bosoxlobsterman
Aquarium Advice Activist
Hey all. just had a quick question about buying bunched stem plants. When planting them in your substrate, should you keep all the stems together or separate them and plant individual stems?
Bunched plants
- Thread starter bosoxlobsterman
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
callisto9
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I think you can do either, to be honest. I chose to keep mine together since I think they will just get taller, not wider, when they grow.
IME it depends on the plant, your lights and how much they are being shaded. Take Bacopa for instance, if planted in too think of a group they may tend to lose the lower leaves that are overly shaded. I usually spread them out just a little, still in a group but with about half inch spacing between stems, to allow more light down to the lower leaves.
Most stem plants should have their stems planted individually. For ones that are big, like ambulia or Limnophila aromatica 'hippuroides' you should plant each stem with enough room inbetween each one so their leaves just barely touch tip to tip. For littler stem plants like Rotala wallichii I leave about a finger space inbetween each stem. If you don't leave enough space from the light to reach lower levels you have problems with lower leaf loss. You can always add stems in with cuttings after they grow if your spacing is too far apart. It also helps to cut 1/2 to 1 inch of the stem off right before planting if they are new plants that have been in a bundle.
OP
OP
bosoxlobsterman
Aquarium Advice Activist
Thanks for all the help! I had my Rotala just bunched, but I think I'll space them out a bit to fill my tank out a bit and to keep the bottom leaves. 
