, as long as the fungi are working and having some benefit for the plant.

Regards,
Tom Barr
plantbrain is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-26-2006, 01:10 AM   #5 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Freemann's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Greece
Posts: 340
iTrader Ratings: 0
Freemann is a regular member
Plant Points: 23100
Default

Quote:
I cannot find a source that explains the condition each crypts grow in. Do you have any sites you would recommend for this sort of information beside the informative article by Niel? Did you do a lot of experimenting long ago to come to understanding of what each crypts require?
I would like also a list of crypts and their favorite conditions.
Which ones at least are the so called black water species??
Maybe we should start a different topic concerning this, people could at least put in it the species they already grow in different soils.
Freemann is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-26-2006, 01:37 PM   #6 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 239
iTrader Ratings: 2
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
EDGE is a regular member
Plant Points: 5600
Default

Tom,

I was tempted to try adding hydroponic products containing microbes and fungi to the emersed setup water. I wanted to see if the additional microbes and fungi will increase the root growth and assist in the consumption of nutrients for the overall plant growth. The person (another hobbyist) I talked to said it is not necessary and the products are not worth the money because plants will produce the organisms/microbes and fungi at the roots by themselve.

Was he correct that adding extra microbes and fungi via a commerical product to the water is not necessary in an inorganic environment using hydroton or gravel)?
EDGE is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-26-2006, 05:03 PM   #7 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 364
iTrader Ratings: 5
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
Kai Witte is a regular member
Plant Points: 20350
Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by EDGE
Such a nice and clean looking setup for all those difficult crypts. Your ability and knowledge to grow all those difficult crypts put us to shame.
Nah, I have to forward the kudos to the active members of the ECS who make this possible by sharing all those beauties! And, mind you, there are much more experienced crypt growers out there...

Quote:
I cannot find a source that explains the condition each crypts grow in.
That's a book still to be published...
There's quite a bit of information dispersed throughout (mainly European and more lately Japanese) aquarium journals/publications including accounts by many travellers. It also pays to check the botanical literature for locality data and I'd recommend to read Whitmore's book (1998. An introduction to tropical rain forests. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198501471) for a good introduction into SE Asian rainforest types (which happen to host most Cryptocoryne species).

Quote:
Do you have any sites you would recommend for this sort of information beside the informative article by Niels?
Your best bet would be that goodies like this will be eventually included into Jan's Crypts Pages.

Quote:
Did you do a lot of experimenting long ago to come to understanding of what each crypts require?
Well, all of us longtime crypt nuts did a lot of experimenting but truth is that much of that has been superseded by Niels' method: Make a slurry from acid leaf mould and DI water, throw in any blackwater crypt, and - presto - you have a growing crypt. It's that easy! Currently the real challenges of successfully growing crypts are to be found with other species than blackwater crypts IMHO.

Quote:
Have you ever tried increasing the amount of light over the setup?
No, must be some Scottish genes in me.
Seriously though, that's more light than most blackwater crypts ever experience! You can certainly double/multiply that light intensity and will get faster growing plants if not any other growth factor becomes limiting (so you may need to add nutrients). From my experience there seems little need to set olympic growing records and IME the less you tweak things the more stable culture is in the long run.
Kai Witte is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-26-2006, 05:59 PM   #8 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 364
iTrader Ratings: 5
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
Kai Witte is a regular member
Plant Points: 20350
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by plantbrain
You or at least Niels should identify the species of leaf mould, it's likely a basidomycetes....
Hi Tom, this seems to be a misunderstanding - I meant leaf mould as in soil/substrate rather than mildew/fungus. Sorry for being ambiguous!

Quote:
At lower pH's and decent O2 levels, the fungi will predominate, but many have assumed there is no or little fungal influences, in very low pH confier leaf littler, the fungi will no longer grow though, the only way for that to decompose: fire.
Well, vast peat swamps went ablaze during those recurrent fire catastrophes in SE Asia - after logging and partially draining them!
I suspect that drought may also play a role in slowing down decomposition of conifer litter akin to the humus accumulation in black steppe soils. While bacteria have a pretty hard time in highly acid environments, there are still actively decomposing fungi at a pH around 3 in those peat swamps.

Quote:
I've found numerous species of fungi on many different plants.
Once the roots establish, the fungi should also and then you'll have good growth, as long as the fungi are working and having some benefit for the plant.
I did try to look into this. I suspect though that with crypts we're not speaking of some mycorhiza-like symbiosis but rather that a living soil (a fairly complex "ecosystem" for those who never did give it thought) seems to be better at providing all factors necessary for healthy growth.
Kai Witte is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2006, 05:46 AM   #9 (permalink)
Moderator
 
Xema's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Spain
Posts: 570
iTrader Ratings: 2
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
Xema is a regular member
Plant Points: 25565
Default

Wow!! very nice and healthy stuff!!!

I am growing C. longicauda with the Jacobsenīs method, and I am getting better result than poted plant method.
I am quite familiar with N. Jacobsen article, I traslated into spanish some weeks ago... I love his theory about the dead leaves acummulation what dissolves tanins, and other substances in the water, so plants generally found growing on sand are needing leaf litter too.

Greets from Spain
Xema is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2006, 01:32 PM   #10 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 364
iTrader Ratings: 5
iTrader Positive Rating: 100%
Kai Witte is a regular member
Plant Points: 20350
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by EDGE
I was tempted to try adding hydroponic products containing microbes and fungi to the emersed setup water. I wanted to see if the additional microbes and fungi will increase the root growth and assist in the consumption of nutrients for the overall plant growth. The person (another hobbyist) I talked to said it is not necessary and the products are not worth the money because plants will produce the organisms/microbes and fungi at the roots by themselve.
I'd give it a try if the company producing the stuff is qualified. There are some good products available today but often you need to establish yourself wether there's any benefit for your special growing situation (and if yes, wether the price is worth it).

Quote:
Was he correct that adding extra microbes and fungi via a commerical product to the water is not necessary in an inorganic environment using hydroton or gravel)?
Seems more like a environment which could benefit from adding a little organic matter and suitable microorganisms. Of course, you could also try a DIY approach with regularly adding water from a well-running blackwater set-up as shown above.
Kai Witte is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Reply


Aquatic Plant Central > Special Interest Forums > Cryptocorynes > Peat swamp habitat for crypts (in Germany)

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Aquatic Plant Forum Replies Last Post
ADA International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest 2005 info tsunami Aquascaping 89 08-01-2005 11:18 AM

All times are GMT -8. The time now is 05:38 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.1.0

Copyright © 2006 - 2009 Aquatic Plant Central | About Aquatic Plant Central | Advertising Opportunities | Legal | A member of the Crowdgather Forum Community
Created by Blue Moose Designs