[doug14]

Would be very grateful if someone could fill me in on:

- What's the best way to prepare it for planting? Each plantlet stem I have is about 10 cm long, and has 6-9 pairs of leaves, right down the bottom. Should I strip most of the leaves? How many should I leave on each stem?

- How deep should I plant each stem?

- How far apart should I plant each stem?

- Can I chop the stems into two portions? Would both the 'top' and 'bottom' portions grow?

- I'm pretty sure it's been grown emersed. Will the existing leaves die off? If so, should I trim them and how do I know when to?

Thanks in advance for any help. I'm picking up some of this today so looking for tips so i plant it and prep it correctly first time.

 

[Zapins]

- What's the best way to prepare it for planting? Each plantlet stem I have is about 10 cm long, and has 6-9 pairs of leaves, right down the bottom.

As long as you have a continuous section of stem between two sets of leaves you can plant it and it will grow. Basically you want one segment of stem between the leaf nodes. Roots will form from leaf nodes and so will new growing buds. If you cut the stem and do not include at least one continuous node then there is a chance the bit will die or take a long while to grow.0

Should I strip most of the leaves? How many should I leave on each stem?

No do not strip the leaves at all.

- How deep should I plant each stem?

Plant the stems about half an inch to 3/4ths of an inch. Basically just deep enough to ensure they don't float around the tank. It is ok if a few of the lower leaves are buried in order to keep the plant fixed in place.

- How far apart should I plant each stem?

This is not too critical, they will grow together into a thick mat. So as close as you can get them if you want them to look dense, or diffuse if you want to plant a large area and don't have a lot of stems.

- Can I chop the stems into two portions? Would both the 'top' and 'bottom' portions grow?

Yes, as long as you have one continuous node. Both parts will grow new leaves and roots.

- I'm pretty sure it's been grown emersed. Will the existing leaves die off? If so, should I trim them and how do I know when to?

If you have good lighting and CO2 then probably not, if your light and CO2 levels are low then you might get some die off. Be sure to take photos of the damaged leaves first before trimming them as it might be a deficiency.

There is also a chance that the plants will melt like crypts melt after being planted. This species tends to do that occasionally for unknown reasons. The stems will remain but the leaves will die off and regrow later. So don't worry too much about that if it happens.

 

[doug14]

If you have good lighting and CO2 then probably not, if your light and CO2 levels are low then you might get some die off. Be sure to take photos of the damaged leaves first before trimming them as it might be a deficiency.

Wow great answer! thanks a lot!

Quick question about my co2 & lighting, I run pressurised co2 at just over 1bps (keeps the liquid green in my drop checker) and dose ferts twice a week. Going to Do the EI dosing soon. (Dosing Seachem Flourish just now)

My lighting i think may be pretty poor? I have a Fluval Roma 125 and have 2xT8 20W Power-Glo bulbs running in my tank?

Will this do the job for a carpet? It keeps all my other plants spot on.

Thanks again.

 

[Zapins]

Hard to say without knowing the size and dimensions of your tank. 1-5 bps is the usual rate for most people's tanks, and lighting should be fairly intense for the best carpet results.

 

[doug14]

Hard to say without knowing the size and dimensions of your tank. 1-5 bps is the usual rate for most people's tanks, and lighting should be fairly intense for the best carpet results.

Dimensions are 31.5W x 18.5H x 13.5D.

 

[Zapins]

1-3 bubbles per sec of CO2 will likely be enough to start out with until you get a lot of plant mass.

The lighting you have will also probably grow the Staurogyne since it isn't a hugely demanding plant, but more would help ensure it grows low and dense.

An 18" deep tank is fairly deep and so lighting needs to be on the brighter side to provide good illumination at the substrate level. I'd probably look into getting some T5 HO (high output) fixtures if it were my tank. My personal favorite lighting is the hydroponics lighting sold on ebay with individual polished reflectors, they are cheap and extremely good quality (very bright). Do not buy Odyssea brand crap T5 lights though.

 

[doug14]

1-3 bubbles per sec of CO2 will likely be enough to start out with until you get a lot of plant mass.

The lighting you have will also probably grow the Staurogyne since it isn't a hugely demanding plant, but more would help ensure it grows low and dense.

An 18" deep tank is fairly deep and so lighting needs to be on the brighter side to provide good illumination at the substrate level. I'd probably look into getting some T5 HO (high output) fixtures if it were my tank. My personal favorite lighting is the hydroponics lighting sold on ebay with individual polished reflectors, they are cheap and extremely good quality (very bright). Do not buy Odyssea brand crap T5 lights though.

Nice, thanks a lot, i was actually looking into this, to buy install with light reflectors into my current hood would set me back about £50, and then bulbs would be extra on top of that.

What T5 bulbs would you recommend? I have 24" i think.

 

[Zapins]

Most of the emersed fixtures on ebay are about $60 (£30) and come ready to plug in along with bulbs which is why I like them so much.

I like the 6500 kelvin bulbs, they have a good color rendering index which correctly lights everything in the tank and makes it look natural while also providing useable light to the plants. Technically anything 5k-10k will work, but 6500 ish seems most appealing.

 

[doug14]

Most of the emersed fixtures on ebay are about $60 (£30) and come ready to plug in along with bulbs which is why I like them so much.

I like the 6500 kelvin bulbs, they have a good color rendering index which correctly lights everything in the tank and makes it look natural while also providing useable light to the plants. Technically anything 5k-10k will work, but 6500 ish seems most appealing.

If you dont mind could you send me a link to the types of fixture you are talking about and i can go and have a look on the UK site? Thanks.

 

[Zapins]

Remove the spaces around ebay and copy/paste the link, for some reason the forum deletes ebay links. No idea what purpose that serves...

www. ebay .com/itm/4-Bulb-8-Tube-T5-HO-Grow-Light-Hydroponic-2ft-4ft-48-Bloom-Veg-Fluorescent-Lamp-/290695215481?pt=US_Hydroponics&var=&hash=item43aec8f979

There are a couple of fixtures like that from other vendors for slightly less cash but they seem to be sold out in the 2 foot size at the moment.