mangrove trouble

[cooterbrown]

so i ordered 12 x 24" mangroves off amazon. they showed up with 6-8 leaves each, and substantial roots. i asked them what they were sprouted in and they said dirt and fresh water. so i put them in a bucket of freshwater in the window. they're not looking too hot. its been over a week and the leaves are drooping and some are falling off. the stems are bowing over on some of them. whats the deal... are these that hard to keep alive? haven't even added any salt yet. I've read everything i can on the husbandry of these.

 

[fishfarmer]

From what I've read they don't take to transplanting well once that have rooted and put out leaves. It is best to get unsprouted pods and put them where you want them and let them sprout and root undisturbed.

 

[Mpy]

If they were used to dirt and freshwater they probably weren't sitting in super saturated dirt. They were probably used to having some air getting to the roots. if you just put them in a bucket of tap water there is also the issue that there are not enough nutrients, with soil you get nutrients available for the plant.

I know when I was using Spartina alternaflora for an hydro/aquaponics research project (phytoremediation of estuaries) it wasn't too happy when it got switched between being fully in water from its previous growth media.

Hope this helps and isn't too confusingly worded.

 

[d2mini]

so i ordered 12 x 24" mangroves off amazon. they showed up with 6-8 leaves each, and substantial roots. i asked them what they were sprouted in and they said dirt and fresh water. so i put them in a bucket of freshwater in the window. they're not looking too hot. its been over a week and the leaves are drooping and some are falling off. the stems are bowing over on some of them. whats the deal... are these that hard to keep alive? haven't even added any salt yet. I've read everything i can on the husbandry of these.

Stress from being uprooted, shipped and transplanted.
I uprooted 50 and tried leaving them in a bucket of saltwater for a week and that didn't fair well either. What did well were the ones i was able to float in my tank. At least there they were getting some nutrients and were back to their normal light schedule. Once they are acclimated to your system they are quite easy to grow, albeit slow.

 

[cooterbrown]

i moved them to my goldfish pond, and stuck them in the substrate. they shriveled up and bit the dust.