Emersed Growing Plants, Growing the cheap way.

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰
B

BettaBettas

Guest
So I have been hearing a bunch of people talking about how they grow there own plants immersed, for quicker growth before they submerge them into there main aquascaped aquarium. Or some people sell them, as I have thought of doing and am thinking of.
So here is my plan for growing and selling Emersed aquarium plants. now this plan wont be carried out until a later date.
Plan: Get PVC pipe (not sure what thickness yet, probably around 4 inches) and create a high tunnel that's around 20 ft long, and 15 ft wide. How tall it is will depend on how high the PVC bends up into the air. Holding the PVC down to the ground with cinderblocks with poured cement in them and into the ground (partially).
once the high tunnel is up, inside, the ground will most likely be gravel (cheap gravel, or pebbles, maybe sand).
Inside the high tunnel, there plans to be a pond looking structure held up by wood, (not sure the thickness and measures of that wood yet, not getting detailed to much) with liner inside the structure, or wood pond, (ok to give you a visual that's less confusing, a square made out of wood with pond liner in it) fill it half way with water, and potting soil mixed with sand (pool sand) then put plants in pots (like the ones you see when you order plants, those kinds of pots) and place the pots bottoms inside the sand, with pebbles inside the pots holding the plants down. Nutrients can be dosed (dossed?) into the "pond" or "pool" to provide nutrients for the plant roots and the plant itself. The filter system I have not thought out yet, probably will be some kind of outside filter system (kind of like a sump).

Anyway can anyone see anything im missing, or any ideas anyone has?
 
Ill be honest. I got a little lost on your explanation. After reading it a few times I think I got the the concept. Im a dumb redneck lol

Its hard to comment there alot of factors that would determine success. Your location, business goals, ect.
Kinda sounds like hydroponics to me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
Unless I am mistaken you cant grow true aquatic plants using hydroponics they need to be fully submersed. and plants that do grow in hydroponic set ups are not true aquatics and will die if submersed.
 
Unless I am mistaken you cant grow true aquatic plants using hydroponics they need to be fully submersed. and plants that do grow in hydroponic set ups are not true aquatics and will die if submersed.
Correct. Im little lost on OP post. Some of our plants are definitely grown emersed. And some plants we use are from transition zones. I got lost on pvc pipes standing up.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
Unless I am mistaken you cant grow true aquatic plants using hydroponics they need to be fully submersed. and plants that do grow in hydroponic set ups are not true aquatics and will die if submersed.
Most of the aquatic plants we house are not submerged plants, but rather naturally grow along side creeks, rivers, lakes, etc
Correct. Im little lost on OP post. Some of our plants are definitely grown emersed. And some plants we use are from transition zones. I got lost on pvc pipes standing up.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Sorry its so confusing! I tried to make it as non-confusing as possible but I guess it didn't work out to well huh lol
 
Most of the aquatic plants we house are not submerged plants, but rather naturally grow along side creeks, rivers, lakes, etc

Actually I'm sure there are true aquatic plants in the hobby. If you look into natural habitats in certain areas, there are multiple plants seen growing under water. All Nick was saying was this basically. "True" aquatic plants are grown under water. But that's not what you are wanting to grow. You are probably thinking of the plants like you already said. That grow along creeks and streams and swampy areas, where they can be in both environments stone time or other and have adapted to it.

Though I would choose your plants wisely. Root feeders would do well I would imagine in this type of system. Or slow growing ones like anubias(where from what I've read, if they flower above water then they can be pollinated that way.) But I wouldn't think stem plants would do well since they take nutrients in through the entire plant.

And just to confirm for you, I've never tried growing anything this way whatsoever and I could be totally wrong on stem plants, but that's just the way it seems to me. Lol. And I don't know anything about hydroponics either.
 
Many aquatic plants are grown immersed. That is to say their roots and a portion of stem are under water, but the leaves are above water. This provides more light and faster growth. The downside is that when fully submerged, these plants almost always melt as they adjust.
If I was going to do such a thing, I would make ponds from pond liner lined 2x10's no wider than 3 or 4 feet to allow easy tending from either side. The high tunnel could be PVC or electrical conduit framed or even cattle panels. Circulation/filtration will be important as well as water supply and lighting if under cover.
But before such an endeavor, you should examine the cost benefit ratio and develop a sound business model. Also, you need to consider climate and supplier chain issues as many plant retailers (Jacob, Dustin...) merely resell plants they get from Florida and Tropic suppliers. You'll also need to explore any local outlets as well as a commercial website.....shipping etc.
good luck!
 
