Not all plants are easy to grow...
Yes, it’s true - some are and some aren’t. But if you decide on adding pressurised CO2, then those tricky plants become...not so tricky. To make that transition from easy plants, to difficult plants you need lots of CO2 better lighting and better water distribution with macro and micro nutrients. But here’s the flipper - when you improve one, you have to improve all of them. Step up CO2 and you have to tweak a few others. It’s no big deal but important that the right steps are taken - something people often overlook.
So what is easy then?
An easy plant is one where you don’t really need to do much to succeed. You take it out of its pot, remove the rock wool and plant. Then in no time you’ll probably have some new shoots. An example of easy plant is Anubias nana.
You really don’t need to do much with this plant in order to grow - it’s even happy being tied to wood or rock.
Medium Difficulty -
this is where it gets a little more interesting. The type of plant that falls into this category is one that prefers some type of CO2, (preferably the pressurised variety). As plants go up the scale of difficulty, in general they need more CO2, more light, more fertilisers and better water distribution. Lobelia cardinalis is one that falls under this category.
This plant (like all of our plants) is kept hydroponically and when we look at it in one of our grow tents, the leaves are dark green on the top and on the reverse, a deep purple (very nice). But you need intensive lighting for this plant to flourish so consider LED lighting or multiple T5 lights, then this plant will fly!!
Difficult Plants -
The most tricky and challenging of all plants - and the key word really is challenging. Many have tried and failed very quickly but only because these plants allow little margin for error.
Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC for short) has to be the number one foregound plant. When you establish this plant and get it growing properly, it’s the definition of sheer delight. The tiny leaves (commonly known as baby tears) release O2 bubbles and your plant will literally be brimming with life.
Get it wrong and your HC will melt and disappear in front of your very eyes. To succeed the steps are simple - lots of CO2, medium to high light and lots of micro and macro nutrients. If you tick all the boxes and make sure CO2 bubbles are quite literally being pushed over and into this plant, it will grow quickly.
Summary:
Not all plants are easy to grow but at the same time, if they were things would be a little boring wouldn’t they? Challenging plants like Hemianthus callictrichoides are difficult but at the same time, the most rewarding.
I always recommend to hobbyists that they start with plants that are straight forward and easy, do lots of research (so much available on google and our blog), build up your confidence levels and then move up the order of plants in terms of difficulty. Don’t jump in with both feet (however tempting) and plump for difficult plants just because you like the look of them. Master the basics and then the rest will simply fall into line.
Food for thought...
