LF: Mangroves
 

Like the title says, looking to replace the mangroves that I had die on me during my move. Unfortunately I lost some pretty beautiful healthy ones. All three were about a foot tall. I doubt I will find any that size again but if anyone has some they want to sell or knows a store that has some, please let me know!

Even online I guess, although mangroves don't seem to ship well in my experience.

Thanks.

The ones I got off ebay from a guy in Hawaii are doing great..dont remember his name as it was a few years ago..shipped door to door, no prob's.

What size were they when you got them?

$10 for 24 right?

Apparently he can only ship seeds to Canada...so still looking!

Yes and the shipping is twice the value of the seeds.
Want to go halfers?
Cheers

Maybe but I would rather try to find some actual plants. I have not had great success with seeds. Plus they grow way too slow. I would prefer to start with a plant of at least a few inches. Preferably around 8". They grow about a foot a year, so are not fast growing trees by any means.

That's OK. If you change your mind let me know. Maybe a group buy?
Cheers

J&L had some a week or two ago, call and ask.

Yeah, J&L always have some, well at least everytime I've been there. I wonder if you can have them shipped to point roberts and pick them up there? You think they would let it cross the border?

Yeah Im sure they would. I have brought plants across the boarder with my parents before and they never seem to care. It is a tree after all. I don't think they are suppose to let them across though.

J&L have none right now and said they are not sure when they will get any.

My understanding is that for J&L it is a "lost leader" because it has to go through CITES paperwork and brokerage which add up and not that feasible for them especially when SuperStore sometimes have them for sale less than what J&L has to sell them for. I wouldn't be surprised if they stop carry them altogether.

Superstore sells mangroves?

We were just at J&L on Sunday and wanted to purchase a couple but they were out...it appeared to me as though they were still going to be getting them in from what I understood.

Sarina

What about nurseries? Anyone ever seen them at a nursery?

Not sure if it is the same guy but what I got was 12 seed shoots about 4"-6" long. I am not sure if I did it correctly but I started mine in freshwater, it didn't take too long and the leaves were popping up. I am not a plant person and I know they live in fresh and saltwater conditions. I have heard that once you plant them and get them established with a good root sytem they dont' like to be moved. When a mangrove drops its seeds they look like little shoots, not like the seeds you plant in your garden..I would suggest you e-mail the guy in Hawaii and ask him what the best way to go is...I sold a few and still have about 6 plants doing well in a water feature in my office...beginners luck maybe..:biggrin:

yes super stores sells them, the ones i saw were four in a small pot of gavel in freshwater they were red mangroves with afew leaves, i saw them quite a wile ago and they were $10-15 for the four, i dont know if they still have them but if they iam going to try them if there still that cheap

On occasion, yes (so I've been told).

dsaundrey started in fresh water. I plan on putting them into my above reef tank's refugium. The mangrove drops it's seed and because of its' shape it stabs the substrate and then eventually sprouts. They grow in bayous and so receive both fresh water and salt water on a daily basis (tides).

Still am interested in a group buy :biggrin:

You need to acclimate mangroves quite slowly if they have been in freshwater. Often they will drop their leaves after shipping due to stress but I have always had them grow back. The thing is, they do not really grow in freshwater naturally. From the research I have done, there are very, very few found far enough up estuaries to be in freshwater. I have been told not to buy mangroves that are raised in freshwater but I think it would still be worth a shot. If they are cheap. If they are in freshwater though, you do not have to worry as much about magnesium because they are not using it as much to filter out salt. The other way some mangroves filter salt is by dropping their leaves but I do not believe Red mangroves do this. The nice thing about Red mangroves as well is that they do not need a substrate to grow, they will just root down onto LR.

I lived very close to mangrove swamps and estuaries in Florida and they are such cool trees. Its amazing how big and intricate their roots get. Even in Florida its hard and very expensive to get big mangroves because they are protected. You had to buy cultured trees and I used to see 4-5' trees selling for hundreds.

