more of the tanks

Because it wasn't just about subwassertang! The thirty-eight kind of got a minor rescape.

I took out some of the smaller crypt wendtiis and about twenty vallisneria that were growing out-of-bounds or getting crowded in their corner. Sold the crypts but the vals weren't wanted, so I stuck them in a pot. It can help fill the background for the time being.

I moved crypt parva (not really positive about its identity but that's what I think it is) into the front spot the other wendtii came out of, (there's the much-diminished subwassertang pair in front- soon they will look like a shrub again. My kid calls it "the fluffy plant")

and on the other side of the tank shifted positions of c.parva and bacopa.

So now bacopa looks really short -got planted deeper- but already I like this placement better.

The elodea is growing more and more in that corner. I've once again cut tall stems and replanted. I guess at some point it will get thick enough I'll quit keeping the tops, or just take it out altogether...

Here's the new clumps of subwassertang on limb in the foreground. You can see behind it where I've moved java fern wendtii to be slightly behind the big crypt. I like it there.

Things are not all well in here, though. High nitrates this week, I'm guessing because I put in the root tabs last week. Then I did this bit of rescaping, most of it seemed harmless except when I pulled up the bacopa stems they had roots going straight through a root tab, so I inadvertently hauled that up too. Mess. So I thought probably there's enough stuff in the water column by accident, maybe I shouldn't dose ferts at all this week. But some apono leaves are looking bad.

And crypt wendtii is turning brown, and there's brown slimy algae on some other leaves as well. And then I saw something funny on a small stunted rotala plant- one I'd cut back that was trying to regrow. I pulled it out and it looked smothered in green slime! I looked closer- it was hairy algae. Ugh. I pulled up all the little old rotala stems, half of them looked nasty. Glad I caught that.

So now I don't know if skipping the ferts was a good or bad move. Usually in the past it's been a bad idea. Maybe if more plants are looking peaky tomorrow I should just go ahead and dose.

new looks

I'm trying something new in my aquariums. Because the subwassertang is already big enough to need a trim, and I'd like to have something in the low foreground, and moss is starting to cling on things (yay!) but not noticeable at all in the thirty-eight. I did some research to find out if the kinds of trees in my yard are safe, and prepped some small sticks picked up off the ground. Might be better to go through my woodpile and find interesting-looking ones that have sat dry for longer, but this is just to try it out.

I boiled them in my largest pot for two days, pouring off the water colored with tannins. (My husband said "what are you making for dinner?!" haha). Then soaked in outdoor tub of water (catches a drip from an exterior faucet) for about two weeks, until they sank. Then peeled all the bark off. Dropped in the tanks to see how they would look and how the fishes reacted. Everyone ignored it in the tenner, just a few trumpet snails ambled over. In the thirty-eight it was something else!

The kuhlis swarmed over immediately, it was really fun to see them wiggling over and under the sticks exploring every surface. The barbs all came to see it too, picking at things especially on the cut ends. I guess there were microorganisms on there they were eating. Seem to have come to no harm. The water has not discolored, and so far there isn't any fungus bloom either.

My plan was to use these as anchors for subwassertang and moss, but then I had the thought I could also use them to hold down hornwort stems. I've tied a bunch to rocks again, to fill up the background but it really is a pain to trim and re-attach to stones every week or so.

However I think it would be a lot easier to fasten small rubber bands to the shape of a stick- so I cut one of them into shorter lengths to try it out.

Much easier. With this I wouldn't mind re-anchoring trimmed stems weekly.

I didn't trim any moss this week, but did a big trim on the subwassertang. In the smaller tank I undid the band, hoping the plant was clinging. It wasn't. All came apart. Refastened part of it- now a tiny cluster again-

and put other bits on some sticks in the foreground-

In the big tank I put new bands on before cutting the old ones off- they were near breaking point. Thinking of making it permanent by tying down with netting or poly thread. Then just lift out to trim when necessary. I fastened bits

onto some of the wood. Here's the result:

I'm not sure of the looks of it yet, but wanted it on stone or wood so I can easily lift it out or shift the position. Had this left over:

It does make some really cool shapes

spring weather

I have a few green onions coming up, and some basil. Started leaving the older seedlings- peas, swiss chard, lettuces, broccoli, cilantro- outside overnight in the coldframe house. It's so warm in there today condensation dripping and I had to leave the door open a gap for a few minutes because my camera lens was fogging up.

Shuffling the echinacea, borage, marigolds in for the night and back out in the mornings right now.

More potted plants are taking sun during the day as well- all the echeveria, some smaller jades, geranium, my peppers. The oldest one- I think it's four years old now? - is doing great. Lovely glossy leaves.

This other one from last season, not so good. Recently it had sickly looking leaves with little bumps on them but I couldn't identify the insect pest. I just started picking off the poor foliage, and new leaves grew in healthy-looking, so kept doing that. Surprisingly, this one has given me more peppers overwinter (just enough to cook beans once a week!) than the older, healthier-looking plant. Even though by all appearances it's in terrible condition.

I started two trays of tomato seed- a bit late maybe, but I still have to stagger planting for lack of space- even in the coldframe house. Cherry tomatoes, beefsteak, italian and brandywine heirlooms.

My pots of coleus were getting tall, starting to topple easily. I also had several jars of cuttings taken from these same pots a few weeks ago, growing roots now. Cut the tops off the plants and stuck in the jars for new cuttings, put the cuttings with roots into pots. Now I have so many I'm probably going to move some on CL in a few weeks. They are thriving in the coldframe house (daytime only right now as well).

boston fern

I put it outside today for an airing, the weather was so lovely. It's gotten rather thinned out, a lot of foliage died back a few weeks ago- probably misbalanced ferts in the tank wastewater- but on the whole looks pretty good after the winter indoors.

tenner trim

First time I've had to do a trim on the newer plants in my ten gallon. I'm pleased that it's actually necessary- ludwigia hit the ceiling! but of course it doesn't look as nice now, empty space with everything shorter. These are before and after pics.

