Hi,

I am just curious about something.

The plants that I buy at the store are vased and the roots are
encercled with some kind of foam stuff...

My question is, when to put it in the tank, do we keep that foam stuff
or it should be removed and only the plant should be planted in the
gravel?

I have substract gravel, very thin pebbles...

Thanks

wrote:

Hi,

I am just curious about something.

The plants that I buy at the store are vased and the roots are
encercled with some kind of foam stuff...

My question is, when to put it in the tank, do we keep that foam stuff
or it should be removed and only the plant should be planted in the
gravel?

I have substract gravel, very thin pebbles...

What I do is gently cut off the plastic pot, if the roots have grown
through it, and then remove as best as I can all the foam surrounding
the roots. It's then just planted.

Nikki

That is good to know, I thought it had to be planted with the foam...
Will that make a difference to the plant?
The ones I have planted so far have been buried with the foam but I can
go back and remove it.
From now on I will remove the foam.

Thanks

wrote:
That is good to know, I thought it had to be planted with the foam...
Will that make a difference to the plant?
The ones I have planted so far have been buried with the foam but I can
go back and remove it.
From now on I will remove the foam.

Thanks

The rockwool is completely inert and will not hurt anything. It's a
good growing medium for plant roots, which is why it's used in
hydroponics. Planting with the rockwool has the advantage of not
disturbing the plant's existing roots.

I remove any rockwool that comes free without damaging the roots like
Nikki said. I like the plant to be able to reach the Fluorite substrate
quickly.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

wrote:

That is good to know, I thought it had to be planted with the foam...
Will that make a difference to the plant?
The ones I have planted so far have been buried with the foam but I can
go back and remove it.
From now on I will remove the foam.

Sometimes the foam can help reduce the shock from being moved. This
usually only applies to Cryptocorynes. I remove all the foam regardless.
Never had a problem, but I had one Cryptocoryne suffer from shock where
it had acclimatised to where it was planted and I had to move it to
another location in the tank. The leaves all died off leaving just the
roots. I'm hoping for it to come back to life shortly.

Nikki

wrote:
Hi,

I am just curious about something.

The plants that I buy at the store are vased and the roots are
encercled with some kind of foam stuff...

My question is, when to put it in the tank, do we keep that foam stuff
or it should be removed and only the plant should be planted in the
gravel?

I have substract gravel, very thin pebbles...

Just to clarify as there's several types of packaging methods out there
now for plants sold in the fish aisles, are you talking about...

a) "Betta in a Vase" kits where the plants are put at the top of a vase
with their roots hanging through a ring of styrofoam into the water and
their leaves out of the water above the vase.

b) Potted aquatic plants sold in slotted black pots with brownish-grey
wool around the roots, typically displayed in a tank (under water).

c) The new live plant packaging where the plant is in a waterless
(although supposedly humid) see-through plastic cylander and the roots are
in water logged media.