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Aquatic Utrics in between pots?

NeciFiX

Kung Fu Fighting!
Riiight.

So I have a plastic tray, probably 1 and a half feet wide, 4 inches or so deep with peat at the bottom and so the water is quite tea colored. There is a big gap of room where I have nothing to put there (2 inches tall, 5 inches wide) and space in between the pots. I think an easy Aquatic Utric would do good here like U. gibba, but, can anyone help? Would that be okay? I suck at Utrics.

Could I just use one of the big holes in the backyard my dog has dug and dig it deeper and put some aquatics in it from around here and have them live here every summer? Or would the ground soil be too nutritious; if so, how can I fix it? I stink at this! If I got U. gibba for example and put it in the plastic tray to float, would it be too cold? The temps at night get down to 50F briefly, and the water is cold to the touch. Would this kill them?

~Sam
 
i have a bit of U. gibba i can give ya. PM me about it.

but yes U. gibba would be fine for that. if i were you i would put a layer of peat or LFS so if the water drops too far the utric wont dry up. U. gibba is incredibly easy and fast growing!!

Alex
 
U. gibba is a good aquatic for this application - I've tried U. inflata and U. purpurea as well, and gibba is much easier to get started and maintain. If you're going to leave media in the water as Alex suggests, make sure to wash it very, very thoroughly. Like, leave it out in the rain in a cheesecloth bag for a few months. If you put fresh peat in water and leave it under lights, you'll have a nice batch of algae soup by the end of the week. An inorganic media such as sand or lava rock might be better. And try to use an opaque container - aquatic Utrics do much better when you give them light from only one angle. Being lit from the sides and underneath is too much and promotes algae and other pests.
~Joe
 
U. gibba is a good aquatic for this application - I've tried U. inflata and U. purpurea as well, and gibba is much easier to get started and maintain. If you're going to leave media in the water as Alex suggests, make sure to wash it very, very thoroughly. Like, leave it out in the rain in a cheesecloth bag for a few months. If you put fresh peat in water and leave it under lights, you'll have a nice batch of algae soup by the end of the week. An inorganic media such as sand or lava rock might be better. And try to use an opaque container - aquatic Utrics do much better when you give them light from only one angle. Being lit from the sides and underneath is too much and promotes algae and other pests.
~Joe

Well, I've had this tray with tea colored water for about a month or so. When I first got it I filled it with water and peat was in the water, it's quite settled now. Algae hasn't come ever, I've never seen algae before except in ponds, it's never occurred in my CP collection. It's a bit flooded right now (pots in the lowest levels are submerged) due to heavy rains as of late, but it should be okay. The water is probably a little bit distilled since that's what it originally was filled up with and it's never dried out from that. Some tap water (don't worry, it's quite clean) and probably like 60% rainwater. I'd say its 10:30:60 Distilled to Tap to Rain.
 
It's the combination of aquatic plants and decaying sphagnum. I'm not really sure what it is about the two. I think algae is present in small amounts on many aquatic plants; I have to regularly remove most of my U. gibba colonies from my tanks and trays and wash them by hand to prevent algae from choking the U. gibba and using it for fertilizer. Once the Utrics form a nice, thick mat it's not such a problem, but the algae still builds up. I water with RO water exclusively indoors (rainwater gets into stuff outdoors, of course) and the algae comes whether I add things to the water or not. But it's much more manageable than when I used to try making 'peat tea' and other techniques. I think that moving water or some sort of algae eater would be the answer, but I haven't had the time or money to test my hypothesis.
~Joe
 
I have mine sharing a plastic container (tray) with a pot of U. longifolia and U. sandersonii Blue. So far no algae.... and no flowers, either!
 
I found a toilet in my backyard (random isn't it?) can I use that once I clean it? (clean, but, a ton of leaves inside).
 
I found a toilet in my backyard (random isn't it?) can I use that once I clean it? (clean, but, a ton of leaves inside).

I'm sure you can use it but make sure to plumb it to the sewage lines first. I doubt your mom would like you using a toilet that did not have the proper disposal mechanism. :-))

xvart.
 
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