Oh by the way, what Superstore did you guys see them in? When was it?

I got the superstore ones, but was unable to recouperate it (from the coquitlam superstore). I've heard that the only time you can change the water salinity is when they are still in the pod form.

Yeah this is what I have heard too. I don't think the chances of going from freshwater to saltwater are very good. There is proof form earlier in the thread that it can be done but since they are not freshwater plants, its not a good start for them.

I got four from the coquitlam superstore and i think i tried to acclimate them too fast... they shriveled and died. And yeah they only get them sporadically. Lesson: I would only ever try that again with propagules (the ones with no roots). Not worth the time and effort on the ones with roots since the acclimation has to take a couple months. Might as well wait for J&L to get some... those ones are good imo.

yes they are a saltwater plant, but for our purposes, they *can* live in either salt or fresh. In the wild they probably just can't compete with the other plants that are designed for freshwater.

From what I have learned most biologist really don't seem to know for sure why they are not found more in freshwater. Its kind of weird because they have to work so hard in saltwater to filter out the salt. You would think they would eventually migrate to freshwater but its the opposite. They stay in brackish/saltwater. There is obviously something in saltwater they need. Maybe the nutrients in the freshwater are not enough.



Anyways, still looking for as many as I can find if anyone has some for sale!

If anyone wants to do a propagules group buy, I'd definitely be in!

Yeah I think I will change my mind and be in too...Im still looking for some young trees but some seeds woud be nice as well.

So looks like there are three of us so far...who wants to be in charge?

Oh and still looking for more established mangrove trees!!! Someone in Vancouver must have some or know where they can be found. Actually anywhere in Canada for that matter. I don't mind paying shipping.

What about a nursery that carries "different" plants? Anyone seen mangroves at nurseries? What would be a good one to call? I don't buy plants, so I have no idea where to start!

Thanks for any help.

I've called a bunch of the local hydroponics stores and a few nurseries and no one seems to carry it. Maybe try calling some of the garden centers.

There is Hawaii Botanicals in richmond that I want to call just have not had a chance yet. They may have them but I doubt it...

So hawaii Botanicals in Richmond is trying to get mature mangrove trees for the Vancouver Aquarium right now. They have had no luck yet though. They told me that if I could find a place that is willing to shipt to Canada, they will set up the all the permits and fees. Really nice guy there.


So if anyone finds a US distributor that will ship to Canada, let me know. Hawaii Botanicals are looking for pretty mature trees though it sounds like...

i might be in for some propagules if you guys do a group buy depending on price, but i dont whant to be in charge:lol:

Cool justin, I'll keep a look out. Maybe ask on RC?

Yeah Im going to ask around on RC. I need to find a place that would sell quite large trees for the Vancouver aquarium as well as smaller ones for our systems.

Still looking! I can't believe how hard these are to find in Vancouver. I have called about every LFS and nursery around. I spoke to the Vancouver Aquarium and asked them and they said they have not even been able to get any. Although they are looking for much bigger ones :D

Hmm.. i wonder how long it will take my pods to develop a decent root system..

It depends on the system they are in. I had pods for about two years and they only grew about a foot. Root system was still very thin and stringy...if that makes sense. I bought more established plants though as well and they got real nice root systems fast and grew about 10" in a year with lots of leaves.

Pods are great but I am looking for the look of trees right away for my display tank and I don't want to wait a year or two for them to grow. I am being impatient this time.

I had some beautiful ones growing before I moved but they did not make it through the move.

So I found someone who will ship me 10 - 2' plants for $50 plus shipping and a "phyto" certificate (I forget the full name now) which is $50 but I also would have to work out the permits or go through the store I mentioned earlier.

Sounds like it could end up being like $200 for 10 plants which is not too bad for 2' plants I guess. I know most fish shops sell 7 or 8" ones for $15 each :surprise:

I sucks because back in Florida we used to buy 7 or 8" plants for $2 each :sad: