Keeping bunch plants/stem plants low

N

nfinit1

AC Members
Jan 12, 2003
79
0
0
Visit site
Greetings

Does anyone has experieince with keeping Bunch plants low.

Like around 4 to 6 inch
Will the plants grow wide instead of high????
 
For me, that's the only way to go with Stems. Otherwise, they get long and leggy. Also, the 'air roots' along the stems of some of them are ugly in my opinion.
When they get longer than 4" I cut off the tops, pull the rest out of the substrate and replant the tops. If I want a bushier plant I let them get to about 8" and cut them in half, then take the tops off of those, pull the roots out and replant the tops along with the middle section to double the amount of stems in a group.

Len
 
Hey I'm glad to hear that's what you do... I recently planted my tank and it was starting to look overgrown. I cut everything back and replanted the tops on most of them. I wasn't sure if I was going to kill them all off or not.

By the way, what are some good ways to anchor the plants that don't have a lot of roots? I'm still finding plants floating around on the top of the tank from time to time...
 
MJ
I get the same thing too...sometimes stem plants will just come loose from the substrate and be floating at the top of the tank..

I have learned to take my time and firmly insert the stem in the gravel....this usually works....

I have noticed that with my Red Ludwigia...the stems in the gravel are turning black but there is new growth at the top

What gives????
 
Losing stem plants

Greetings
I am noticing in my tank that the stem plants Bacopa, Red Ludwigia, are looking good at the top but when I inspect the stems...most stems are brown near the substrate, some are decent near the substrate but are brown in the middle
Leaves fall off easyily, or course in the brown areas it just dissolves on touch and plant seperates in two parts.
Also there are no "AIR ROOTS"

Now the two types of hygro and myrio are growing with no probs. The crypts and swords are doing good
So it has to be the water right??? Stems get nutrients from water
I was not adding iron...but I have been adding N P and K
Just started adding Iron this week

No CO2 in tank
1.73 per gal
all other parameters are ok
This tank is a month old
 
What sort of light do you have in your tank and how closly planted ar the stems. The conditions you describe sound like a couple of things. First, you could be damaging the stems when palnting. They can be a bugger to get to stay down, it could be a nutrient diffincy. Let my know your nutrient stats and I might be able to say more about that. Lastly, the bottoms of stemplans often do not get enough light. Thing of an aquarium like a forest. Trees only grow so close together and they rerely have branches and leaves near the bottom. Stem plant are the same. If the lowere leaves and stems are not getting much light, they wont grow well. That is why a lot of folks top and replant their stems as needed.

As far as keeping them down. Trim of the bottom set or two of leaves. They will die anyway if they are buried and there is no need to add more decomposing matter to the tank. You sould have a good 3 to 4 inches of fine substrate. By fine I mean no more than 3-4 mm. Sand size to no bigger than 1/16 in. or so. ANy bigger and it wont hold the stems well. At least half to all of your substrate should be this size. You can add a thin layer of larger stuff over that but it is mearly for astetic purposes.

Hope this helps.
 
I have found that if I cut off the tops(about 4") and when I plant I bury an inch to an inch and a half(with leaves attached) the leaves that go below the surface of the substrate act as anchors and hold the plants down better. I used to strip the part I was going to bury and had similar problems as described above. Then when they are getting out of hand length-wise I pull them out of the gravel before my water change and lightly gravel vac. during the siphoning of the tank......refill and replant while refilling.
I've had a lot of success using this method.
I don't pull any plants unless I'm going to follow it with a water change.

Len
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom