[mauldi]

hey there, it's been almost 3rd weeks from the first i planted my hg on my tank. i does shows a progress but i'm not sure how long should i expect them to send out runners to propagate..here are my progress...

initial planting

1st week

2nd week

so far i think i saw progress but i've yet to see any of the new blades sending runners, and i don't know if this is normal or maybe it's because diatoms/brown algae from a yet matured tank..but i'm planning on trimming it since i thought maybe i can stimulate the clumps to send out runners. do you guys think trimming them at this stage is a good idea or just let it grow until when???

please advise...

 

[Plinkploop]

Looks like it's starting to set up runners, your new growth is starting to creep away from your initial planting. I wouldn't trim it back just yet, I'd wait until it's had little more time to establish. Mine started showing carpeting effects at about a month in my most recent set up.

 

[mauldi]

Looks like it's starting to set up runners, your new growth is starting to creep away from your initial planting. I wouldn't trim it back just yet, I'd wait until it's had little more time to establish. Mine started showing carpeting effects at about a month in my most recent set up.

so a month or two is normal for hg to establish their runners, yes? do you think the diatoms that much can actually stunt the growth or it is still from reaching an outbreak?

has your hg roots grow strong after a month? mine occasionally got plucked out when i siphoning for diatoms/brown algae hahahaha

 

[Plinkploop]

so a month or two is normal for hg to establish their runners, yes? do you think the diatoms that much can actually stunt the growth or it is still from reaching an outbreak?

has your hg roots grow strong after a month? mine occasionally got plucked out when i siphoning for diatoms/brown algae hahahaha

I usually wind up sucking up and replanting runners here and there lol it happens. I'm at almost a month and a half and it's turning into quite a carpet. I have diatoms like that too, lol, I just suck them up a best I can with a turkey baster. I'm planning on introducing shrimp next week to the tank next week now that it's cycled, hoping they will enjoy my diatom garden lol. In all honesty I have only set up 2 tanks in my entire planted career with hair grass that I haven't had an outbreak in diatoms and I think those were because everything was just moved from broken tanks into the same sized tank. Remove what you can if it's disturbing the plant. This is what I had conveniently forgotten about a new set up 😆 but patience is truly the key to getting through the diatoms. Stay the course, don't dramatically change anything and keep monitoring. If you notice things other than diatoms then the detective work comes in, but this soon into it I wouldn't worry, your progress looks perfectly normal.

 

[mauldi]

I usually wind up sucking up and replanting runners here and there lol it happens. I'm at almost a month and a half and it's turning into quite a carpet. I have diatoms like that too, lol, I just suck them up a best I can with a turkey baster. I'm planning on introducing shrimp next week to the tank next week now that it's cycled, hoping they will enjoy my diatom garden lol. In all honesty I have only set up 2 tanks in my entire planted career with hair grass that I haven't had an outbreak in diatoms and I think those were because everything was just moved from broken tanks into the same sized tank. Remove what you can if it's disturbing the plant. This is what I had conveniently forgotten about a new set up 😆 but patience is truly the key to getting through the diatoms. Stay the course, don't dramatically change anything and keep monitoring. If you notice things other than diatoms then the detective work comes in, but this soon into it I wouldn't worry, your progress looks perfectly normal.

thanks so much for your words of courage Plink, really appreciate it and somehow made my day hahahaha..will totally keep in my mind when doing maintenance to chill and remove it without have to put much effort and ended up suck them from the soil

will the hairgrass grows more quickly when i trim them for the first time?

 

[Plinkploop]

thanks so much for your words of courage Plink, really appreciate it and somehow made my day hahahaha..will totally keep in my mind when doing maintenance to chill and remove it without have to put much effort and ended up suck them from the soil

will the hairgrass grows more quickly when i trim them for the first time?

