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Getting a start on emersed grown plants - wabi kusa!


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The mud balls are Fluval Stratum, the fiber is coconut.  For plants I bought some tissue cultures and robbed some trimmings from my tanks. They’re sealed up to keep the humidity high as they grow out. I’ll probably move them to a different container when they’re looking good. Maybe with a little waterfall and a mister. The shallow bowl in the last pic might be perfect. 

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It’s growing nicely. The Saracinia plant is a recent acquisition. It’s living in the Wabi Kusa grow out container for now but will be part of the final display. It needs poor quality soil  so I’ll have to figure that out. They need a dormant period so it might also have to go outside for a few months or maybe I can convince it to keep growing for a few years inside. BC09E986-3231-40EF-8E48-EA867DD950DB.jpeg.a7e0e21c180ff2a76d4f31966715cd26.jpeg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Emersed growth is so fast. It’s been a month and it’s starting to get a bit overgrown. I added a Bolbitis Hetroclitia that didn’t like being submerged. It seems to love growing in the air. I think it shouldn’t be sold as an aquatic plant.  I’ve learned that Ludwigia Repens and Rotala Macranda look too similar, in the future I’ll try and  use plants with different leaf shapes. 
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Edited by Patrick_G
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  • 3 weeks later...

I decided to start a carpet in the little tank with the Wabi Kusa in it. I’m trying out the lazy dry start method. It involves sprinkling tissue culture clippings onto the surface of some aquasoil. After that you cover the tank to keep in the moisture and wait for the plants to take root, that’s about all there is to it.  I had a really nice cup of ADA Monte Carlo that more than covered the little patch of soil in this tank. 

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Edited by Patrick_G
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On 10/6/2021 at 8:36 PM, carefulest said:

I actually have a very similar kind of setup going right now. Glossostigma is taking over but a few other petco tissue cultures are doing well. Your plant choice is really interesting, I especially like the little Pogostemons in there.

Thanks, I’ll admit to choosing plants based on what was on sale at the LFS and whatever trimmings I had from other tanks. It’s pretty much an experiment, but if it goes well I’ll possibly set up a more composed tank. It would be fun to enter the AGA Wabi Kusa contest next year. 
Have you added water to your setup? I’m thinking of filling this one about 1/2-3/4 so most of the emersed growth isn’t under water. 

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I've pretty much had the water level all the way up to the soil level since it started. I was worried about the tissue culture plants transitioning/drying out. For the first few weeks I had everything under a cover (one of those plastic gardening dishes) but now I just leave it open. It's been off for about two weeks now and I'm just starting to notice emersed form growth: prior to this things mostly grew in submerged form despite having the leaves and stems above the water.

I think entering the AGA contest would be a good idea. I feel like there's a lot of territory here that's not been fully explored.

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On 10/7/2021 at 11:09 AM, carefulest said:

think entering the AGA contest would be a good idea. I feel like there's a lot of territory here that's not been fully explored.

I agree, it’s wide open for some new and creative interpretations of the style. It’ll be fun seeing this years entries. 

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  • 2 months later...

I loved catching up on this DIY journey! What do you think your next step is? Trim heavily? Replant with fresh trimmings or new tissue culture? 

PS the photo in your sig is SICK! I think I like the variety of plant textures and then the BRIGHT colored fish the most!

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On 1/4/2022 at 8:22 PM, PedroPete said:

I loved catching up on this DIY journey! What do you think your next step is? Trim heavily? Replant with fresh trimmings or new tissue culture? 

I like the Monte Carlo so I’m thinking of taking out the Wabi Kusa balls and just making it a little aquarium with the carpet plus some hardscape and Epiphytes. I might also just fill it up with water and see how the emersed plants do with submerged growth. 

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