Pygmy, to stand in water or not

[Simon]

As above, I got a few pygmy, stelliflora, puchella, paleace and another which I can't remember which species. The hobbyist I got them from does not stand them in the water, however after a week under my 4x39w T5 lights, the evaporation is simply too much and the soil is left almost dry at the end of the day.

So should I be placing them in a water tray? are they adaptable to very moist media?

TIA
Simon

[David]

I also grow my pygmies under artificial lights in the house.

I tried without the water tray before, but soon realised I have to water the plants very often as the media dries up very quickly. But they do fine like that and grew well. Fresh water that you pour into the media brings with it fresh oxygen and it flushes the media or minerals etc. But a lot of work for me to keep checking whether the media has dried up.

With the use of a water tray I do not need to water from the top, which is quite a hassle because I will be trying to avoid pouring water on the pygmies and just beside of them. That takes a lot of time. After a while it's becomes a chore.

With water tray I only need to water about once a week and I just need to fill up the water tray. Something which takes me less than a minute. However, growing them indoors, I realised they do not really like stagnant water. Perhaps of bacteria growth and lack of oxygen in the water. If you grow outdoors, it should be fine. So I pump air into the water with an aquarium air pump so that bacteria do not thrive in the water. They seem to like it that way... Kinda like jaccuzi for them, haa, haa... And because I use a water tray, I also use RO water to water them so that minerals do not accumulate in the water tray.

But of course using water tray does not mean there is no maintenance invlove. Occasionally you'll need to clean the water trays as algae will grow in the water and that can be unsightly.

Hope this helps.

[Simon]

Thanks David for your prompt reply, looks like I will try with the water tray, makes my life alot easier to maintain so many plants

[David]

You're most welcome Simon.

Off topic: I see under your signature you have a lot of other hobbies. Nice pictures of butterflies. You take them yourself?

[Simon]

yup, mostly taken in SG nature reserves

[arvin555]

Not really directly related to water tray method, but using air pump on the water trays I imagine has other benefits aside from aeration of the water and giving movement.

I imagine that aeration will also cause the water to evaporate a bit faster than if it was just sitting still, this means that higher humidity in your terrarium, which is probably good for the plant as well. Plus with faster evaporation, that means your water does not stand too long for unwanted pests to start laying eggs in the water, water movement usually also dissuades (but not eliminate) mosquitos from laying eggs. I did have Mossie larvaes in an aerated bottle of water.

TTFN
Arvin