# Plant Removal in NPT's



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

I've thought about getting a different plant to add to my boy's home. A couple of my Wisteria plants are bare in the middles so I have to snip off the tops and replant them but what I would like to know is how do all of you remove plants from the substrate without making the water a muddy mess? All of my plants have a large root system in the substrate so trying to pull them out would make the water very muddy.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

If you raise the plant to be removed about an inch above the substrate, you can cut off the roots with a pair of scissors and lift out the top of the plant. This will cause little if any disturbance.

The remaining roots will soon decompose and serve as food for the remaining plants.

Good luck! 

Bill


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

yup... I don't uproot. I just cut as close as possible to the substrate.

It's a lot trickier with rooted plants like swords & crypts where you want to propagate or save the plant. You'd have to do what aquabillpers said.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

mistergreen said:


> yup... I don't uproot. I just cut as close as possible to the substrate.
> 
> It's a lot trickier with rooted plants like swords & crypts where you want to propagate or save the plant. You'd have to do what aquabillpers said.


Make sure that you turn off the filter and/or powerheads when uprooting plants. If you're gentle, the soil particles should settle back down in a few hours. After the water clears, if the leaves are covered with soil particles, I would dust them off. ("Dusty" leaves may become algae/bacteria coated.) I just tap the leaves to dislodge the soil particles. When all this is done, THEN turn your filter back on.

In the worst case scenario, the Aqua Clear Powerhead/Quick Filter will easily polish off water cloudy from soil particles.

Working with soil in your tank requires a little gentleness-- and patience.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

I actually pulled anacharis roots since I felt they were inerfering with the Val. Sp. growth.
Just pulled slowly. Seemed okay but boy were there a lot of bubbles (SO2, I thiink).
I don't believe I got much particulates and my soil is kinda of woody (from Lowes has compost).


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Trying to cut as close to the substrate as possible would probably be the best thing for me to do.

I don't have a filter/powerhead in my tank so I don't have to worry about the water becoming cloudy. I once removed a Cabomba stem from the substrate and the particles strayed about 1.5 inches from the substrate but that was only about a month after my tank was set up.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

newbie314 said:


> Just pulled slowly. Seemed okay but boy were there a lot of bubbles (SO2, I thiink).
> I don't believe I got much particulates and my soil is kinda of woody (from Lowes has compost).


I've had pretty good luck with soaking the soil and getting rid of any floating matter which are barks & twigs... I haven't had a bad case of H2S since.


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

I tried pulling a crypt up and got just a leaf. Thus I left all of the crypts alone. My substrate is organic top soil with pool sand on top. In the future I will be setting up a 30G tank. Would it be better to plant the plants after the sand is put on top of the dirt, so that if I transplant plants it will be easier?


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

dawntwister said:


> I tried pulling a crypt up and got just a leaf. Thus I left all of the crypts alone. My substrate is organic top soil with pool sand on top. In the future I will be setting up a 30G tank. Would it be better to plant the plants after the sand is put on top of the dirt, so that if I transplant plants it will be easier?


I don't think planting in the sand will help much because the plants will grow roots into the soil very quickly. I usually plant my plants when I have about half or two-thirds of the capping substrate in the tank. I plant the plants down into the soil as that is where they will be getting their main nutritients and then I add the rest of the capping substrate after I'm done planting.

In order to pull up the crypt you wanted to move, work your fingers down into the soil on either side of the crypt and lift it (slooooowly) holding onto the area where all the roots come from rather than grasping what's above the surface and pulling. If you wiggle it a little to loosen up the plant you can get a few inches of roots out and then cut off the rest, leaving them below the soil, to avoid making a big mess. The crypt will still have enough roots to get going in a new location.


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