Tropical Aquatic Plants from ... Denmark?!

Tropica’s total indoor production area consists of 11 plant houses covering about 10,000 m2, but less than 20% is in common tank production. A computer controls light, temperature, nutrition, and humidity so that growth conditions are optimal. During the dark winter season, automated high-pressure sodium vapour lights travel across the greenhouses to supply missing sunlight. Due to the salinity of the local water supply, an on-sight reverse osmosis plant is used to produce 20,000 litres of clean, basic water each day.

In the beginning, all plants were grown in indoor ponds. However, our first gathering tours to tropical areas revealed that many submerged plants are actually amphibious - during the dry season, they grow above the water level on lake and river banks. A fraction of our plants are grown submerged to allow the development of submerged leaves and true colors. But accommodation of submerged plants to new environments is often harder because they are more closely adapted to the water and light quality. Today, most of Tropica’s plants are grown hydroponically in a substrate of “stonewool.” This procedure allows us to control the nutrients to the plants and to apply well-tested production methods such as carbon enrichment of the air. In addition, the plants can be exported to most of the world because soil is avoided in our products. This method produces healthier plants due to the enhanced growth conditions, and they are much easier to handle. Therefore, they are better able to face the acclimatisation period when moved from one environment to another.

The first step in tissue culture is to take the plant from the greenhouse and disinfect it for further propagation. This is where we encounter the first hurdle because obtaining a clean plant in the sterilisation process can be very difficult. Often we sterilize 100 plants, but only one will be free from bacteria and fungus. Now we can propagate the sterile plant in the laboratory. After some weeks of growth in sterile glasses, the plants are divided. In this growth phase, the plants have an optimal supply of sugars and vitamins, but we illuminate the plants part of the day to develop the hormonal regulating system. The plants are divided in special laminar airflow benches where work in clean air is possible. In this way, no re-contamination takes place. When enough plants have been pro-duced, some are planted in the nursery to “harden off”. New roots for further growth develop and the plants adapt to the natural env-ironment. After a few weeks, the strong and healthy plants are sold.