How to grow Pogostemon erectus

Pogostemon erectus is native to India. It is a green stem plant with a tinge of yellow at the needle thin leaf tips when grown in higher light with sufficient nutrients available. It grows vertically in a neat upright fashion with a relatively compact habit. Its green needle leaves contrast well with coloured plants.

Its neat growth habit makes it an effective background plant for larger aquascapes where the alignment of the tops of the plants is important for aquascaping purposes. Cutting off the tops allows the lower part of the plant to branch out several times - this also allows the tops to be aligned in height at the same time. Its moderate growth rate compared to faster growing stem plants means that this plant can also be used in the middle of the aquarium.

It is generally not a difficult plant to grow. It will often stunt if grown in a combination of hard water and heavy water column nutrient dosing. In hard water tanks, root feeding and keeping the water column dosage low will prevent stunting.

Pogostemon erectus  grown in our Seiryu rock tank. Powered by APT Complete, APT Jazz.

Key Success factors

• Strong lighting gives yellow tinge to the tops

• CO2 injection must be sufficient, though it is tolerant of low levels

• Soft water (low KH <3dKH) makes it easier to grow this plant

• Can be grown in hardwater if it is mainly root-fed rather than water column fed nutrients

• If tips are stunted, reduce water column dosing and switch to root feeding instead