Hydrangea on fish tank

[GardenStateGoldfish]

Hey all! I propagated a cutting from a hydrangea bush from my sisters yard, it’s been living and growing in a jar of fish tank water for a few months now, I’m wondering if I put it on the back of my fish tank if it would continue to grow? Anyone ever do something like that before? 

[Gator]

Pothos and Solarium in the same tank, that's really cool, now I've got to try that. The Hydrangea may be OK, I don't know if it will harm the tank or not, but it's worth a try, it may even flower without sunlight.

[GardenStateGoldfish]

Thanks gator 🐊 

i doubt the plant would harm the tank, I’m just curious of the long term ability for hydrangea to survive in water if anyone knew, I’d get better lighting if it is possible to manage and I could grow some hydrangea inside, I’d love that! 

[lindabee53]

Hydrangea in the tank - what a neat idea!  I have no clue as to whether it would grow well or harm anything, but it would be gorgeous.

[Sunny]

I just looked up plants that can grow hydroponically; hydrangea doesn't seem to come up, but apparently peace lillies can be, which would maybe be a hot mess. If the hydrangea does well you'll have to update us!

[Gator]

After thinking about it, I believe your Hydrangea will grow very well in your tank as long as you don't place too much of the stem in the tank. I have a question about the Solarium, did you only use a leaf from the plant or is a part of the plant base in the water? I'm going to try that, it looks pretty cool.

[Streetwise]

I don’t have any documentation for this, but waxy houseplants seem to do the best dipped into aquarium environments. They seem more resistant to rotting in water. Everyone knows pothos, but I like rubber plants.

[Flumpweesel]

Hydrangeas don't seem to thrive grown only in water but they are just finicky about rooting for me (no no problems in compost but never works in water).

One of the snags for me with growing things out of the tank is that we reduce sunlight to keep algae at bay so it's mainly shade plants that do well. Hydrangeas do like the sun.

Definitely worth a try since yours has rooted just keep an eye on the stem for rot. 

[GardenStateGoldfish]

On 11/1/2021 at 4:45 PM, Sunny said:

just looked up plants that can grow hydroponically; hydrangea doesn't seem to come up

Is there a master list somewhere? 
 

it actually said online when I first looked it up that you couldn’t cut propagate hydrangea but that turned out to be not true since this is doing really well in a jar, I would thing being in a fish tank over a jar would be even better but I am worried about the less light. 

On 11/1/2021 at 4:53 PM, Gator said:

I have a question about the Solarium, did you only use a leaf from the plant or is a part of the plant base in the water? I'm going to try that, it looks pretty cool.

Thanks! Basically just the parts that would typically be in dirt are in the water and the rest is outside of the tank. So the aquarium water essentially is a replacement to the soil. Some of the pothos and monstera roots have grown long enough to get into the sand at the bottom of the tank so that’s exciting I hope they begin consuming anything trapped in the sand the snails haven’t eaten. If you need photos closer up I can absolutely do that, there is an Etsy shop I admittedly haven’t used and have been wanting to, called A-Potho-carry they make great baskets and holders for plants to do what I am doing, I have been just using tape or zip ties which is more maintenance and tinkery but I plan to get some from the shop soon for my new projects, these are all grown in place so I don’t wanna change anything. 

On 11/1/2021 at 7:31 PM, Flumpweesel said:

One of the snags for me with growing things out of the tank is that we reduce sunlight to keep algae at bay so it's mainly shade plants that do well. Hydrangeas do like the sun.

 

This is my biggest worry, although I’m not afraid of algae, the snails keep that away and even if it did grow I’d welcome it, I’m an ecosystem kind of guy, but the reduced sunlight is my concern. 

[Sunny]

I just crossed referenced websites that talked about plants (flowers) that can grow hydroponically. I also learned the word “aquaponics” which is specific to growing plants in aquariums. Just cause the internet doesn’t say it, doesn’t mean it’s not true- maybe no one’s tried!