These plants WILL sell out very quickly this year!

Pogostemon helferi is an unusual but very beautiful foreground plant.  Under good growing conditions it forms a dense carpet of dark green leaves.  The curly leaves and different leaf form make it stand out from the all other foreground plants.  It will create an attractive variation from the normal plants most of us use in our tanks.  Another very similar plant like helferi is: Pogostemon stellatus.

The meaning of the genus name is "bearded stamens". 

Pogo=bearded
"stemon"=stamen

As of yet, there is no common name for Pogostemon helferi.  Two Thai aquarist, Nonn Panitvong and Arthit Prasartkul, recovered the plant on the border between Thailand and Myanmar so in Thailand the plant is called "Dao Noi" (English written Downoi) which means little star.  In Thailand this plant is generally found in between other amphibious vegetation along creeks and small rivers where it is growing submerged during the wet season and emerged during the dry.  The soil in this part of Thailand is often iron rich clay with a reasonable amount of calcium carbonate and this makes it ideal as an aquarium plant.

Pogostemon helferi is not easily confused with other aquarium plants because of the curly leaves.  Under good lighting conditions, short internodes are formed which result in a compact and bushy look.  The inflorescence is simple, 15-30 mm long and the individual flowers are lavender.  Usually, it forms flowers only when emerged.
 
Pogostemon helferi is cultivated in emergent cultures which bring along advantages not only for commercial development but also for the aquarist as it will ship better this way.  The emergent plants are always free from algae but in addition, they also will acclimate much easier to the water in your tank.  The reason is likely that in nature, these plants experience large natural fluctuations in water quality upon the start of the wet season when ions in different amounts are washed out from the catchment area.  This phenomenon probably makes the plant more adaptive to submergence in different types of waters also in our tanks. 

When planting Pogostemon helferi in your aquarium, the cluster of plantlets should be planted into the substrate with a distance of 3-5 cm and almost in a checkerboard like pattern.  This way, a homogenous carpet is rapidly can be and will be formed.  Pogostemon helferi looks best when planted in groups in the foreground.

Pogostemon helferi is not particularly light demanding, but the more light you provide, the more compact the growth form, and the compact form is what most people find attractive.  Under less light, the plant grows longer (up to 15 cm) whereas high light results in compact shoots not longer than 5-8 cm.  Pogostemon helferi is relatively fast growing and thus, it needs additional nutrients unless you have many fish in the tank. Iron deficiency sometimes occurs and is recognized by the new leaves being yellowish

CO2 always stimulates growth but it is not really required to grow Pogostemon helferi successfully; the plant simply grows a bit slower.  Pogostemon helferi thrives in a almost all water temps.  Pogostemon helferi is most likely the easiest foreground plant we offer because it is not as light demanding as most other foreground plants; at low light, the individual stems simply grow a bit longer and the plant appears less compact.  Try Pogostemon helferi together with other foreground plants such as Glossostigma or Hemianthus to create new and exiting color contrast in the aquarium.

ps. The plants we are shipping this year are SUBMERGED grown!  Enjoy


SOLD OUT UNTIL FEB 2012