Observations on growing plants in bogs

From: "Kathy Kempf" wont_read101 at hotmail.com> on 2002.06.06 at 15:52:31(8963) Ron, The past 2 springs I have had sad experience with many different plant reactions to growing in bogs. I have learned this: if the crown is submerged along with the top inch of root system for more than a short time (a day or more) the plant will die. This happens regardless of whether it has water roots or not. Certain species tolerate saturated soil with water above the soil line but growth is usually stunted (exception: mazus reptans -- growth is same or improved if entire plant is submerged for up to 2 months). Doing it the other way around (soil or air up to the crown with water below) succeeds in almost every species I have attempted. The only aroids subjected to this inadvertant treatment are the Arisaema triphyllum and A. stewardsonii, along with Zantedeschia. Most others are closely related: various Asarum and yuccas. Species that failed the worst are supposedly "bog lovers": rodgersia, astilbes, trillium, viola tricolor, carex, marshmallow, and chilene. Other plants that did not survive more than a couple days even with crowns not submerged (at least 1" above saturated soil) are lamium, heuchera, dicentra, aster, tiarella, most ferns (except Osmonda regalis), hellebores. Doing things to the soil to help improve aeration in the standing water has not improved the plants' health: adding fish, water-aerating plants, crayfish, etc. Adding drying agents to the soil has not helped either. In conclusion, allowing plants to slowly adjust their roots from soil to water seems to have the greatest chances of survival, and most species survive this and grow bigger than normal. Adding nutrients to the water (compost tea) does not seem to make any difference in eventual plant size or health during this process; I have found that having any air between the soil layer and water prevents the plant from putting seeking roots into the water. I hope all this information on different plant species and families will help in your attempts to grow aroids in water. Kathy +More Ohio Zone 6 _________________________________________________________________ Join the world?s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

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