# Ground Cover??



## topherlove (Jul 14, 2006)

What are some good plants to use for ground cover, that spread fairly quickly and do okay under moderate to low light and thrive in wet moist conditions? roots mainly always are damp/wet

Another?? as well, as long as the plants are constantly wet, will aquatics survive in a terrestrial or marginal area?


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2006)

Java moss should work well for you. There are some good pictures on this site and others showing java moss in vivariums.

Many "aquatics" grow better in moist, emersed conditions than they do underwater. Lots of commercial growers raise their plants this way; they've never lived underwater until they reach the aquarium stores.

Be aware that some (not all) aquatics look very different when grown above water. The leaf and stem structure can be so changed as to appear to be a different species.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

LEAF LITTER! lol, ah well, seems you want plants...

If you've got wet soil, there are a number of plants that like wet feet that would do well. Look into aquatic mosses... java moss, willow moss, riccia (altho its actually a liverwort... but grows about the same), as these will spread across wet soils rather well.

Plant wise, you need to look for stuff that likes wet feet - semi-aquatics being your best bet. In fact, there is a good selection of them out there... much of the "aquatic" plants you see at fish stores are actually semi-aquatic plants that can deal for long periods submerged (as they tend to live in areas that flood regularly), the more "terrestrial" the plant the shorter its life underwater (plants usually cheap to replace as they die) and tend to not grow well underwater. When aclimated to living semi-terrestrially (slowly taking the water down to just root level - many of these plants have "aquatic" forms and "terrestrial" forms and need time to realize they are going terrestrial and need to grow the adapted leaves) many of these plants do very well. Anubias, mondo grass, swordplants, selaginella, spathphyllium (peace lilies) are all plants I've seen at my local fish stores that I've also grown terrestrially in tanks.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Not sure how much of a ground cover it is considered, but good ol' Pothos doesn't mind the wet feet. A lot of old ladies (sorry Patty :lol: ) grow clippings of Pothos in open glass jars full of water.


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

Ground cover? Fast growing? How can anyone forget creeping fig?!


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

bluedart said:


> Ground cover? Fast growing? How can anyone forget *creeping* fig?!


 :roll:

:lol:


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## froggerboy (Jul 9, 2006)

Creeping fig is the devil! :twisted:


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## Agrippa (Jul 4, 2006)

If you're looking for a semi-aquatic plant and can provied humidity levels of upwards of 90%, _Lobelia cardinalis_, the cardinal plant, can do well and tends to spread. Just try to start if off partialy/mostly submerged, and it should spread well for you.
http://www.plantedtank.net/plantprofile ... alis/1020/


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

Lindneria Grandiflora (baby tears) does beautifuly in soggy sutiations, in fact it seems to prefer it when given an appreciable amount of light.
Rhodospatha is a nice smaller leaved vining plant that stays rather short. The small variety of the maiden hair fern get along very well, as well as Suzi Wong fern. Certain liverworts do nicely. Most if not all epiphytic sp. of pepperomias will grow without any trouble even in low light conditions. Some polypodiums do well.

As for aquatics, try lileopsis braziliensis aka micro sword (my favorite), makes a thick clump of grass like leaves staying only about 3" tall at most.
A certain bladder wort sp. ( g.S.unkown) will grow and clump out of the water if kept consistantly saturated looking like a vining moss to some extent.


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## Guest (Aug 30, 2006)

Agrippa said:


> If you're looking for a semi-aquatic plant and can provied humidity levels of upwards of 90%, _Lobelia cardinalis_, the cardinal plant, can do well and tends to spread. Just try to start if off partialy/mostly submerged, and it should spread well for you.
> http://www.plantedtank.net/plantprofile ... alis/1020/


Thats a good suggestion. I had no idea that even existed.
Will it grow in gravel or only soil?

If you don't mind tall ground cover, Cyptocorynes grow nicely emmersed, and so do Anubias.


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Echinodorus tenellus might be a possibility...though I'm curious if the foliage would look different emersed.


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## Agrippa (Jul 4, 2006)

Well, I've only grown it on soil thus far, so I'm not entirely certain about its ability to thrive in gravel... Could always test it out... 



> A certain bladder wort sp. ( g.S.unkown) will grow and clump out of the water if kept consistantly saturated looking like a vining moss to some extent.


Are you talking about riccia? That's a kind of difficult plant to grow, but looks great if you can keep it from being overwhelmed by other plants with lots of light and, as you said, either very high humidity or constant saturation.


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## topherlove (Jul 14, 2006)

thanks alot, where's a good retailer or supplier of these plants?

thanks -chris-


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## Agrippa (Jul 4, 2006)

Personally, I either get all of my stuff from my lfs or from other aquarists in my area. Try aquabid.com if you're willing to go through e-bay-esque bidding for plants. Lots of people get good deals there. Other than that, you can check http://www.plantedtank.net for their listings or hook up with aquarists in your area.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

Agrippa said:


> > A certain bladder wort sp. ( g.S.unkown) will grow and clump out of the water if kept consistantly saturated looking like a vining moss to some extent.
> 
> 
> Are you talking about riccia? That's a kind of difficult plant to grow, but looks great if you can keep it from being overwhelmed by other plants with lots of light and, as you said, either very high humidity or constant saturation.


No it is a true bladder wort which grows in, under and above water. It's bladders are very small but still noticable and can be seen (depending on how observant you might be) feeding on my daphnia. Fastest growing plant I have after the salvania. In fact that's exactly how I came to obtaining this. I happened to buy some salvania and evidently the bladder wort hitched a ride. 

Like I mentioned before I can't recall the name (there's many), but I did talk to Richard at BJ a while back about it and he told me the g.s. but I don't remmember nor did I right it down. So check with him and let us know. I'm sure he would give you some for no more than what he charges on salvania.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Ricca is a liverwort, not a bladder wort... two very different groups of plants whose only real similarity is the use of "wort" in their common name lol. 

Bladderworts are a carnivorous plant, tho they tend to be less flashy than their venus fly trap and pitcher plant relatives... they are grown more for their flowers actually. Terrestrial forms love a nice soggy soil and enjoy feasting onmicroinvertabrates in the soil (its recomended to "feed" them with pond water occassionally to get them some of these goodies). Aquatic forms don't usually transition to land well if at all (I'm not familiar with a form that does, they seem to be one or the other tho terrestrials I imagine would do decently in water for periods), instead forming a nice tight mat across the surface.

Riccia on the other hand, like the aquatic mosses, transitions pretty well to soggy soil as long as the transition is gradual.


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## rain- (Jul 28, 2006)

There is a bladderwort, _Utricularia graminifolia_, that seems to adapt to both submersed and emersed conditions, but I haven't grown it. I am trying to get some now and when I get it, I'll put some of it to an aquarium and some of it to a vivarium. Tropica grows it emersed, so I think it will adapt to both conditions readily when it comes straight from there. Here's an article about it.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

Darn, I was hoping that would've been it, the name sounded familiar.
The one I have is without the grassy leaves and is substantially smaller when it comes to the size of the bladders. 

I was surprized to have it growing since I always thought they needed cooler water. Amazing plant now I feel as if I may be lucky.

I will try to call Richard tomarrow and post the name, if I can get ahold of him, I think he may be out in the greenhouse on Thurday.

I'm really surprized he doesn't offer it on his website, so you may just have to buy a clump of salvania and hope for the best.


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