Planting clippings

[Guest]

Ok, I got plant clippings from another member and I "planted" them in my tank. With the stem type plants I just stuck each individual stalk in the ground like a little tree. For the grass, it just looked like a clump of grass so I kind of just jammed the whole clump half under the soil. A decent amount just floated away, but enough stayed down for now. Is this all there is too it?

 

[travis simonson]

You've pretty much got it mastered There's really not a lot to it. Stem plant clippings generally do best when planted individually so that the light can penetrate down to the lower leaves. Grass is very hard to kill so planting it deeply should work. It will be sprouting out all over the place in no time. You can use tweezers to plant any stray grass that still has roots too. If you're looking to get it to spread into a carpet, the best method is to plant clumps of it in a checkerboard pattern. In a couple of months it will have spread together forming a nice lawn. Grass can get very invasive so make sure you keep an eye on it if you want to prevent it from spreading into your other plantings. I use plastic strips buried in the substrate in an attempt to hold it where I want it and it seems to work fairly well, but I still have to cut it back occaisionally.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Travis, it seemed too easy, but hopefully everything will take root.

 

[Guest]

About how long until the plants get roots dug into the substrate?

 

[Hoovercat]

Within a week or two they'll have enough roots to start back growing and will be firmly rooted in a month. YMMV

 

[malkore]

be careful with grasses. if planted too densely, it'll choke itself out and a bunch (or all) could die off rapidly. if it was dwarf hairgrass, this stuff is better planted by individual piece, in a checkerboard/staggered manner, so it has room to root, grow, and will then fill in the empty spaces rather quickly for a lush, healthy carpet.