The other day I was at Petsmart and noticed they had great looking dwarf hairgrass in those plastic packets. So I bought a couple since a carpet of hairgrass I thought would look nice. But I'm not sure the way I planted it will create a nice carpet. I broke them up in chunks and planted it. Now I'm thinking should I break them up even further? Any thoughts?
DH is my enemy... I did the strand by strand in a fine sand substrate only to have it floating next morning. I'll be curious to see how you make out. And the plant selection has definitely improved at my local Petsmart and Petco as well in those baggies.
I have Dwarf Hairgrass and have gone through my ups and downs with it. But I believe I have a hold on it. In my opinion the spacing you have now is good. Depending on your substrate the DH will spread out in a straight line in any direction, with one or two sprouts at about a half an inch apart then fill in eventually from those sprouts when established. In the beginning you may experience some die off or wilting but at the same time new sprouts should come up at the same time. If you want a dense carpet of DH the closer together the better. It will take a while for it to fill in completely. Good luck!
It's pool filter sand and I use Seachem Flourish once a week and API liquid CO2 daily. Used to use root tabs but not anymore. My tank is overstocked so I figure enough plant nutrients are migrating into the substrate. I pulled a clump up yesterday to see how the DHG is doing. Roots are growing, so that's a good sign!
**** it. It took me a long time to get rid of cyanobacteria in my tank. I put this DHG in the tank and a few days later, it's back. BGA is growing around the newly planted DHG. Package says snail free and disease free, but I guess BGA is not considered a disease!!!
So the cyano is gone now with the treatments. But I would say I've lost about half of the mass so far, some browned and then floated away. I've seen my platy picking at the grass too. I've also notice that the clumps get "pushed" out of the sand but they didn't float away. So I pushed them down pretty far now.
This is what the DHG looks today, guess they're just adjusting and trying to survive.
What exactly is your substrate? I see spots of algae on your other plants, so maybe you need better dosing. That would certainly help with establishing the grass at least.
