Share your with experience growing Fissidens fontanus emersed for extended periods

[Biollante]

Hi,

I had a question (pm'd) regarding growing Fissidens fontanus emersed, I have not done so and had read it was a true aquatic.

My little research project regarding Fissidens fontanus emersed is interesting and in my mind inconclusive.

Fissidens fontanus (Steudel, 1824) is a true aquatic species at times emergent due to changing water levels (H. A. Crum and L. E. Anderson 1981; P. G. Davison and D. E. Wujek 1999). A notoriously slow grower (that part I can attest), my assumption is it can spend a portion of the year out of water, but needs to be submerged for significant periods as well.

Whether this is the moss growing or simply tolerating being out of water for a time, the way Mondo grass, Ophiopogon japonicas, can be submerged for months before dying, I cannot say.

Talking to a couple of my aquatic plant keeping high-friends-in-low-places who also happen to be very knowledgeable, the thought seemed to be that Fissidens fontanus can survive long periods of time out of water but require high humidity and dunking or dousing them occasionally is a good idea.
Being a true aquatic moss they are nice as there is no dieback (melting) and they latch on to rocks and wood very quickly.:gw

I found this on APC, haven’t tried this myself, but I may.

Can anyone share your with experience growing Fissidens fontanus emersed for long periods?

Biollante

 

[Tom Barr]

It grows fairly quick like most mosses for me. CO2 has always been a critical issue for growing moss well. Light, not so much. I have had some serious high light and serious low light and moss did well for me( in the same tank mind you).
It has grown well in my 60 gal cubes, 180 gal and cooking under the high light 120 gal. One of the better methods for many moss and emergent species is to have it creep up and out of the water on a Branch. Plenty of moisture and CO2 seems to be transferred to the lower fronds near as I can tell. Pieces slough off when it grows well and makes a nice mounding effect, see the 60 gallon cube with the bald cypress. Nice moss, semi well behaved. Good $ for it also.

 

[Biollante]

Sheer Tenacity

Hi,

Fissidens fontanus is certainly well mannered, compared to other mosses, side-by-side the Fissidens fontanus is the far slower growing and is easily over taken.

It seems to make up for this by sheer tenacity; it appears to survive conditions that harm other mosses and seems to outlast them.

This is why I wonder if the emerged state is actually a growing state or just surviving and if it is just surviving, for how long?

Until I was asked the question, I really had not thought about it all that much.

Any experience with the emergent growth?

Biollante

 

[Dutch]

I grew this out in my DSM phase, about 10-11 weeks and it did ok. Had to mist it daily, but other than that no problems except that it had a tendency to dry out fast. That was more due to I attached it to the wood which did not soak up the water to that level of height in the tank.
I will say that once I flooded the tank, it did a whole lot better.
Not sure how this would grow in a totally emergent setup, I expect you would need to mist it daily.

 

[ShadowMac]

I've enjoyed fissidens and it is one of the few mosses to have survived my learning curves. RIP other plants...

It can survive very well, even if it appears to have died. I once removed several stones that had fissidens growing on it from a tank, set them in a box for 4 months, then pulled them out to use again. The fissidens grew back. I haven't tried to duplicate this, but I'm fairly certain it can survive completely drying out for a period of time and the roots regrow when exposed to water again.

 

[Biollante]

Well I Learned A Lot!

Hi Dutch, Tom, Shawn, All,

First, thanks for the replies! :gw

Second, let me correct an egregious (apparently) wrong.

I was definitely taken to school on botanical nomenclature in an angry (?) email. :eek-new:

• I appreciate the information;
  • I am not sure, why the anger,
  • heck I thought it must have been from a Guru, :eek-new:
  • turned out it was not.

Fissidens fontanus (Steudel, 1824), I was certainly in error including parenthesis and I should have italicized the specific epithet.

• Fissidens fontanus, Steudel, 1824 at minimum,
• but I also apparently gave offence in not including Fissidens fontanus (Bachelot de la Pylaie) Steudel, Nomencl. Bot. 2: 166. 1824, or at least
  • Fissidens fontanus (Bach. Pyl.) Steud.

I certainly did not mean to offend any Auguste Jean Marie, barón Bachelot de La Pylaie fans.

Moving on…

I suspect that Fissidens fontanus (Bach. Pyl.) Steud. survives drought periods by going dormant as Shawn’s experience seems to indicate. My guess is that as long as the Fissidens fontanus (Bach. Pyl.) Steud. is kept wet it does well, since I have seen photographs from reputable sources of Fissidens fontanus growing on stone pavers. :highly_amused:

I had some Taxiphyllum barbieri (Cardot & Coppey in Coppey) Iwatsuki, 1982 over grow a decent patch of Fissidens fontanus on driftwood.

• I removed the Taxiphyllum barbieri, as the temperature started to rise and found dirty, deep black Fissidens fontanus
  • at first I thought it was rotting,
• it wasn’t so I cleaned it up in and
• within a couple of days it was looking good :highly_amused: and
  • chugging along just fine throughout the summer.

Biollante