During my years of traveling and exploring as well as keeping crypts, I’ve come to realize that crypts are rather easy to keep, provided that you know what kind of ‘group’ the belong to. By this I mean, the type of growing conditions that these crypts come from or have adapted to.

These ‘groupings’ of mine are however, not absolute but are just my own personal observations from which I then  categorize them. As far as cultivation is concern, there will always be exceptions to the rule.

In this article I will share, to my perception, various crypt groups and how I cultivate them, hopefully with some pics of my own ‘Crypt Garden’

The Groups

A. RIVERINE/STREAM CRYPTS

Habitat

Habitat- usually moderate to fast flowing rivers or streams that can either be a less than a meter wide or several meters. Depth and velocity varies according to season. It can sometimes be less than ankle deep or during the monsoons, several meters deep! Like in the case of C.nurii at Sg. Kahang, during heavy rains the water is easily about 7-9m high, but during dry seasons, one could just walk across to the crypt beds. Most of the times the larger rivers of streams flow under open sunlight and crypts still grow well there. Like in the case of c.nurii, C. bullosa , C. striolata and C. affinis. Sometimes the large patches of crypts grow abundantly as the river goes under forest cover. Its just that the plants then adapt according to the light intensity.

Substrate (C. Striolata)

Substrate- Since most stream and rivers are continously flowing with water, sedimentation and accumalation of debris (dead plant matter etc) is rather impossible, unless of course the water has somewhat stagnated for one reason or the other (fallen dead branches, floating logs, extremely dry seasons etc).  Substrate would normally consist of fine to coarse gravel with underlying substrate consisting of laterite-clay bottom. All of these are just a generalized description. One has to also take into consideration the geological structures surrounding the aread, i.e. kinds of bedrock the river is flowing on, where the water source is coming from etc. For example, I found C. longicauda in Sarawak growing in plain river quartz substrate and clay. This itself is not typical C.longicauda habit, but because the water flowing through it came from a peat swamp, the pH was very low. So it was a black water river (though very clear) that they growing in.

The crypt- Most of the crypts that grow here have adapted to life in the ‘fast lane’, literraly! The C. nurii in Kahang grew in waters that were so torrent that I couldnt even stand in it without the possibility of being swept away by the fast currents. At times I even had to literally cling on to the clumps of crypts for my safety. (shows how strong and deep their rooting system were!)

Most of these crypts have adapted and changed their morphology to withsatnd extremely fast currents. Leaves and petioles have become longer and lanceolate in shape so that the fast water would pass then by easily without tearing them apart. If they had cordate leaves, they would not hold. The roots of these plants too have become more stronger and grew very deep into the substrate. The rhizomes are bigger coz the substrate is very well aerated (aerobic) as the water flows through the substrate as well. The deep and strong roots systems not only anchor the whole crypt colony  in place, it also provides good erosion protection to the river bed. During extremely dry seasons, when water is so low and most of the plant is scourched by heat (at times it really looks like the head of a balding man, with hair only on the sides and clear in the center!), the deep rhizomes still survive and are able to grow back once the water level has risen. This is one reason why I can still collect a lot of my riverine crypts for many, many years without hurting the population. (see tips on collecting crypts in my later articles).

Examples of riverine/stream crypts include C. affinis, C. nurii, C. keei, C. bullosa, C. uenoi, the crispatula group like C. balansae, C.crispatula etc

C. Bullosa

C. Uanoi

Cultivation- Most of these crypts are rather easily cultivated depending on how you would like to grow them.

1. Fully submersed

To plant these crypts this way, a combination of laterite and plain evenly sized gravel would do the trick. If budget is not a problem then various kinds of substrate fertilizer can be used i.e.JBL, ADA, Serra etc. Again it all depends on how you want to plant them. They can either be planted directly in the tank landscape with the substrate, or as some may prefer to pot them individually and then plant them submersed.

2. Partially submersed

Some prefer to have their plant half way in water and half way out. I currently am experimenting with this technique too. Same substarte formula.

3. Emersed

This is another method of planting your crypts, especially if you want to see them flower. Most of my own personel crypts in my garden are planted this way. Of course I do have those partially submersed and fully submersed. I’m basicaly trying to imitate the habitat where they are found, so at certain times you find crypts that are just growing completely emersed, usualy by the sides of the river/stream bank. For this I add a special formula from nature to help boost growth…dead leaves!. Yup, that’s right, plain dead leaves, preferbly smaller sized once like those from rain trees or yellow flame or even the petai belalang trees. The underlying substrate is still the same, but its just topped with a thick layer of dead leaves. The dead rotting leaves provide the much needed nutrition for herbaceous plants to grow in. However, it is important to make sure that the bottom substrate is constantly wet.

