To the mangrove person...

[Lucky-rc]

You have a greenhouse full of mangroves... Sorry I don't remember who you are on here.
I have 8 pods (red ) The roots on them are going nuts.
They are floating in styrofoam. for about 3 weeks and the roots have grown about 1-2 inches in just the past 2 weeks.
The leafs on top is where my problem is. You know how they kinda wrap to a point, stubed out of the top of the pod?
Mine were green when I got them but now are dryed up and brown. The temp. at the top of them is about 80 degrees. and the humidity is 58. I have a 55 watt grow light above them on for 12 hrs.
I hope you can help me with this. Thinking they are like any plant, I'm sure I have very little time to get the leaf problem fixed before the whole tree dies out.

Thanks, Lucky

 

[Triterium]

Are you sure its the leaves that are brown? Mangrove leaves have a protective sheath that wraps around the young leaves. As the leaves mature, the sheath dries up and turns brown.

You will have better success if you put the roots in the substrate. You could even just put the tips/ends of the roots into the sand and they will do much better.

As long as your root system is healthy, your plant shouldn't have any problems.

 

[Lucky-rc]

I'm not sure on this? I'll see if I can see any green under the brown?
On the substrate... I was giong to let the roots grow about 5-6 inches before putting them in the substrate. I read that this will help them form "prop roots" ??? again something I didn't know.
But to save them (if indeed they are in trouble) What would you suggest I plant them in? If I put them in some of the crushed coral from the tank, would this suffice untill I get some sand or mud or???

Lucky

 

[Triterium]

My mangroves would send down prop roots from the stalk above the water. Kind of like how ficus trees send down aerial roots. Once they reach the ground/substrate, they develop roots and thicken quickly.

I have never tried the method you're talking about, but have heard that others have done it with success. I would let the roots develop in a sand bed, then pull them up and make the prop roots. The roots like to grow out horizontally.

 

[srfnhooker]

I have 7 or eight mangrove pods that I picked up from the shoreline. These pods were already rooted. I brought them home and planted them in my refug. They are totally underwater. Will this kill them? They have been in the tank for about 3 weeks and still look good.

 

[Triterium]

The leaves should be above water

 

[underWoasisjake]

ok i have mangroves but dont have leaves yet, but do have roots is it okay for them to be under water?? Also how many watts light should i have over them?

 

[Lucky-rc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11666223#post11666223 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by underWoasisjake
ok i have mangroves but dont have leaves yet, but do have roots is it okay for them to be under water?? Also how many watts light should i have over them?

from what I have read, They don't need much as far as light goes. A min. of 40watts. I went to Lowes and bought a 55watt growth bulb. The thing that is important is how hot the light is at the top of your plants. If it makes the tops/leafs too hot they will dry out and die off.
As far as under water... The top of the pod needs to be out of the water. You also have to keep the salt off their tops/leafs.
The instructions I have say to punch a little hole in styrofoam with a pencil and then push the seed pod through the hole so half will be in the water and half will be out.
This is how mine are. Although I have the problem posted above, My roots are growing like nuts. Where my concern is without Leafs I don't see how a plant of any kind will survive very long. ???
What I have done now is cut the bottom out of 2 liter bottles and place them over mine like a dome. My reasoning is to increase the humidity even higher. I have noticed that they look a loy more moist now. Not sure if the leafs will pop out and be green yet. If not Within a week I'm going to stick them in sand. Leaving the reat of their set up the same. I'll let everyone know what happens.

good luck with yours as well,
Lucky

 

[underWoasisjake]

Ok great sounds good! Thanks for the helpful info!!! I will first try them in the sand and see how they do.

 

[Lucky-rc]

Just an update here...
I have noticed the base of the leaf structure has a green ring around them. Indicating new fresh growth.
Time will tell if they stay green since I put the bottle bottoms over them. The roots are still growing, very fast. And several new roots have poped out.
I have 8 of these seed pods, so if someone can tell me what type of sand/mud to plant them in and how to manage the water flow through them I'll plant two of them and keep the results updated.

Lucky

 

[Samala]

There's been a lot of experimentation with different sand and mud mixes with mangroves. I think Triterium even had manure in his mix. (He's the guy who had the awesome greenhouse full of little mangrove trees for awhile.)

Honestly, plain sand will work. Eventually you will want to slower raise the propagule/seed up as the roots grow and get large in the fuge/tank.

In the wild mangroves root into areas with very high amounts of organics and silt in the substrate. I have had lots of success using a 50/50 mixture of potting soil (the kind without extra ferts in it) in the bottom half of a pot and using plain sand on top (to prevent the organics from getting into the rest of the water column).

For starting propagules I was initially using 20 oz soda bottles filled up with a mixture like this. Since they were clear it was easier to monitor root growth and know when I needed to move the roots out of the mix or repot the mangrove into a new container. Plus it meant I didnt need several pounds of sand/soil in the tank/fuge. Worked out pretty well.

>Sarah

 

[Lucky-rc]

Samala:

Thanks for the info. I will try this. In the morning I'll try and get a "good pic of the top of my propagules and post them. Maybe you could tell me if they look like they should?

Lucky