Can Hornwort be planted?

[tomm10]

I'm looking to get a low light plant to fill in some of the background of my 29g.

I have crypts, swords, and anubias in the tank now and would like to get something that's not a broad leafed plant. I like the look of hornwort but don't care much for floating plants. If I were to plant it or anchor it somehow in the substrate would it take? Is there another type of plant that will work?

 

[TKOS]

IME Hornwort and Water Sprite can be planted or left free floating. They both are water column feeders so they don't grow very much of a root structure. Sometimes they are hard to keep in the substrate, so plant them deep.

 

[promethean_sprk]

Just weight it down

Hornwort stems are kind of brittle and tend to break/rot when you push them into the substrate. Try using a little stone to hold the bottom down.

Hornwort really likes light, so I don't think it's well suited to a low light setup. However, if you have decent light and a layer of hornwort on the surface, you can grow lots of low light plants underneath it and the hornwort will prevent algae from growing by keeping the nutrients down.

 

[beviking]

I use to keep it planted just by using my finger as a guide to push the stem into the gravel. Worked really well. I'm having a harder time keeping the anacharis planted than I did with hornwort. Mine did well with only 4 4'bulbs over a 90gal tank...not exactly high light. I took it out because the old growth at the bottom (near the substrate) would lose its leaves(needles). Unsightly IMO!

 

[elgecko]

I have it growing in the left hand side of my tank.
Every 2 weeks I pull it all out and trim it from the bottom, so I do not disturb the growing tip. Then push it back into the gravel.
I have grown hornwort with 1 1/2 watts of light.