Plants out of water

[ChrisWalker]

Hey all.

I'm gonna be moving tanks in a couple of days to a bigger one. The initial aquascaping of this tank will take a couple of days. I was just wondering the sort of time that I can keep plants alive with no water during planting.

Not particularly delicate species at all...Amazon Swords, Anubias, Java Fern and moss etc... Are we talking hours? days?

Thanks.

 

[midiamin]

Wrap them in damp newspaper. Not wet! Not moist! Damp!! Or, place them in a bucket with heater. Make them the last thing you move. They will do fine as long as you don't let the paper dry out. Keep warm but not too warm.

 

[echoofformless]

They really don't even need a heater in the bucket. I have left plants of varying species in buckets for many days at a time. You can even use straight tap water. Plants are not fish and they can do surprisingly well in various situations.

I keep a gallon jug full of java moss on the windowsill at all times. Every few weeks I give a clump away or add it to one of my tanks. In another jug I keep a growout for java fern daughter plants. Just sunlight, ferts and tap water. They grow like crazy.

I once completely forgot about a handful of anacharis that I tossed in a bucket for a whole month! When I rediscovered it not only was perfectly happy, but it had even grown a bit. And this was in my basement where the only light would be a pair of 40w strips a good seven feet away from the bucket...on maybe an hour a day at best.

That ought to tell you how little there is to worry about if you're just going to bucket them for a few days. Even the most sensitive plants should do just fine.

 

[webcricket]

I've had anubias, java fern, and moss shipped to me with a ship time of 12 days and they still came out of the packaging looking fresh and no worse for the wear. I'd keep them damp and dark until you are ready to plant. Sitting in a bucket with ambient room light might encourage algae to grow since algae can take advantage of that type of condition. The plants you list are hardy plants so I'd go with total blackout conditions until you are ready to plant.