# For all you Macodes Petola keepers



## Nai87 (Mar 12, 2008)

What kind of substrate are you using, where is the plant planted, and how much light is it receiving?
Also, please post a pic of your plant(if you have one), to show the colors of it, based off your growing environment. Thanks.


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## littlefrog (Sep 13, 2005)

I plant them in sphagnum moss, on the bottom of the tank. Whatever light that ends up being. I do try to trim off most of the overhanging foliage as it grows.

They are perfect vivarium weeds under my conditions. Tanks are sealed with very little air movement. They grow quite fast. Slugs or snails will ruin your day in many ways, but mostly by eating the macodes...


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

A mixture of peat moss and finely milled cypress mulch. The substrate is moist but not wet under 2 55 watt power compacts (about 12 inches above) I have moderate ventilation in the tank and once they settled in they are now spreading well. 

Ed


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I've got some growing under both mixes described above... I grow most of my jewel in sphagnum moss, but in tanks with leaf litter on top of the substrate I had to grow them in a substrate that held little to no water or I could have rotting issues. Mostly tho I found the key in tanks is sitting the stem on top of the substrate and let it root through it... as long as it drains well and the air is humid they will love it. All the jewels get weak lights, and if you're using strong lights for bromeliads, make sure they are out of the direct light of that so they don't burn. I've kept them in little to no ventilation, and as long as water didn't sit on the leaves/crown they did great.

I found that dark substrate like the leaf litter really makes these guys stand out like the jewels they are. In really green tanks, or with moss, they tend to get lost in the green.


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## Nai87 (Mar 12, 2008)

KeroKero said:


> as long as water didn't sit on the leaves/crown they did great


Thanks for clearing that up a bit. I read somewhere that these plant leaves should always be kept moist/wet, but I had second thoughts about that.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

They like humid air, and they like consistantly moist substrate... having water sit on them just asks for rot especially in stagnant tanks. They don't really like it _wet_, just moist. Sitting their stems *on* the substrate rather than *in* the substrate when planting also helps with rot... many substrates can hold too much moisture in a saturated tank, and the stems can rot out if in it. Set on top, they will set roots out as they like and be happy 

I keep most of my jewels in glass lidded tanks. After misting the tank, I'll often leave the lid off for the rest of the day to allow the water on the leaves to evaporate before the lid goes back on. Good air circulation in a tank will keep that from being a problem... bromeliads and epiphytic orchids have the same rot issues. Moving humid air is rather different than stagnant humid air.


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