Using Lead For Weighting Down Plants

[mattwhite]

Hi all

I have just got a delivery of plants which i am going to put in my tank first thing tomorrow. Some of the plants seem to be cuttings and have no roots. How do i plant these so that they stay in the gravel?
Can i use some lead strips that i have? The lead is just roof lead that I have cut into strips.
The site that I bought the plants from sell lead strips and I was wondering if they where the same thing.

 

[Themuleous]

Most people remove the lead and just pile the gravel or sand onto the plants to get them to stay down, as the lead will normally restrict the growth of the plants roots.

I probably wouldn't use roof lead, in fact I dont like having any lead in my tanks, just dont think it can be a good thing, even if it doesn't leach into the tnak very much.

One tip, if you let the plants float around the tank for a few days they start to grow roots, which helps with the planting.

Sam

 

[zig]

The stuff you buy these days isn't lead its a zinc alloy i think, using lead for plant or fishing weights for resale was outlawed some time ago as far as i know.

 

[Anita]

Cheers Zig, I've often wondered about that

Anita