Mangroves
Contents:
- RE: Growing mangroves
by "Shimoda, Wade" <WShimoda/hei.com> (Mon, 22 Dec 1997)
- mangrove update
by "Shimoda, Wade" <WShimoda/hei.com> (Thu, 3 Sep 1998)
- RE: Mangroves
by wshimoda/alum.mit.edu (Tue, 19 Oct 1999)
- Mangroves in an aquarium?
by Augie Eppler <augiee/bellsouth.net> (Mon, 22 May 2000)
- RE: Mangrove
by wshimoda/alum.mit.edu (Wed, 19 Jan 2000)
by "Shimoda, Wade" <WShimoda/hei.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997
To: APD
Hi,
Sorry for not responding sooner. We are not, in any way, experienced
mangrove keepers, but I will tell you what we've done and what we've
heard/seen.
We dug up our plants down at the beach (Hawaii). They tend to grow in
sandy mud. They are very tenacious, so even the young ones (two leaves)
are tough to get out. We always lose some of the roots. They can be
found along the shore and also along the side of some streams within a
mile or so of the ocean.
We have a couple outside in a kiddie pool (fresh water, in a pot with
rocks) with our turtles. They seem to be growing slowly.
Where we have been more successful is in our _very_ slightly brackish
(~1 cup of Instant Ocean in 100 gal.) indoor aquarium. We have archer
fish in there so we like to keep the top open. The tank is away from a
sliding door that gets indirect sun light. Before I installed the
lights, the plants just had whatever light they got through the sliding
door, plus ambient incandescent light for a few hours at night. We have
the plants suspended with some fishing line tied to a shelf above the
aquarium so that about half the plant is in the water.
The plants survived for at least three months with this rather low light
situation, even though they came from an area with almost direct
sunlight (except for the shade of some neighboring mangroves). They
didn't grow much, although each developed at least two new leaves and
more roots.
Recently I installed a two lamp 4' fixture with 4100K T8's about 2'
above the water surface (attached to the bottom of the shelf from which
the mangroves are suspended). The mangrove leaves are within about 6"
of the fixture. They seem to like the increase in light, as most of
them have developed new leaves. The longest roots extend a little past
1/2 the height of the tank (i.e. they have about a foot to go before
they reach the substrate).
I don't know if they would survive continuous submerging. I recently
saw a documentary on Okinawa where they visited a bay lined with
mangroves. There, the tide changed enough to completely submerge the
trees less than about 3' tall (I'm just guessing on the height based on
what the trees looked like underwater), but this was just for part of
the day. They also mentioned that the trees excrete salt through the
surface of the leaves, which are periodically washed by rain (or when
submerged).
Other observations: when we go collecting, we sometime see the seeds
sprouting while still attached to the parent trees.
If anyone really wants to get some but can't find them, let me know. My
wife and I have thought about sending some out. Also, it would help if
you let me know what you're willing to pay so we can see if we can at
least cover our costs.
Hope this helps.
Happy Holidays!
Wade Shimoda
Honolulu, HI
by "Shimoda, Wade" <WShimoda/hei.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998
To: "'erik/thekrib.com'" <erik/thekrib.com>
Erik,
I finally got to check out the "new" sites and they work fine from here.
I also noticed that you put up my posting on growing mangroves, so I thought
I'd give you an update.
Since my previous posting, we've learned a few things.
First, what we thought were sprouting seeds still hanging on the "parent"
trees were in fact just seeds with parts of the flower still attached that
makes them look like they're sprouting.
Second, in an effort to grow them "better", we put some in plain crushed
coral (no fertilizer of any sort) and some in dirt (again no fertilizer).
The ones in the crushed coral grow fine, better than the ones in the plain
rocks (our earlier experiment). Their roots tend to be whitish. But the
ones in dirt seem to be the healthiest. The dirt we used is our local
topsoil, which I believe is a mix of laterite with organic matter. If you
dig deeper, you will find laterite with very low organic content.
By the way, how are your mangroves doing?
Wade
by wshimoda/alum.mit.edu
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999
Thomas Barr asked:
"Is anybody else growing these on the list?"
Yes, we're growing them. Indoors and outdoors, lots of light (outdoors in direct sunlight), little light (we had some indoors with only light from nearby windows), dirt, plain gravel, no gravel (just hanging in the water). At one time I asked if anyone one the list wanted some in exchange for other plants. We got two responses. So I guess they're not very popular, at least among list members.
Wade Shimoda
by Augie Eppler <augiee/bellsouth.net>
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000
Dwight wrote:
> Ever since Gadd made this post, I've been thinking: How in the world do
> you grow a TREE in an aquarium? That must be a massive bonzai job! I
> assume you MUST have an open top tank and Metal Halide lights like those
> European jungle tanks who's plant life extend out into the room! I read
> somewhere that mangroves will grow just fine in freshwater or even in the
> middle of your lawn with little care; and I have seen several red mangroves
> growing out of a freshwater pond at Flamingo Gardens here in South Florida.
>
> Does anyone have a pic that we can see online?
If I remember correctly, they use Mangroves in the sump, not the show
tank. That said, why not leave the Mangroves to the saltwater guys and
use Cypress trees instead. I had 2 Cypress trees growing in my 125
gallon, open top tank, for a couple of years, until I had to tear it
down because of fish TB. They're not real fast growers, only had to
prune them every couple of months. Moon's had them growing in tanks for
years, he's the one that got me started. How about it Moon, still have
the photo's on line? (I have a lousy photo of one right after it was
planted. If you're interested, E-mail me off list).
Augie Eppler
Green Cove Springs, Fl
by wshimoda/alum.mit.edu
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000
Mangroves can spend part of the day completely submersed (based on a documentary I saw about Okinawa, where the tidal changes were large enough to cover the smaller trees). But they basically like to keep their leaves above the water line.
We've found them to be really easy to grow. We have some in dirt, beach sand, coral "rocks" in a plastic plant pot in the middle of a pond, planted in redwood "compost", plain aquarium gravel, gravel w/laterite, and even some that are just hanging in the water (no substrate). Fresh water or brackish. They all seem to be growing the same. The ones that aren't in a container with fishes are watered with water from our pond. So they only get nutrients from fish or turtle waste. I suspect they'd grow mor
e quickly with added fertilizer though.
For lighting, we have most of ours outside in direct sunlight, but we even had a bunch indoors with no lighting other than what was coming through a sliding door about 4' away. They survived for about 3 months until I had enough time to build a suspended lighting fixture. They now live directly under a 4' two lamp household fluorescent fixture with a diffuser.
You might also check: http://www.floridaplants.com/Mangroves/Default.htm. Ours look like the 'Red American Mangrove', but I've never seen it referred to locally other than plain old 'mangrove'.
Good luck,
Wade
- ------------------------------
The Krib
Plants
Plants