# Plants that do not stay planted... Possible tips.



## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

Okay so the tiny plants this won't work. But for the ones that enjoy aggravating you by floating away, here's a possible way to keep them where they belong. IN the substrate. 

I have had issues with keeping my cabomba and Lyrata under wraps. They simply enjoyed uprooting themselves and floating somewhere else. How can I stop this? lead anchors are toxic. 

there are three things in my arsenel for this work. Thread, Q tip and a plastic bread bag closure. 

The Q-tip you cut the cotton ends off until you have the plastic rod. wrap thread around the plant's stems at the base then lash the rod to that until the plant and rod forms a T shape (up side down.) take plant and plastic rod and stick it into the substrait. it should stay in place. This works well with the lyrata.

For the irrtating antics of the Cabomba I gently lashed three of the ends together, ensuring the bottom most part of the plant is a node where the roots can come from, else it'll rot and off the cabomba goes again. Then I smoothed the inside of the bread tag off and gently slipped it over the bound stems. After that I lashed thread around that until the plant was held into bread bag tag firmly enough to not slip out. Plant that gently into the substrate and pile enough on it to hold it down. 

these should not contain any toxins and works well. it also is a good method of reusing some scraps. 

Any other good ideas?


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## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

i find that with cabomba, if the substrate is not deep enough (2 inches), you'll always get floaters because the water flow always manages to pluck them out. which is why i always planted them in areas where the substrate was 3 inches or more in depth, and i stuck them into the substrate at an angle. they always managed to grow straight so it wasn't a worry. and it helps to have fine tipped tweezers when planting instead of the fat ended ones, because a smaller hole is created during planting.

i also normally plant "light" plants on the same side as the spray bar, and not on the opposite side, because the plants really leaned because of the water flow. i noticed once when i was planting sessiliflora (??), once i moved it under the spray bar, they grew very nicely.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

my subtrate is about 2 inches back in the corner, just... very coarse. Its on the side of my powerheads.


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## customdrumfinishes (Apr 1, 2008)

other big stems like to float up alot to. just bury the base deep as you can and put it at angle. ill bury 2" of stem on some plants to keep them down.


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## essabee (Oct 11, 2006)

I just use 2 rubber-bands for new stems. The 2 ends of one rubber-band is held against the base of the stem, the other is used to lock the first in place. I then bury the 'artificial roots' in the substrate.


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

I thought I read that lead was not a toxic issue for tanks.....


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

I wouldn't trust it.


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

Sunstar said:


> I wouldn't trust it.


These people seem to:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/27146-lead-wire-planted.html

and

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/13698-lead-weights.html

.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

Personal preference not to trust. My mum works with lead in stained glass. I can see their points about water changes and whatnot. I just won't use my mother's lead for weights then.


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## Complexity (Aug 11, 2008)

I use the lead plant anchors (but twist ties could work just as well). I shape it into an upside down U which I then push into the substrate at an angle so it holds down the roots. After the plant grows enough roots to hold itself down, I remove the anchor.

I had to use this with Blyxa japonica that simply refused to stay planted. Some of my torpedo barbs were nibbling at the tips which caused the plants to come right out of the substrate and start floating. The anchors held the plants in place, even with the nibbling, to finally grow enough roots to stay in place.

Since then, I use this technique anytime a plant won't stay planted, including with Marsilea minuta. I cut the chain so that there are two leaf nodes and a "bar" in the middle that I can then anchor down. Works great!


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

Marsilea minuta...I think I would like to get that sometime. sounds very pretty. Thanks for the tips and the clarification on the use of th elead weights. Hopefully you can understand where I get my discomfort for lead from anyway.


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## Complexity (Aug 11, 2008)

M. minuta can be hard to find. I got mine from a deal on TPT forums. Most of mine died when I had to move my tank, but I think I have enough that survived to get it started again.

I fully understand the concern over lead. I figure, at my age, I've already lost enough brain cells to be immune to losing anymore from lead! [smilie=l:


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