C. Nurii covered with dead leaves litter

The other important thing to remember is humidity if you are planning to keep them fully emersed. Unlike most Sri Langkan crypts that have thicker cuticels (layers of wax) on their leaves, most Malaysian crypts have very thin cuticels. So it is imperative that you provide sufficient humidity. This can be achived either by covering you tank with plastic, glass etc or spraying them occasionally. Of course in the forest, the transpiration process of surrounding plants and evaporation of water from the surrounding forest floor, provides the much needed humidity. So if you have a large garden, or lots of plant cover in your garden, then you could consider doing what I’m doing now, that is planting my crypts in shallow ponds incoporated into the landscape of home garden (and office garden).

cultivation gallerys

Lear more for planting Cryptocoryne

B. SWAMP CRYPTS

Habitat

Habitat- Usually the habitat is water logged or with very little water movement. Sometimes smaller swamp streams cut along these swamp joining on later with other smaller streams before draning into the larger river. Speciallized trees that are able to live in water logged condition and anaerobic soil dominate most of the swamp with odd looking roots that protrude out from each other providing greater strength and stability to the tree. Depending on locations where they are found, these swamps could either be peat based swamps or just freshwater swamps. The former is usually found towards the end of the rivers journey, where huge amounts of rotting plant debri make up the bulk of the substrate. The latter is however further upstream and more inland with only a thinner layer of dead plant matter. The base substrate is still much of the original bedrock.

Substare (C. Cordata)

Substrate- As mentioned above, peat swamps have a much thicker layer of dead plant matter (up to 10-20m) because they are found further downstream, so most of the plant matter washed down, is accumalated here. In addition to this, the debri from the swamp trees in it too add to this accumalation, giving the water its tea like colouration. The pH level is also very low, sometimes as low as 3 but is usually around 4-5. The substrate is basicaly an accumalation of dead leaves, branches, twigs etc. At some places these accumaltions have become so mature that the turn into very good compost soils. Examples are like the peat swamps around Simunjan and Sibu in Sarawak or at the North Selangor Peat Swamp

As for freshwater swamps, the accumalation of plant debri is much less, thus the pH value here hovers around 5-6. The substrate on the surface is mostly dead plant matter, but not very thick (<1m). The underlying soil can be reached easily. Examples include various areas in Panti, Johor or Tasik Bera and Chini in Pahang or even the swamps at Rawang and Kota Damansara in Selangor.

The crypts- Crypts growing in this somewhat anaerobic environment have thiner rhizomes and roots. Since there is no or very little water current, the rhizomes and roots do not need to grow very deep into the leafy substrates. Most of these roots grow horizontly, producing lots of runners and new plantlets. Most of them have cordate leaves to maximize the intake of sunlight and nutrients. Examples of these kind of crypts include:

1. Peat swamp- C. cordata, C. longicauda, C. pallidinervia, C.purpurea, C. yujii etc

C. Cordata

C. Pallidinervia

2. Freshwater swamp- C.minima, C. elliptica, C. schulzei, C.nurii, C.ferruginea

C. Nurii

C, Schulzei

3. Tidal swamps- C.ciliata , C. lingua, C.zaidiana

C. Lingua

C. Ciliata

Cultivation- Planting these crypts can be rather tricky but once you’ve got the hang of it, they can be very rewarding.

1. Fully submersed

To grow these kind of crypts fully submersed can be rather difficult as the pH values have to be rather constant. Otherwise, there is a possibility that the would melt. Use a combination of peat soil and laterite as the bottom substrate. Add gravel fertilzer if budget is not an issue. Top this mix with a layer of evenly sized gravel. This would prevent the peat from dirtying the water.

2. Partially submersed/emersed

A mixture of peat soil and laterite topped with dead levaes would do best for these. Again maintain humidity.  For the tidal swamp varities, a mixture of laterite, clay and a bit of peat should do well. For these allow 70-100% sunlight, as they do very poorly under deep shade.

C. BETWEEN SWAMPS AND STREAMS

Some crypts are able to grow in between river conditons and swamp like conditions. Substrate for planting these crypts are a mix of laterite, peat soil and dead leaves. Again in all depends on how you want to plant them i.e. fully submerged in a tank/pond or partially submersed/emersed.

Examples of crypts include C.nurii, C. shculzei, C.timahensis, C.auriculata

C. Timahensis

C. Auriculata