I just brought a pad (4" x 4") of HC (Hemianthus Cuba) and I think I need some help with planting them properly...

What's the "correct" or right way to plant HC? I have flourite black substrate, but the HC and its root size is soooo small, it is much smaller than the flourite substrate, and I found it almost impossible to plant a patch down with all of its root in the substrate. Is it ok to have the HC sort of "sitting on top" of the substrate only? (I do this by having a few substrate on top of the patch to weight it down) Will the root grow into the substrate itself?

If that's not ok, what's the correct way to do it? The only way to put the root down in the substrate is to plant each stems root individually.....

I stick 1 -4 stems all the way down into the gravel with only the tip of the top growth showing. Doesnt matter if you put a bunch of leaves into the gravel as long as some part of it is exposed. Btw use a tweezer.

My experience is that the HC I planted in individual pieces is doing much better than the clumps I planted.

Tho the clumps survived and appear to be growing, they were an algae catcher and still have a little BBA which I'm working on to remove.

On the other hand, the single pieces which were stuck down deep with a long tweezer, appear to be spreading nicely close to the ground.

Note about Flourite: I used Flourite Dark, which apparently is even bigger than regular Flourite. Had I realized this at the start I would have put down a smaller substrate.

Note about light intensity: When I first started my hung lights were a little too high for the HC, I kept lowering the lights a little at a time until I could see the HC responding.

I'm also adding pressurized Co2 to replace my current DIY yeast.

Thanx guys..i will try to plant the rest of them in individual stems then..


Another question: The HC I brought came in a metal rail/mesh thing instead of a pod with no substrate. Is it ok to leave the unused HC on the metal mesh it came with in water without adding substrate. DOes HC have to have substrate? or it is fine as long as it is sort of attached to something?

Thank yoU!

I had HC growing in my yard.

I took some and planted it in my tank about 3 months ago.

The roots did not "grab" and I have all of these tiny plants floating around my tank with 1/4 to 1/2 inch roots.

I have no clue what to do with them and have been throwing them out.

They seem to multiply for some reason.

What is it that makes these tiny plants so great???

^ you can use them as a carpet effect in your tank if want that looks awesome.

Reference:

https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pl...hoides-hc.html