Re: [aroid-l] Symplocarpus/aquatics only

From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at msn.com> on 2004.04.17 at 13:49:27(11405) Reply-To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu To: Subject: Re: [aroid-l] Symplocarpus Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 06:21:40 +0800 Dear All, This 'standing/stagnant fresh water' issue has been one of my ongoing 'battles' with TROPICAL aquatic growers dating back years! My hope is that this short 'note' may assist someone struggling w/ rare, irreplacable plants of this group--- Some of you may recall an early article in Aroideana-- 'Experiencing Urospathas'?? In it I TRIED to explain my growing methods which resulted in award-winning quality plants of this (and other genera such as Certosperma and Lasia, Podolasia, etc.) before-difficult to grow highly aquatic genus. They may APPEAR to grow in standing water when encountered in the field, but in general this water is 'aliive' and moving, not stagnant. Another BIG item that had seemed to escape the previous folk who had tried and failed to grow these and other aquatics using a pot-with-saucer-and-water method was that the 'soil' we use is composed of HIGHLY organic metarials that, when constantly immersed below water QUICKLY decompose/rot and kill the roots then the entire plant, the secret is to place enough larva-rock or stones or broken croc in the bottom of your planting pot so that the soil is kept slightly ABOVE the water-level in the saucer(like in using 3" of rock in a pot standing in 2" of saucer-held water), you must then water from above till you see roots growing out the drain holes of the pot into the water in the saucer, and CHANGE THE WATER in the saucer on a regular basis!! Keep this water WARM (70 or so degrees F.) during the cool season using heat-strips or other methods! My two cents. Good Growing, Julius +More But is the water fresh? Where does the water to make the woodland swampy originate? If it's welling ground water (most likely if the land is not undulating or at the bottom of hills, etc.) of if it's seepage/run off (most likely if it is undulating land or at the base of higher land) then it's going to be moving water and fresh. Pete ----- Original Message ----- To: Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 2:36 PM Subject: Re: [aroid-l] Symplocarpus > >Hi Rand > > > >I can only speak from cultivation experience of two of the four species - > >foetidus & renifolius. > >. Another thing they certainly dislike is stagnant water-logged soil > >and it seems that in a bog garden there should be some throughflow of moving > >water rather than it simply being a muddy hole! > > Here in Wisconsin, they often grow in wooded swampy areas with no > actual running stream nearby. > > -- > Don Martinson > Milwaukee, Wisconsin > Mailto:llmen@wi.rr.com > > > > [ Scanned by JARING E-Mail Virus Scanner ( http://www.jaring.my ) ] > _________________________________________________________________ Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee ® Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid963

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