I haven't noticed much of a difference with hair grass. I'm sure others have had different experiences. I haven't really had the desire to trim back hair grass until it gets unruly and it doesn't seem to grow back any quicker than it was growing in the first place. I believe you can actually stunt growth if you cut back too soon, don't quote me though because that isn't first hand experience talking.

Glad I could help you out a little 😁👍

 

[jellopuddinpop]

I'm actually the opposite. I trim the tips off of all the shoots and roots before I even plant, and usually have runners within the first week. I believe that taking off the growth point of the shoot encourages it to develop roots, which by default encourages runners.

If it were me, I would trim those to about an inch high.

 

[mauldi]

I'm actually the opposite. I trim the tips off of all the shoots and roots before I even plant, and usually have runners within the first week. I believe that taking off the growth point of the shoot encourages it to develop roots, which by default encourages runners.

If it were me, I would trim those to about an inch high.

hmm i'm definitely missing the window here haha

any tips for my current hg, either trim or not? i read a couple of articles that some experiencing stunting but others have the opposite great effect after trimming it. i do have melted blade here and there at the bottom of the soil and i'm afraid to trim because i might cut the healthy ones

 

[Oughtsix]

It took several months before our hairgrass started really filling in. I broke the clumps up into much smaller clumps than what you have planted, just a few blades in each clump. (It took for ever to plant) We have a dirt bottom tank with a gravel top. Around the perimeter where I piled up gravel to give it a nice looking presentation on the outside of the tank the hairgrass didn't want to propagate at all. I shoved some Osmocote tablets in this gravel around the perimeter and the hairgrass started sending out runners in this area.

I used the short variety of hairgrass and it stays pretty short so I haven't needed to consider trimming it.

 

[jellopuddinpop]

hmm i'm definitely missing the window here haha

any tips for my current hg, either trim or not? i read a couple of articles that some experiencing stunting but others have the opposite great effect after trimming it. i do have melted blade here and there at the bottom of the soil and I'm afraid to trim because i might cut the healthy ones

Cutting the healthy ones is exactly what you're going for. The plant will stop sending resources to the cut leaf, and will instead push nutrients and growth into uncut shoots or roots. This will result in a faster spread.

Don't cut so low as to prevent the plant from photosynthesizing, but an inch or so should be fine.

You could also play it safe and only cut one or two clumps, and then observe for a week to see what happens.

 

[mauldi]

Cutting the healthy ones is exactly what you're going for. The plant will stop sending resources to the cut leaf, and will instead push nutrients and growth into uncut shoots or roots. This will result in a faster spread.

Don't cut so low as to prevent the plant from photosynthesizing, but an inch or so should be fine.

You could also play it safe and only cut one or two clumps, and then observe for a week to see what happens.

got it! going to try trim the least visible clump or two and see how it fares in the next few weeks. thanks so much for the advise!

about the new runners, can we identify which one is the runner and which one is the blade? i thought maybe the runners is the one that's leaning down instead of growing vertically. if so, it might be better to avoid trimming the one that's near the soil, yes?

 

[jellopuddinpop]

Hairgrass is actually a small rosette plant. There are tiny clumps of 3 or 4 blades growing from a single point under the soil. As the roots grow, they'll sent roots laterally as well as vertically. Once the root has grown a half inch or so, a new rosette will form, and one or more blades will grow from it.

 

[mauldi]

Hairgrass is actually a small rosette plant. There are tiny clumps of 3 or 4 blades growing from a single point under the soil. As the roots grow, they'll sent roots laterally as well as vertically. Once the root has grown a half inch or so, a new rosette will form, and one or more blades will grow from it.

got it! thanks so much for the information...i already tried to trim 1 clump at the back of the aquarium and started to take pictures for progress in a few weeks

 

[jellopuddinpop]

 

[mauldi]

View attachment 1029953

I seeeeee......

I thought it was sending one of the blades as runners, then it digs up the soil to form a clump for new batch...but instead it send its roots to form a new clump which then sends blades from it

TIL