# Dwarf Hairgrass



## karen99 (Feb 20, 2006)

I've read it is best to remove all the growth medium from the roots of potted hairgrass before planting it. But I bought some and it was so strongly rooted into a sponge in the pot that I couldn't remove it without ripping off most of the roots. So I just tore the whole grass clump into about 20 pieces with sponge attached and planted those.
Will leaving the sponge attached be a problem in the tank?


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## zig (Jul 3, 2005)

Not the ideal way to plant hairgrass, but i cant see leaving the sponge in the tank being a problem.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

If you can remove it that would be better. THe grass will spread easier for you that way.


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## magicmagni (Aug 19, 2004)

Planting hairgrass is tedious work. I remove the pot from the clump of grass and run the roots/rockwhool over running water to get it waterlogged and loose as possible. I then split the clump from the top down into smaller more managable parts and then taking small tweezers begin picking at the rock whool and re-wetting it every so often. This usually gets most of the rock whool out. Lastly I trim the grass almost all the way down (clip about 3/4 off) and plant it in rows about 1/8" apart- don't have to be too precise though.


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## karen99 (Feb 20, 2006)

Is it necessary to remove all of the wool/sponge material? I pulled up most of my hairgrass clumps and tried to remove more of the sponge/wool but without much sucess. The roots are really firmly attached to it, and the leaves and roots are so delicate that no matter how carefully I tried to remove the wool I was ripping off leaves or roots. So I just replanted them finally. Every clump has a few loose roots and I did manage to get almost all the wool off of a few of the clumps.
Is there a reason behind trimming the grass? Does that encourage it to spread?


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## magicmagni (Aug 19, 2004)

All you can do is the best you can. It will eventually send runners and grow out. Yes trimming the grass encourages it to grow. Often times when you buy hairgrass a the LFS you are buying "emersed" growth- meaning it is grown out of the water. This growth is different then "submerged" growth that happens in a fishtank. Normally this growth dies off gets full of algae/ rots away and is replaced with submerged type growth so by trimming this growth off you allow the plant to adapt to submersed form faster.


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## vetter (Feb 20, 2006)

Yes leaving the wool, or whatever plant medium you have on the bottom will not necessarily kill your plant at all, but I have had this problem before and when the wool is taken off the plant will send runners out 4 times faster.


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