Best Low Light Plant to Grow

February 6th, 2021

 A friend shared a blooming Painter's Palette plant with me.

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 This Painter's Palette plant has grown potted in soil.  

Here you can see the pretty flower of this plant.

 I want to check if a Painter's Palette can grow in water. 

Washed dirt off the roots as well as you can.

I put this Painter's Pallet plant in one of my 3 liter jar aquarium gardens with fish. 

Keep all leaves and the flower above the water. 

I've been growing different land plants with their roots in water. 

Check my videos for more details about it.

March 16th.

 A pretty light green leaf has fully developed in the past 5 weeks. 

The bloom has already dried out. 

And here you can see a new white root. 

The plant looks healthy. 

March 28th. 

I got another rooted cutting of Painter's Palette plant.

Put it into a 1 liter aquarium with snails to check how the Painter's Palette would do in low-light.

 September 10th. 

I use a 1.5 liter plastic bottle to make a space saving low-light setup for Painter's Palette. 

Remove labels from the bottle. 

Use a sharp blade to cut the top of the bottle about 2 cm away from the curve. 

Try to make the cut as neat as you can. 

Flip the top part of the bottle and place it inside of the bottle.

 It should fit firmly. 

Use scissors to trim the edge nicely. 

Remove the bottle cap. 

Now let's set up our new aquarium garden.

 I always add some gravel, rocks, and seashells in my aquariums.

A marble looks nice in a seashell. 

Add dechlorinated water. 

Add whatever aquatic plants you may have.

 I put cuttings of fast growing Guppy grass.

 And I add Ramshorn snails in this example...though snails are optional for our experiment. 

I am not going to feed snails. 

And I don't expect enough algae would grow in low light for snails to feed on.

 Snails may get by feeding on wilting leaves for a while.

 Make sure the planter stays above the water level to allow for air circulation. 

Pull the plant out of the old planter. 

Look how roots have grown in a spiral twist, fitting tightly inside of the planter.

 Clean it up and loose the roots a bit for an easier fit into the new planter. 

And now the Painter's Palette plant goes in the new plastic bottle aquarium garden.

Make sure the bottom of the planter stays above the water level. 

Allowing air circulation is very important for all aquatic plants and critters you may have. 

This setup looks pretty cool as it is.

 So, my first Painter's Palette plant stays in an aquarium with fish in the corner next to the window. 

And the new Painter's Palette stays in the middle of my living room for now.

Also, I have been testing other plants for low-light conditions. 

In aquarium gardens, most of the water evaporates through the leaves of the plants.

The Ramshorn snails seem to be doing fine for about a month so far. 

Many new white roots sprouted in the past weeks. 

I add aged algae rich water to the level as necessary once a month or so.

 The Ramshorn snails are sure to appreciate a little algae boost once in a while. 

A tilted blue background turns this simple setup into a centerpiece. 

It's a nice example of an aquarium Zen garden anyone can make. 

It's been about 8 months since I started growing this Painter's Palette with roots in water.

 One leaf has wilted - let's remove it. 

The plant looks strong and healthy. 

November 4th 

Here you can see about 7 month old Painter's Palette I've been growing it in low-light.

 November 8th.

 I am about to disassemble the aquarium where my first Painter's Palette has been for 10 months. 

That is the only way for me to make space for new projects. 

So, let's pull the plant out of the planter. 

Once again you can see the roots get tangled in a spiral twist fitting tight in the hole. 

Untwist the roots, pulling them gently apart. 

Transfer the plant into another aquarium for now. 

Let's take a closer look on my oldest Painter's Palette plant. 

There are many new leaves that have grown in the past 10 months. 

Plants feeding on fish waste dissolved in water are fine while helping to keep aquarium clean.

 Here you can see a new sprout on the plant. 

This Painter's Palette plant is already large enough to make cuttings from it. 

This time I cut off the top part of the stem with the new sprout and 3 leaves on it. 

I want to check if the new rootless cutting would develop any roots in water. 

And at the same time, we'll see how the old plant develops without the top growing head. 

Here is the new cutting without roots. 

I put it in the same aquarium garden with fish. 

I keep aquariums with fish next to the window and away from direct sunlight. 

Make sure the bottom of the cutting stays in the water. 

January 1st, 2022

 It's been about 2 months since I moved this plant into the darkest corner of my living room.

 Tomorrow, I am going to move this Painter's Palette into a dark corner of my bedroom. 

March 1st, 2022 

I am moving my oldest (13 months old) Painter's Palette plant into a prototype of self-feeding aquarium. 

The one year old Painter's Palette plant looks strong and healthy after the past Winter. 

With longer days coming I think it is safe to split this plant in two. 

Let's get a sharp blade. 

This time, I cut the stem of the plant lengthwise, making both parts with roots.

 A cutting with four leaves goes into this new self-feeding aquarium garden.

 This cutting has a new sprout growing.

 Make sure that the roots of the plant go in the water. 

And the other cutting with three leaves goes back into the old aquarium garden. 

May 3rd, 2022 

It's been about 4 months since I put this Painter's Palette plant in my bedroom with always shaded northern window.

 The Painter's Palette looks great even though I've been keeping it in a very low-light conditions.

 And the aquatic Guppy grass also seems to adapt well to low-light!

 So, Painters Palette grows well with its roots in water without water changes in very low-light.

 June 1st, 2022 

Here I put all Painter's Palette plants next to each other for you to see.

 The plant in a self-feeding aquarium garden has 5 fully developed leaves now - looking great. 

There are a couple new white roots grow.

 Let's remove these two old brownish roots. 

Now let's check on the two Painter's Palette plants in the old 3 liter jar aquarium garden with fish.

 It's been 8 months since I made the cutting of 3 leaves without roots. 

No roots have developed yet as of now. 

But a new leaf has grown under the planter! 

Let's pull the new leaf up through the hole to let it grow freely as it should. 

And the other Painter's Palette plant that was left with roots but without growing head has 2 new leaves.

 Let's also pull the new leaves out through the hole in the planter. 

I like that all Painter's Palette plants growing in water have up to about 6 inch long roots.

 It's much shorter than the roots of Piece Lily or Pothos growing in water also a low-light plant. 

Longer roots tend to tangle with aquatic plants.

Painter's Palette plants grow with roots in water all year around and need only water to be added to the level once in a month or so. 

And again, I add aged algae rich water in all my aquarium gardens. 

Finally, here is a beautiful bushy Painter's Palette that has been growing 5 months in the darkest corner of my bedroom. 

This plant has developed a couple new leaves.

 It has been growing in water without fish, and the snails are long gone.

 Painter's Palette plant is the easiest plant I tried so far to grow with its roots in water. 

Painter's Palette is a fool-prof no maintenance plant to grow in very low-light. 

Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)