Plants
Java fern
Microsorum pteropus
EasyFine in a closed jar
Leathery strap fronds. Fix it to wood or stone rather than planting it.
What the simulation uses
- Light
- 1,000 to 8,000 lux
- The brightness it grows well in.
- Humidity
- 75 to 100 % RH
- Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.
- Temperature
- 18 to 28 °C
- Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.
- Dies at
- below 12 or above 32 °C
- Days beyond these temperatures kill it.
- Soil pH
- 6 to 7.5 pH
- Soil acidity it prefers.
- Grows up
- 0.65 cm/month
- How fast it gains height in good conditions.
- Spreads
- 0.65 cm/month
- How fast its edge creeps outwards.
- Copes with wet
- excellent
- How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.
- Copes with still air
- good
- Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.
- Copes with shade
- excellent
- How well it holds on in dim light.
- Copes with drying
- poor
- How well it survives the jar drying out.
- Water use
- 0.04 ml/cm²/day
- Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.
- Leaf drop
- 1.5 %/month
- Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.
- Soft leaves
- no
- Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.
- Full size
- 17.5 cm tall, 20 cm wide
- Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.
Care
- Day length
- 8 to 12 h
- Substrate
- Wet
What kills it
- rhizome buried in substrate
- drying out completely
Description
Tie or glue this fern to wood or stone. It grows just as well above water in a humid tank as it does submerged in an aquarium. Keep the air constantly humid if you grow it out of water.
Estimated, where sources were thin: no species-level lux study found; ranges from aquarium and paludarium care guides.