Keeping plants in the substrate

[Eoin]

After planting my tank this past weekend, some of the plants have been floating up out of the substrate (I took them out of the bundles they were sold in, and planted them by their individual stalks). They have all been the soft-stalk plants such as the cabomba and bacopa. The bottom of the plants aren’t showing any signs of root growth, and in most cases look as if they are decomposing. It wouldn’t surprise me if the bottom of the stalks were damaged when being planted, as I found that the only way to keep them lodged in the substrate, was to push them well into it.

That leads me to several questions;

1) How on earth do you plant these soft-stalk plants in a gravel substrate, without damaging the bottoms of the plants, but at the same time keeping them lodged in place?
2) If they come out of the substrate with the bottom of their stalks obviously damaged, is there any way of successfully replanting them?
3) About how long does it take for these plants to generate their own root systems?

Any help would be appreciated, as this is very frustrating.

 

[webmoose]

With my bacopa cuttings I have in the past put them partially under a rock or decoration. I find the finer the gravel the easier this is done.. If you have the large rocks you might have to ancor them to something.. In my fine gravel substrate if found I could just poke them into the gravel and they held find. Other times I've dug down to the soil level and then just pull the rocks back ontop of the plant. (easier to show than to describe.)

Do you have fish that distrupt the plants? It might not matter if the fish continue to pick at or even bump the plant they might always come out for a while..

I've also noticed that once the roots grow in they hold quite well.

The one I always break is my water wisteria lately I've wanted it to be anchored instead of free floating at the surface.

 

[Guest]

1) How on earth do you plant these soft-stalk plants in a gravel substrate, without damaging the bottoms of the plants, but at the same time keeping them lodged in place?

some are easier than others, I'll freely admit I can't gro cabomba to save my life, planted or floating. However, I like to do as webmoose was describing. basically dig a hole by shoving gravel to all sides until you have it as deep as you want it. then hold the plant in place and move the gravel back in to the hole, very gently. this disturbs the stems as little as possible. I hope that was clear enough.

2) If they come out of the substrate with the bottom of their stalks obviously damaged, is there any way of successfully replanting them?

remove damaged portions, snip them off to where it is obviously still healthy, and try to replant. I've been succesful with some plants where I had as little as a half inch of plant above the substrate after replanting, they grew back, but it took a month or two.

3) About how long does it take for these plants to generate their own root systems?

That is totally species-dependant. As I admitted earlier, I can't help with cabomba. Bacopa, ludwigia, hygro, they all grow new roots quickly, a week or two.

 

[webmoose]

I just happend to trim back and replant a bunch of my Bacopa yesterday..

 

[malkore]

yeah, just trim the stem to make sure it's 'healthy', and plant it about 2" deep. You can try to compact the gravel around the stem too, that can really help.

I usually line up the stem along my index finger, and then push it down into the flourite. I hold in place and push the gravel back in and pack it down a hair.

You'll get used to it after a while.