Many aquatic plants are grown immersed. That is to say their roots and a portion of stem are under water, but the leaves are above water. This provides more light and faster growth. The downside is that when fully submerged, these plants almost always melt as they adjust.
If I was going to do such a thing, I would make ponds from pond liner lined 2x10's no wider than 3 or 4 feet to allow easy tending from either side. The high tunnel could be PVC or electrical conduit framed or even cattle panels. Circulation/filtration will be important as well as water supply and lighting if under cover.
But before such an endeavor, you should examine the cost benefit ratio and develop a sound business model. Also, you need to consider climate and supplier chain issues as many plant retailers (Jacob, Dustin...) merely resell plants they get from Florida and Tropic suppliers. You'll also need to explore any local outlets as well as a commercial website.....shipping etc.
good luck!
Well said

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
Actually I'm sure there are true aquatic plants in the hobby. If you look into natural habitats in certain areas, there are multiple plants seen growing under water. All Nick was saying was this basically. "True" aquatic plants are grown under water. But that's not what you are wanting to grow. You are probably thinking of the plants like you already said. That grow along creeks and streams and swampy areas, where they can be in both environments stone time or other and have adapted to it.

Though I would choose your plants wisely. Root feeders would do well I would imagine in this type of system. Or slow growing ones like anubias(where from what I've read, if they flower above water then they can be pollinated that way.) But I wouldn't think stem plants would do well since they take nutrients in through the entire plant.

And just to confirm for you, I've never tried growing anything this way whatsoever and I could be totally wrong on stem plants, but that's just the way it seems to me. Lol. And I don't know anything about hydroponics either.
I plan on growing regular, aquarium plants. the hard to get and the common and uncommon ones. a selection, this isn't a small project, this is a large high tunnel with a pond in it that hosts over 200 gallons of water. plants we house in our fish tanks or aquariums, are mostly plants that grow emersed. such as ludwiga "rubin" and most of ludwiga. All bacopa can be grown emersed as well, and is naturally found emersed. also I would think its obvious aquatic plants grow in water, that's where "aquatic" comes in. All stem plants can be grown emersed, (most, excuse me sorry). Fertilizers (ADA) will be in the water of the pond, along with CO2 and proper filtration (eheim).
Carpeting plants (such as monte carlo) will be put into a small container, floatable container, with clay pebbles for nutrients (also nutrients carried in the water of the pond). Plants that are truly aquatic grow in the water (best with CO2) but can also breach the surface of the water and grow emersed, this will most likely have "side effects" but the plant will if taken care of grow healthier breaching.
 
They are all true aquarium plants. Just because they grow on the "side of rivers" doesn't mean they aren't aquatic plants. The rivers flood almost daily in the amazon river and it submerses the plants for a long period of time. Also consider the fact that there needs to be humidity... I have an old cracked 20 gallon I plan on setting up for some immersed plants. I plan on growing some massive amazon swords and buce with this setup. I had it a while ago and I had massive amounts of carpeting plants, and stem plants but I took it down because I needed the light. I can show you how to do it step by step if you want to wait a bit.
 
They are all true aquarium plants. Just because they grow on the "side of rivers" doesn't mean they aren't aquatic plants. The rivers flood almost daily in the amazon river and it submerses the plants for a long period of time. Also consider the fact that there needs to be humidity... I have an old cracked 20 gallon I plan on setting up for some immersed plants. I plan on growing some massive amazon swords and buce with this setup. I had it a while ago and I had massive amounts of carpeting plants, and stem plants but I took it down because I needed the light. I can show you how to do it step by step if you want to wait a bit.
Thank you for clearing that up and thank you again for your offering of advice, humidity is a key role for emersed plants as the leaves still need to stay fairly moist, and other reasons I wont get into as of right now. There will be a large sheet of thermal greenhouse film to keep as much moisture in as I can. remember also the plants will be mostly submerged in the pond, no sense in just having them float. only plants that grow better purely above water (again, HC) will be In floating pots. this is over 200 gallons so I can fit many "clumps" or "bushes" of plants in it, ill only start with about 20 stems of each plant though and will take cuttings to fill them in, then let them emerse and get "full" (grow more leaves and get bushy).
 
Also forgot to add there isn't a plant list yet, there will be when this is built.
 
When I say true aquatic I mean things like Valis, Apponogetons Ceratophyllum and Elodea.

I read someplace even Anubias can be grown with the leaves out of the water.

@ Betta Bettas

I like your idea of going with the expensive plants.

If you have a old plastic tub the bigger the better and some substrate try crypts you may also like to attach some Anubias to bits of wood .

This plant cost me $50
311kvhl.jpg


Buy them cheap, from Petbarn co mart. And grow them out.

Heres a link to live fish .com.au so you can see some of the prices we pay.
https://www.livefish.com.au/plants.html

I was in petbarn the other day $7 for a plant.
10pmwqd.jpg
 
Last edited:
When I say true aquatic I mean things like Valis, Apponogetons Ceratophyllum and Elodea.

I read someplace even Anubias can be grown with the leaves out of the water.

@ Betta Bettas

I like your idea of going with the expensive plants.

If you have a old plastic tub the bigger the better and some substrate try crypts you may also like to attach some Anubias to bits of wood .

This plant cost me $50
311kvhl.jpg


Buy them cheap, from Petbarn co mart. And grow them out.

Heres a link to live fish .com.au so you can see some of the prices we pay.
https://www.livefish.com.au/plants.html

I was in petbarn the other day $7 for a plant.
10pmwqd.jpg
yea as I said before the substrate will be silica sand, no nutrients in the soil. and this will be a mix of 'true aquatic" plants and others, ex: cryps that can be grown emersed.
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top