I forget which species, Sagittaria or Vallisneria, they are, but I just bought a few to add to my tank. How do I plant them? I mean, does the base where all the leaves meet have to remain above the substrate?

DLH

I usually trim all of my roots to about 1 inch in length and plant to a depth that the area you refer to is just under your substrate. You trim the roots because if you try to plant with long roots you'll usually end up damaging them and then they die and rot.

Thanks for the tip about trimming the roots. I know what you mean about damaging the plant. Have done it many times.

DLH

In addition to trimming the roots I use this technique on all rooted plants.

I select a place where I want to plant it.

them start at a location twice are far away from the place as the length of the roots.

With the "base" between thumb anf forefinger I drag the plant to the intended place pushing it deaper and deaper into the substrait with the roots training along behind.

Using the remaining fingers I push the sand and rock over the roots.

I then pull the plant up to where the base is just at the substrate top.


Of course I now do that before I fill the tank with water. But that's what I did when I filled the tank before adding plants.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

I usually just make a mess of my tank a swear a lot. That seems to work for a few days before they start floating again. LOL

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Lead me not to temptation...I can make it there myself just fine, thank you

What? I might have said something as a joke, but I wouldn't say this thread is garbage, and it might be useful to someone else. You can tell someone that what they are doing is annoying to you, but keep it civil and don't be rude.

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Lead me not to temptation...I can make it there myself just fine, thank you

I think that Ben put that there for the poster *****

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

These plants ae easy to grow. Just cover anything that is white and looks like a root. Don't cover anything that is green. When you plant them, try and spread the roots out. These plants are tough enough to grow around any mistakes you might make in planting them. Both of these plants propagate with runners.

I had edited *****37's postings. Had nothing to do with the thread or you Kay.

ah, ok, I'll be less mad now :D

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Lead me not to temptation...I can make it there myself just fine, thank you