Trimmed back ludwigia and replanted tops on both sides.

Water wistera was expanding out of its corner and I do like looking in this view from the short end, so I cut some of the low horizontal stems and replanted behind the main plant. The stems had roots growing down already, that was good.

I like that I can see the bunch of little rotalas behind the skull again, from this angle.

Also moved a few bacopa stems- trying to even it out so bacopa is in a line across the back, and ludwigia in clusters in front of that. But it's a gradual thing because I don't want to take up and rescape all of it. Also tied down a teensy bit of java fern that I found floating loose, and pleased to find an unidentified buce I thought had got lost when it came untethered- stuck in the rotala indica stems. Pleased that some of the moss is starting to cling by itself, and the subwassertang is getting big enough I might trim that next week.

And here is my 'sun thorn' nerite on anubias leaf- with Oliver in the background.

tank update

Finally I am not-so-ashamed of the conditions in my thirty-eight, and took a full tank shot.

Elodea has grown to the water surface- funny, all the stems lean towards the left for some reason. I've trimmed quite a few and replanted the tops to fill out that corner more.

This corner is really filling in nicely. But it's not perfect yet. There's a bit of brown algae on some leaves- buce isabelle and blue bells, crypts and aponos, bacopa and even the vallisneria.

I've realized I want to move a few plants around- I'd rather have this group of bacopa a step back, and the crypt parva just behind the buces in this corner.

Went to pull off a thin, dead-looking leaf from the crypt parva and found I'd pulled off an entire baby plant! So I replanted it front left (just in front of the out-of-place val here)

where I want to resituate the other crypt parva- that one is kind of lost between wendtii and subwassertang- but moving it to front to be visible I'd have to take out that other small wendtii, not sure yet if I want to do that...

I'm very pleased that buce dark godzilla has good color now-

and buce emerald green is sprouting lots of new leaves- hard to see them here with vals waving in the way

Other buces don't look so nice in here- I'm hoping newer foliage will. I've noticed the few watersprite I have floating are starting to look nice, and they're much more attractive than the floating hornwort... Not ready to get rid of hornwort yet, though, so I tethered a few down with pebbles (can see in the wider shots) and considering thinning out the rest of the floaters...

I did the same ferts dose this week, a bit lighter on the liquid micros, and put in root tabs. Was thinking the crypts in pots looked poorly but when I lifted one out- actually considering discarding them- saw it had roots grown out down into the substrate. So I shoved a root tab under the two, see if they can bulk up.

And here's a pic of the lovely vallisneria jungle.

seedlings!

My borage is coming up. And in the herb tray, one dill sprouted. I have a little trick to boost the seed-starting. Don't have a heating mat so instead when the oven or toaster oven is warm for cooking, I put the seedling trays on it to absorb some heat. I think it helps because often the day after I've done this, seedlings start popping up left and right.

Folding more paper pots soon. Found an old roll of brown craft paper. After some trial and error I finally got the dimensions that make a pot size I like- about 10 x 20".

seedlings and paper pots

I did something new today. I made seedling pots out of folded paper. Followed the video fellow book-blogger and gardener Stefanie posted on her blog. I thought it looked a bit complicated but after folding just one pot it was easy to do the rest without referring back to the video. The last tuck is the only tricky part, and I never could get that final fold down which makes the bottom want to lie flat, so just worked out out with my fingers. Only- we don't have much newspaper in our house. Whatever comes in as advertising in the mailbox gets shredded for the worms, laid down on tables to protect them from messy projects, or crumpled up to start fires. So I tried using a few other kinds of heavy paper- brown paper bags and manila envelopes. I like how sturdy the paper-bag pots feel, but couldn't get the dimensions right to have them come out uniform size- the first few were way too big. I liked the size/shape and tidy folds I got out of using manila envelopes, but only had a few of those.

So I potted up some of my bigger seedlings today- the broccoli, a few cilantro and parsley, a handful of lettuce. Forgot to get a pic until they were back in the coldframe house. (I've had to flip the improvised shelf- it was bowing from moisture or weight. Might have to do that regularly, and find a new solution for shelving).

Other seedlings in here will remain in their toilet roll cardpots, but I don't think I'll be planting anymore like so. While folding paper pots takes a lot more time, the shape is much better- it's a lot easier to fill. That's peas on the right and swiss chard in the back.

I also sowed more trays with seeds today, the ones that got freed up from the seedlings moving out. Chives, green onions, summer savory, dill, two kinds of basil, oregano, more marigolds and sage. A week ago I sowed another jug outside with broccoli seed, and an indoor tray with borage. Haven't sprouted yet. None of my outside jugs have sprouted yet. So I'm still starting seed inside- they come up quicker. I need to remember to save containers that have lids, though. Am getting tired of putting plastic wrap over them while waiting for germination. Easier to snap a lid on.

true leaves

My echinacea have grown their first true leaves!

warm

The temperature was so warm earlier this week, I put a few plants out on the deck to get some sun- geranium, one of the small aloe plants, some little pots of jade, a few coleus to test their response

and all the echeveria.

The geranium's younger leaves turned rich darker hues, I trimmed off pale older ones and now it looks tidier, healthier. Aloe turned dark/pale as if sunstruck, I kept that one in the next day. It was cooler later in the week with sun but a biting wind, so I only put out the echeveria pots.

fused leaf

Noticed this odd form on C's big schefflera plant. Two leaves are fused together along an edge. I don't think I've ever seen this on a houseplant before.