My Indicia plants are growing at the top and rotting in the substrate.

[Just Prince]

My rotatella indicia (sp) plants are growing at the top and rotting in the substrate. They are growing pretty good but won't stay planted. They are also shooting root stalks from everywhere. The substrate I am using is Flourite black and Flourite dark. How do I plant them so they grow and stay planted

[midiamin]

plant anchors work.

[Bk718]

what is your lighting?? maybe light doesnt get down to the bottom of the plant so it rots away.. also plant weights can be helpful just make sure not to over tighten them

[midiamin]

no lead weights!

[Just Prince]

I a a Coralife 6700K Freshwater T-5 doublel liner strip over a 20g long.

[jmhart]

First, how many watts....being that it's coralife, it's probably an aqualight and therefore adequate.

Second, how deep is your substrate? My substrate is about 3" deep and with this my Indica has no problems staying rooted.

Thirdly, as Bk mentioned, tall stem plants, especially indica, tend to shed their lower leaves as they get taller because the top of the plant blocks out all of the light from the lower plants. So far I haven't really been able to do anything about this in my own tank. I thinked out the density of the stems and that helped a little, but I found that if I'm using R. indica as a background plant, and letting it get 18"+, then I just have to plant a midground plant or hardscape in front of the lower third to hide the shedding.

And last, roots shooting off from the stem generally indicates a deficiency of one of your macro nutrients, N, P,or K. The plant is looking for one of more of those. If your lighting is as high as I think it is, you should be adding nutrients to the water column in addition to using the flouite substrate. This is probably where your root issues are coming from.

[Beasts]

Try trimming off the top few inches of each plant. I have done that with mine and they are sending out side shoots at lower altitudes. Looks pretty good to me.
Jeffrey, that thought about roots on the stems, if accurate, is a good barometer which I will have to observe. Thanks

[tanker]

Your tank maybe too tall (light not getting to the bottom) and not getting enough light. Indica needs to be trimmed anyway (like most stem plants). Take all the indica out and trim them and only replant the tops.

PS--What size tank and what is the watts of your bulbs??

[irishspy]

And last, roots shooting off from the stem generally indicates a deficiency of one of your macro nutrients, N, P,or K. The plant is looking for one of more of those. If your lighting is as high as I think it is, you should be adding nutrients to the water column in addition to using the flouite substrate. This is probably where your root issues are coming from.

That's a really interesting observation: I have that exact thing happening with my wisteria, and my nitrates regularly test out at zero. Perhaps I should start dosing nitrogen. :idea:

[jmhart]

In a planted aquarium(not just an aquarium with plants) nitrates should never read 0. If you are trying to grow plants and your nitrates are reading 0, your plants are starving.

[mr.key]

uh-huh, no kidding, I was so proud of my nitrate reading until I saw the results of dosing macros on the plants.

[irishspy]

uh-huh, no kidding, I was so proud of my nitrate reading until I saw the results of dosing macros on the plants.

Time to put an order in, methinks. :)

[Robert H]

You always need to look at the obvious first. The path with least resistance. Stem plants ALWAYS rot from the bottom up, without forming roots, when there is not enough light. Always. Nitrate and other nutients will not make any difference at all if there is not bright enough light. Light comes first. If you have between 2 and 3 watts of flourescent light per gallon of water then light is not the issue, unless you are only running it for 2 hours a day! If you are under 2 watts per gallon then light IS the issue. Pretty simple.


And last, roots shooting off from the stem generally indicates a deficiency of one of your macro nutrients, N, P,or K.

Not nessasarily. If light is weak the stem portion in the substrate will rot while higher up on the stem where it is closer to the light it may send out roots. If you then cut off the rotted portion and re plant the stem with the aireal root, it will just happen all over again