Emersed Glosso questions...

[DaveSurfer]

Nearly 2 weeks ago I planted Glosso emersed in my tank. I think I failed to mist them often so they quickly dried up in a couple days! I started misting them rigorously but I think it just made the dying dried up stuff mushy and rot. Now that I think back I should of seperated the stems more...but there are hundreds of stems!

In the last several days I have noticed new Glosso shoots coming up from the substrate in the middle of the dead clusters of Glosso. Should I cut away all the dead brown gooey stems or leave them alone and let the shoots come up between it all??

Thanks!

 

[Gerryd]

Dave,

I would remove the dead parts. Makes it easier to see the good growth and reduces NH4 which is released by the dead and dying stems and such.

The new stuff looks good!

yes by stem is too much, I break up into 10-12 stems and plant..........

I would cut it away as the new growth may be runners under the substrate. Don't just yank them out.

 

[DaveSurfer]

Dave,

I would remove the dead parts. Makes it easier to see the good growth and reduces NH4 which is released by the dead and dying stems and such.

The new stuff looks good!

yes by stem is too much, I break up into 10-12 stems and plant..........

I would cut it away as the new growth may be runners under the substrate. Don't just yank them out.

You're right, they are runners. I've cleaned up as much as the old stuff as possible without disturbing the new growth too much. Thanks for the tips!

 

[VaughnH]

I found that you can chop up glosso into 2 leaf plantlets and literally sow them on the wet substrate instead of planting them. They still root and start growing. I don't know if HC will do the same, but I recall reading a post a year ago where someone said that works with HC too.

 

[SuperColey1]

I have a load of HC in a windowsill propogator. Just wet soil. I pulled the HC apart into small pieces and just laid them roots and all on the soil. I just did the same again with what has grown about 5x growth in 3½ weeks. Hopefuly in another 4 weeks will have the whole propogator covered

AC

 

[DaveSurfer]

Crazy! So you can just lay them on the substrate. I've been working with big bunches and planting them in depressions in the substrate. I think I had way too many bunches of HC for my size of aquarium. I had like 8 pots worth when I needed only like 2 or 3 and then should of split them up very fine.

very cool.

 

[SuperColey1]

If the roots are touching the soil then they will grow into the soil. Obviously can't be done if there is water above the soil because they will float but if the top is just wet then they rest there and a couple of weeks later will hold firm.

I started with about 1cm x 1cm coverage and laid this on top in 3 seperate 'clumps'.

I have just laid out about 10 new clumps from the growth and hopefully in a few weeks will have cover 30cm x 15cm

AC

 

[DaveSurfer]

If the roots are touching the soil then they will grow into the soil. Obviously can't be done if there is water above the soil because they will float but if the top is just wet then they rest there and a couple of weeks later will hold firm.

I started with about 1cm x 1cm coverage and laid this on top in 3 seperate 'clumps'.

I have just laid out about 10 new clumps from the growth and hopefully in a few weeks will have cover 30cm x 15cm

AC

I obviously planted too many sprouts together and they were rotting. I'll have to wait extra long now to get the new shoots to fill in as much as when I planted. Sheesh what a waste, I think I bought like 4 or 5 pots of the stuff--if only I had of just seperated all of it stem by stem and just laid them out!!

 

[DaveSurfer]

Well it's been almost a month later and guess what: it's been awesome! Thanks for all your help and suggestions guys. I ended up pulling out all the rotting stuff and peeled away the good white roots and stems with new leaves on them. Then I strung them out overtop the substrate illustrated below:

Several days later I noticed that I could see white roots reaching down to the substrate from the strings of stems. Check out the water drop clinging:

Another pic of the glosso going nuts sending runners and roots:

This shows a little rug starting to form up the slope. At first I didn't know if the slope would prevent access to water as it is higher, but the glosso grows fine in a just humid environment and it's roots don't need water submersion:

I have already uprooted and replanted runners that were escaping too far up the slope or starting to invade the HC and get under the Anubias. Any tips on dividers to section off the glosso so it doesn't take over the tank? I only wish that it forms a nice compact carpet above the HC but stopping before the stem plants.

Again, thanks for all the help!

 

[DaveSurfer]