Keeping plants planted

[Aroc2226]

I have a few plants that are above the substrate doing decent.

I wanted to get some plants started in the substrate but I’m having a time first off getting them to be planted in the first place and second staying there.

I get up in the morning and there they are floating

Any tricks to get plants like Echinodorus or Lobelia stay in place?

 

[Ellie Potts]

You can always glue part of the lower stems to a rock and bury that. Or they do sell plant weights.

Once they root it won't be a problem

 

[Slaphppy7]

Agree with the above...I've arranged rocks/pebbles around the base of substrate plants until they take root, then remove once the plants are established

 

[WhistlingBadger]

The best method I've found is to hold the plant by the stem, swish the roots around until they're all pointing one direction along the top of the substrate, then push them into the sand with my other finger. That works with plants that have established roots, in sand. Not sure how it would work with gravel.

 

[Byron]

In addition to what has been mentioned, you do need sufficient depth. Echinodorus for example have incredibly extensive root systems once they get going, and they are ravenous when it comes to nutrients. I don't know which species you have, but for the common ones like Echinodorus grisebachii var. bleherae, you want at least 2 if not 3 inches of sand, and as whistling badger suggested push the root mass right to the bottom glass and backfill. You can also use small pieces of river rock to anchor them permanently or temporarily, or a chunk of wood; these plants are very effective growing beside bogwood.

If you have fish that dig, the wood or rock may be essential. Even cories can easily uproot swords that have not yet become established. Once they are, it doesn't matter. I had an E. major whose roots extended a good foot in more than one direction and over a cople of years the cories moved the sand such that little really held the plant down, but that doesn't really matter as the roots establish it and nutrients have to come from the water, not the sand itself.

 

[10 Tanks]

I have a few plants that are above the substrate doing decent.

I wanted to get some plants started in the substrate but I’m having a time first off getting them to be planted in the first place and second staying there.

I get up in the morning and there they are floating

Any tricks to get plants like Echinodorus or Lobelia stay in place?

Hello Aroc. Plants will generally stay put provided the bottom material is deep enough. You need at least three inches of it. If you don't, you can place small rocks around the base of the plant to keep it in place. Some use cotton sewing thread to secure the plant to a piece of driftwood. Use cotton thread that's the same color as the plant or the bottom material. The thread will eventually dissolve in the tank water. But, by then the plant will have an established root system.

10 Tanks (Now 11)