[Navyblue]

I had planted dwarf chain sword and monte carlo, so I thought I knew what I am getting into. I spent about 9 hours in multiple sessions and only got this far.

Granted I am not the most skillful planter. The planting itself is pretty straight forward. The plant came in a dense continuous interlocking mat. Separating them into plantable bunches is the time consuming part. The fact that a a good portion of them are chains of single leaf plantlets doesn't help either.

Before I spent another day doing this, just in case, am I doing anything wrong? Tips that would speed up the process would be much appreciated.

 

[latchdan]

Looks good so far, I don't have experience with DHG so I can't comment on that part. Only thing I would say you might be able to space a little farther apart and just let it grown in on itself appears you are doing it pretty dense.

What size tank is that?

 

[Navyblue]

Tank size is 24"x18"x12". Yeah I do plant dense.

 

[bsherwood]

looks good- you are a better planter than I am...I started about like you and then wore out and just jammed big clumps in places.....and where I was nice an spaced out has filled in nicely and the other side of the tank looks like a vacant lot in downtown Detroit...

DHG must favorite plant that I hate with such a passion.

 

[PhilipS]

Looks like a good start.

What's the fan for? You won't be generating that much heat in an open tank. Hope you have a GFI wired correctly.

If that's all the grass you have then use LatchDan's suggestion to spread them out further and maybe split the clumps.

Since you have one light then just plant within the "circle" of rocks. Let the grass decide to spread outward.

Always plant away from the glass.

 

[Navyblue]

The tank without the fan would be at around 86ºF, with the fan it is a more comfortable 81ºF, I am in the tropic.

Those plants in the tank are half of what I bought, at this rate I probably need another day and half to finish it.

I don't mind planting in bigger clumps, the problem is separating the mat. Apart from doing it manually, the only other way I can think of it to spread it out and cut it with a scissor into little squares.

 

[PhilipS]

Snip snip is the way to do it.

Be patient and you can always go back in and split the clumps.

Checkout this video from the Green Machine.

https://youtu.be/XJHk6bbUwuE

 

[Navyblue]

Thanks for the link. I think the problem is the plant size. In the video the plants are large, lots of leaves and roots, and they are all individual plants. What I got is a lot less mature, lots little plantlets, and virtually all of them are attached to runners. I thought the mat is better as there are no wool to separate from the roots, lesson learned.

 

[josephla]

that's a really good job of planting dhg as i've ever seen, honestly. you're doing it right!

 

[Navyblue]

Thanks for the kind words.

Btw I think I might have figured out the trick.

What I got is a rectangular mat. As I was finishing the first mat, I find the separating gets easier as it is a small clump with the roots aligned.

So the next mat, I float it on water and spread/expand it as much as I could. Most of the plants would have its roots facing the middle, kinda like a rectangular donut. I then tear out or cut the hole in the middle, and then break the circle. I ended up with a long chain of plants with the root aligned. From this I only have to cut/tear as much as I need for form a planting clump. I can now make bigger clump with less effort.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Couesfanatic]

When planting DHG I wash it in water and then set it on the floor. I just rip small plugs of the grass with 3-5 blades of grass ideally. Then I line 10-15 plugs up on a sheet of glass. I hold the sheet of glass and plant the plugs next.

Smaller plugs in more locations will get you a carpet faster. It all depends on how much patience you have.

 

[Navyblue]

I think I spent a total of 19 hours on this. They better not melt, or worse.

The front right is a little thin as I ran out of plants, I had to dig out plants from other spot.

 

[Mikevwall]

It all depends on how quickly you want it to carpet the area. I am never in a rush, and don't think the tedious, time consuming, job (like what you're doing, which is a great job) is worth it to have a full carpet a few weeks sooner. Save yourself the headache and don't be so meticulous.

Bump: It all depends on how quickly you want it to carpet the area. I am never in a rush, and don't think the tedious, time consuming, job (like what you're doing, which is a great job) is worth it to have a full carpet a few weeks sooner. Save yourself the headache and don't be so meticulous.

 

[josephla]

you killed it! tedious indeed, but that is the best dhg planting job i've ever seen!

 

[bereninga]

19 hours?! Whoa... The hard work paid off though because it looks pretty damn even! Wishing you the best of luck!

 

[Navyblue]

Thanks for your kind words.

I wasn't trying to do it the hard way, or the nice way. I learned most of these from youtube. So grid planting is just what seemed natural to me. I also try to plant heavy to have the plant mass to out compete the algae. Add to that is my OCD, so even if I know another way, I would probably still do it this way, I can't help it.

 

[RyRob]

Nice job! The proper way to start a dhg carpet is to basically start with a full carpet of single plantlets, just like you did. Man alive, is it the the most tedious and mind numbing activity. I've done it twice for a 10 gallon that grew insanely slow (excel only) swearing off dhg forever but I just restarted my 26 bowfront with pressurized co2 and decided to seperate grass blades for hours on end again. Pressurized co2 makes a world of differance. Great start!