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Plants in "moving water" (drip walls, rivers, etc)

5814 Views 21 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  penfold
Hey all,

I was hoping if some of you plant experts could give me some (preferably technical) information on growing TERRESTRIAL plants in the following ways:

1) Coco-mat (epiweb, w/e) with a drip wall running through it. (vertically)

2) Coco-mat (or gravel) in a "river" (slow or fast flowing) (horizontally)

What plants could one effectively grow in the above conditions? I am aiming to grow TERRESTRIAL plants in a pseudohydroponic fashion but from a rough understanding I do not believe that any of the above setups would accomplish this successfully.

I know I can get cuttings to root very well in a coco-mat dripwall....but can I get full-fledged terrestrial plants to grow there as well? Or would it become an issue of too much water at some point?


Is there a method of growing an already established/rooted plant (currently in a pot) onto such a vertical setup?

Secondly, is there a good resource for finding plants that can grow "emersed" for my river conditions? What qualities should I be looking for in plants that will make them good for the above conditions?

I'm sorry this is a stupid question but I really feel like I'm missing something important
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As someone that frequents The Planted Tank frum and others, I can tell you there is a burgeoning number of people growing stuff emersed.

And in fact most of the stuff grown in aquariums are not obligate aquatics. I have a tank with about a 1/2 inch of water in the bottom with no water movement, and so you would expect pretty horrendous anaerobic conditions..but I have Water Sprite, Saginella, some species of Philodendron, begonia among other things growing fine there. I've also experimented with emersed plants in an aquarium. Off the top of my head. The Hygrophilas, Cryptocorynes, Anubias, Bacopas, Micro sword (Liliaeopsis brasilensis), Dwarf hair Grass and Hydrocotyle all will work fine. IME Java Fern can take a while to adapt to an emersed condition but it will.
If you look at my thread about Wabi-kusa you can see what I've been experimenting with, and all of that stuff does fine.
Obviously the humidity of the tank can also play a huge role.
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Not sure if you were talking to me about true terrestrials.

I did the exact thing you are talking about a number of years ago. I had a small pump in one corner, a pipe riser and a pipe with holes horizontally across the back. My back was foam with coco glued to it, worked great for about a year but the holes got plugged up and the pump stopped working, but it was pretty poorly put together.
Mosses grew like gangbusters and even Java fens did fine that tank had, Jewel Orchid, Seliginella, a couple of other ferns, anubias and a few other things and all did well.

As for true terrestrials, I guess the best approach is to go by family so like Aroids or Begonias etc. Locally I've collected and used Pennyroyal (a small mint), Galium (a bedstraw) and Mazus reptans, all of which are submerged for weeks in the spring but grow fine once things dry out too. They don't go dormant during my cold winter just sit there waiting and I've grown them inside all winter.

Hope that helps! I can't wait to see a photo of finished product and progression.

The other thing you might do is contact or look over Black Jungle website they do stuff like that and I've been to their store/greenhouse which are both pretty cool!
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