Wabi-Kusa Stem-Mix

[The_Iceman]

Hi UKAPS,

since I started my 60P with my stem plant Wabi-Kusa,
I wanted to repeat the emersed growing of aquatic plants.

Long story short: 2 weeks ago, I made a new Wabi-Kusa with the remaining Moss and some trimmed stem plants from my tank, added some Riccia Fluitans and put it into a plastic box.

Sind then, everything is growing in nicely and I can already recognise some species.

Hopefully it will grow like the ones before.

I made it a little bit bigger, like the original, japanese ones (9 cm) with Sphaghnum Moss, some Akadama and NPK fertilizer in the middle.

At the moment it looks like this:

aaaand this:

Inside my Wabi-Kusa Box

Cheers,
Chris

*PS: The small one on the right (6,5 cm) is my Glosso-Kusa

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Ice, Loving it Don't keep them to wet

 

[The_Iceman]

Hi Roy,

thanks!

Hi Ice, Loving it Don't keep them to wet

You mean, because of mould?

 

[Martin in Holland]

Just a little water under the WK is enough, but I also had success with more water.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Ice,
""You mean, because of mould? "" Yes mate

To much water makes mine go mouldy I find the best way is just to keep them damp with mist spraying.

Saying that i have a lump of wood that is half submerged in water with just moss growing on the upper half " Will be adding more plants later.
so far no mould in sight Although i did soak the wood first for about a month At that stage some mould did appear this died off " gave it a dose of liquid Co2" after a few days gave it a wash then planted up the moss. So far so good

 

[Martin in Holland]

I had some mold on my WK, I found that dumping the whole ball under water for an hour once a week helped.

 

[The_Iceman]

Thank you Martin,

as soon as I see any signs of mold, I'll try this! So far the Moos seems to keep it away.
Still spraying every day, as not all of the plants changed to emersed grow, yet.
But I can see some emersed stems already..

Growth is not really fast like in the tank, as I don't have any additional light source at the moment. Perhaps a cheap light for the desk will do the trick?!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Martin in Holland]

Adding more light will help for sure. Mine are placed in a room without windows, so I have an old fish tank light above the WK for 14 hours per day, I have to sell some WK because they are starting to grow into each other.

 

[The_Iceman]

Ahoi UKAPS!

Finally after 2 days with some light over the Wabi-Kusa, I can see the grow kicking in!
Made some shots from the bottom of the bowl... looks even better "under water"

Cheers,
Chris

 

[parotet]

Hi Chris

I use a Led Gu10 7w bulb, cheap and more than enough to grow my emersed setups, mainly moss. A 12 hours photoperiod and some ferts boost their growth. A friend of mine did a special fixture for me but any desk lamp will work.
If you want compact growth you will need more light...

Jordi

 

[The_Iceman]

Thanks Jordi,

hmm.. perhaps I've to build something on my own.
Have seen a nice how-to for an IKEA desk light, where the original LED gets changed to a CREE high power LED... could be perfect as a WABI-KUSA light.

Chris

 

[Martin in Holland]

Looking good...great shots too

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Ice, Looking fab

 

[parotet]

Thanks Jordi,

hmm.. perhaps I've to build something on my own.
Have seen a nice how-to for an IKEA desk light, where the original LED gets changed to a CREE high power LED... could be perfect as a WABI-KUSA light.

Chris

Hi again Chris

This is the lamp with the 7w led Gu10 I was mentioning, used in my moss and emersed aquatic plants setup

And this is another option, a cheap IKEA desk lamp with a 1w led light which is not enough for steady growth, but in my case it works as this moss setup receives quite a lot of indirect light

Jordi

 

[The_Iceman]

Thanks Jordi,

I'm back from my trip to IKEA

Got something nice, could be a little bit stronger though...
Next week, I'll replace the LED inside with something "proper"

The shadows look nice

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Alexander Belchenko]

futuristic-kusa.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Ice, WOW that sets of the W-K beautifully

Think i will be making a trip to Ikea soon

 

[The_Iceman]

Hehe Roy
Btw: Ordered a CREE XP-G2 R3 and a 700mA constant power source!
This will put the small desk light into overdrive

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Ice ,

Its a fab Light Looking forward to seeing how the Cree light works

Try just a matt black back ground and the same under the W-K ?/

 

[The_Iceman]

Ahoi UKAPS,

operation successful! I more than doubled the light output!

Hard to tell by just looking at this pic, but it's a raygun now... should have round about 250 Lumen.

Cheers,
Chris