Excess Plants

[nmonks]

I have Cabomba, and to a lesser degree Vallisneria and Java Fern, that grow quite rapidly and need to be cut back every month or two. The excess usually ends up in the compost heap in the garden. But is there a better way to share these plants with others? I'd be happy to give them to anyone who needed them, but what's the best way to do that?

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Themuleous]

Suggest you read this thread and keep an eye on the forum. George did say he was going to work on this, this week so hopefully it'll be up and running soon.

Sam

 

[George Farmer]

I have Cabomba, and to a lesser degree Vallisneria and Java Fern, that grow quite rapidly and need to be cut back every month or two. The excess usually ends up in the compost heap in the garden. But is there a better way to share these plants with others? I'd be happy to give them to anyone who needed them, but what's the best way to do that?

Cheers,

Neale

Great to see you on the forum Neale! I'm a big fan of your contributions to PFK.

As Sam says we are in the process of creating a pinned thread for plant exchanging so keep your eyes peeled.

Keep up the good work.

George

 

[jimbooo]

ok george, how on earth do you know who Neale is from that post? lol

care to point me in the right direction, i'll have a read of my PFK's tonight. sorry to hyjack the thread but i'm eagre to put an article to a name so to speak.

anyway hi Neale, glad to hear you'd be happy to join in the plant share thing. the more the merrier.

 

[nmonks]

Well anyway, yes, 'tis I, and I do sometimes write for PFK. Glad the articles were of interest. We don't often get feedback from the magazines themselves, and it's always interesting to hear from readers what they thought.

It's actually amazing to see how much talent there is here, particularly among the moderators, and I'd love to encourage some of them to write for PFK, TFH, etc. I have followed your "diary" George, with interest, as getting plants right has always been a challenge for me. My plants are either dying or rampant... rarely anything in between!

Be that as it may, I'd be happy to offload plants on others if there was an inexpensive way to do it.

Cheers,

Neale

anyway hi Neale, glad to hear you'd be happy to join in the plant share thing. the more the merrier.

 

[jimbooo]

ahh, just looked at your website. i've jotted down your articles and will have another read tonight.

 

[George Farmer]

ok george, how on earth do you know who Neale is from that post? lol

I put two and two together James. "Neale" because he signed his post, and "Monks" because of the username. The brackish links confirmed my thoughts. Just call me Sherlock.

.......amazing to see how much talent there is here, particularly among the moderators, and I'd love to encourage some of them to write for PFK, TFH, etc. I have followed your "diary" George, with interest, as getting plants right has always been a challenge for me.

Hi Neale

Thanks for the kind words. I have very minor contributions to PFK with a letter in "Lateral Lines" and a few comments in Peter Bradley's plant blog in their website. However, I'm off to the Falkland Islands soon for 4 months and intend writing an article on high-tech planted tanks in my spare time - should keep me off the beer anyway!

For me the magazine has a very strong old-school, low-tech bias with regards the planted hobby and I feel some "new blood" may help provide the ideal kick this hobby needs in the UK.

 

[nmonks]

I do agree with you that planted tanks are kind of a backwater in the UK.

In part the equipment is expensive, but I'm also apalled at the poor quality of the plants normally sold in fish stores.

Just a few months ago I picked up seven Java ferns from a very well respected store. Took them home, unpotted them, and found them to be nothing more than loose leaves, no roots, no rhizomes, just leaves. For want of anything better I simply floated them in the breeding tank and some have produced plantlets. But still, most aquarists wouldn't try this, and figure the inevitable death of the plants means that aquarium plants generally are a waste of money.

There's also the issue of so many standard tanks having lighting units that cannot possibly grow plants, and the majority of the cheaper aquarium plants being once that need lots of light. Put this together, and that's a lot of dead Amazon swords and Hygrophila. And don't even get me started on non-aquatic aquarium plants!

