How To Plant Plants.

[oneponygirl]

OK, so I feel so stupid having to ask this but I really have no idea as I've not bought plants before. I just treated myself with a 29 gallon tank yesterday and along with it bought some nice pieces of bogwood and about four new plants (my current smaller tank is full of live plants grown from bulbs that I will move into the bigger tank as well). A couple of the plants are actually potted and that's where my question lies. Stupid me just doesn't know what to do with potted plants. Unpot them and plant them in the substrate (sand in this case) like I would in my garden? Dumb of me, I know, but I didn't want to ask the person at the fish store since I have no faith in their answers. Just the night before the guy in their fish section was telling a family that bettas are mouth breeders.

 

[Seidge]

Hi, i usually leave them in their pots as long as the pots arent too big to be covered at the base by the sand or gravel. Then if you need to move them the roots arent damaged too badly. p.s make sure u soak your bogwood first so your water doesn't go brown.

 

[Jen]

Planting depends on the kind of plant. I find it's best to remove the pot and material around the roots as this gives them all the room they need to grow. Leaving the pot on really limits the roots, and could be the demise of your plant in the long run.

 

[Luke_e]

I'm curious of this answer too.
In my main tank (see sig, it isnt hardly planted at all) i just push them into the gravel (bunched with led) and thats it. But i've heard bunching can damage the stems, but i cant think how its possible to get a bunch look without actually bunching the plants.
I'm guessing stem by stem is best?

 

[Jen]

If you plant each stem a few cm apart, light will get to the bottom easier, and the plants will develop (or keep) their leaves that are closer to the bottom. They will look bunchier that way. You can keep them grouped together with the lead, but in my experience, the bottom parts of the stems get leggy and lose all their leaves.

 

[Luke_e]

Thanks for that Jen, i'll use that tip .

 

[oneponygirl]

Hey guys thanks! I went ahead and pulled off the pot and material and separated the stems slightly so that they weren't all bunched together. I planted and filled the tank but since I use sand it will be another day or so before I can really see them and what they look like. One of the plants I bought was loose but tied together so I undid them and planted them all separately but close and the last was strung to a piece of bog wood. The bogwood was presoaked but I also soaked it more overnight so I'm hoping it won't turn the water. Fingers crossed.

Thanks again!

 

[Seidge]

Planting depends on the kind of plant. I find it's best to remove the pot and material around the roots as this gives them all the room they need to grow. Leaving the pot on really limits the roots, and could be the demise of your plant in the long run.

Most plants that come in pots have a hole in the bottom, the point being that the roots are free to grow.

 

[Themuleous]

That may be but why not just let them grow where they like rather than out of a small hole?