Planting Plants

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isaac newton

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Mar 22, 2003
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Ive been having a bit of a problem.. When i take the plant and plant it down in the substrate it seems not to root :confused: Instead roots are comming from the midsection of the plant and comming down toward he substrate?? Is there any way to fix this??? Dont want to see roots around the top of the plants, i want them to root in my expensive Onyx Sand i bought for 22 dollars :mad:
 
It is a characteristic of many stem plants that they develope roots all along the stem. We all get them. In fact seeing the roots in many cases means that the plant is happy and doing well.
BTW, those roots don't mean that you're not getting any roots under the substrate as well.
Tom Barr told me a while back that he frequently pulls stem plants right out of the substrate, cuts off the bottoms(the roots) and replants the stems. I've been doing it ever since and it invigorates the plants, IMO.
Len
 
How does cutting the roots that are below the substrate invigorate the plant??? Isnt the point of getting florite and onyx sand is so that the plants root below the substrate??? IMHO seing roots develope along the stems where the leaves are kinda make the plant look ugly.... Why buy onyx sand and florite in the first place of one is to cut the roots off? Why just not use gravel which is alot more cheeper?
 
I'm talking mainly about 'stem' plants. And yes it does seem to give them a boost when you cut off the roots and replant.
Many people avoid stem plants for just that reason. They don't like the rootlets that grow all along the stems. You can trim them, but they will continue to produce them. Sorry.....
Len
 
Keep in mind that this is mostly related to stem plants(Rotala,Ludwegia etc.). There are many others that you won't see any roots with. Amazon swords are big root feeders as are many others. And you did the right thing with your choice of substrate.
Len
 
Depends on the plant. In general rosette plants (like Amazon swords, Aponogetons, or Crypts) get a lot of their nutrients from the substrate, and they don't like their roots disturbed. These plants won't really grow floating, either. And, the purpose of "good" substrates like flourite is their property to make nutrients available to plants, not to actually give them nutrients.

As for stem plants, these are the ones that, well, grow as individual stems. They may branch, but all the way at the bottom only one stem enters the substrate. In general they can get a lot of nutrients out of the water, which is why they're generally good water purifiers. They can grow floating as well. They grow really long, so they have to be trimmed often. If you cut off the tops, they look ugly, but may branch more, depending on the plant. The best thing to do is pull up the whole stem, cut off the bottom and replant the top. It will grow roots and anchor itself within a few days. You will also notice that if you leave stem plants rooted for a few weeks or months, they develop very extensive root systems. They don't mind being pulled up though. The roots along the stem are totally normal, that's just the way some plants are.
 
From what you are saying,, stem plants do not need a substrate such as onyx sand to grow???? The only plants that seem to be needing onyx sand is my java ferns, other then that, my stems seem to be doing great, extensive leave growth not burrowing down in my onyx :mad:
 
do you break the plant where its starting to root again? i bought moneywort and they are stem plants want they sprout about half way up. to get them to multipy do i split them where the new roots are starting and make two plants?
 
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