Question about potted plants...

[fluffyntex]

Question about potted plants...(pics added)

I am using River rock/gravel in my 55 gallon fw tank. I just purchased 2 really big nice plants (Amazon Sword & Ludwigia) Is it best to plant them in the gravel pot and all or take them out of the pots and plant then directly into the gravel?

 

[An t-iasg]

Take them out of the pot that they came in. There may be some rockwool (the thick cottony stuff) in the pot too. Remove all of that from around the roots carefully. Plant directly into your gravel. The sword plant will appreciate some root tabs in the gravel under it.

How big is your substrate? When you say "river rock", that makes me wonder if your gravel is too big. If it is, you may have a hard time getting the roots to stay down and it may also make it difficult to plant the stem plant like the ludwigia.

 

[rkilling1]

Here is a nice little 'how-to' on removing the pots:

Tropica

Also, make sure you don't bury the crown on the sword.

 

[An t-iasg]

That's a great link, Randy!

 

[fluffyntex]

Here is a pic of my Gold Apple Snail, you can see the gravel in it. I have A Large Val planted in it and its growing great.

 

[neilanh]

It should do fine in that, I think it'll be able to take hold and keep itself in place. Like was said earlier, the swords in particular will appreciate a root tab under them.

 

[fluffyntex]

Ok, I took them out of the pots and planted them in the gravel. I have another question, The Amazon has a long plantlet?? It reaches the top of the tank and has like 3 little amazons on it. How do I plant that? Do I leave it floating , weight it down with gravel? I am attaching pics...

Here is a shot with the Ludwigia in it. Real nice healthy looking plants.

 

[BillD]

Wait until the rootlets are long enough to sustain the plant, and then they can be carefully removed from the stem and planted on their own.