So in my view, until the retailers get their act together about making plants "possible" for the average aquarist, I'm concerned that for most people growing aquarium plants will remain an iffy sort of afterthought rather than something as much fun as, say, breeding fish.

If you do want to write for them, I'd suggest reading this page at the TFH web site. It gives basic guidelines on writing, and though specific to that magazine pretty well hold true for all of them.

Cheers,

Neale

For me the magazine has a very strong old-school, low-tech bias with regards the planted hobby and I feel some "new blood" may help provide the ideal kick this hobby needs in the UK.

 

[George Farmer]

I do agree with you that planted tanks are kind of a backwater in the UK.

In part the equipment is expensive, but I'm also apalled at the poor quality of the plants normally sold in fish stores.

Just a few months ago I picked up seven Java ferns from a very well respected store. Took them home, unpotted them, and found them to be nothing more than loose leaves, no roots, no rhizomes, just leaves. For want of anything better I simply floated them in the breeding tank and some have produced plantlets. But still, most aquarists wouldn't try this, and figure the inevitable death of the plants means that aquarium plants generally are a waste of money.

There's also the issue of so many standard tanks having lighting units that cannot possibly grow plants, and the majority of the cheaper aquarium plants being once that need lots of light. Put this together, and that's a lot of dead Amazon swords and Hygrophila. And don't even get me started on non-aquatic aquarium plants!

So in my view, until the retailers get their act together about making plants "possible" for the average aquarist, I'm concerned that for most people growing aquarium plants will remain an iffy sort of afterthought rather than something as much fun as, say, breeding fish.

If you do want to write for them, I'd suggest reading this page at the TFH web site. It gives basic guidelines on writing, and though specific to that magazine pretty well hold true for all of them.

Cheers,

Neale

For me the magazine has a very strong old-school, low-tech bias with regards the planted hobby and I feel some "new blood" may help provide the ideal kick this hobby needs in the UK.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you say Neale.

I think we have a "what comes first?" dilemma. Without more planted hobbyists (customers) the industry won't grow to provide the decent stock (live and dry) that you mention. But without the decent stock the potential hobbyist has a big hurdle to overcome from the outset, thus putting off all but the most determined. I know for a fact that if I didn't have the internet and relied purely on PFK and the few books out there then my knowledge would be a tiny fraction of what it is now.

The key is education I feel.

You're right when most see the planted hobby as an afterthought. I was there too only 3 years ago. It wasn't until I read books like Amano's Nature Aquarium World that I realised I wanted more. I'm sure many others would take up the planted side with more relish if they were exposed to more works like his, and to the fact that creating aquascapes like that are far from impossible. You only have to read my journal, and recently Neil's.

My long-term goal is to provide a positive education for this wonderful hobby, through this forum and hopefully through contributing articles to the likes of PFK. Hopefully more and more UK hobbyists will take the positive steps, as I did a while back, and invest in the better equipment (that doesn't have to be expensive - my lighting cost £4.89 per tube for instance) and time to learn the basic principles involved with running a successful planted tank.

There are some good signs of the hobby's growth within the UK. There are some good quality mail-order stockists now of both plants and dry goods. A good example is Aqua Essentials that has taken the bold step of specialising purely in the planted hobby.

Thanks very much for the link, I printed it out along with this.

Out of interest do you find your work heavily edited?

Cheers
George

 

[nmonks]

George --

Only slightly. There are things like adding Imperial measurements (which I don't use) and sometimes capitalising names that I don't (e.g., Guppies instead of guppies). But I think that is all about creating a single style through the magazine. Other than that, no, hardly any editing other than spellings and grammar I suppose. I've only ever seen one factual change, and that was where the editor, rightly, pointed out that not all aquarium gravels are lime-free.

So if you're worried about your stuff being chopped and changed, then PFK (and TFH) are both very good about that. If they like the piece, they run it pretty much as it is.

Perhaps this Forum needs a section for aspiring writers!

Cheers,

Neale

Out of interest do you find your work heavily edited?