Some good info, Socrates, but I must respectfully disagree with this statement. Nothing personal, but I'd like to point it out, as info for others, and because it's sort of a personal peeve of mine:
Plants require all kinds of additional preparation and care.
Preparation, I will grant you, if that includes research beforehand. However, I think plants sort of get an undeserved 'bad rap' about their needs.
Usually, because I think people think of them as just "plants", as in one is just like another. If we thought of fish as just "fish", and didn't break them down into categories (freshwater, saltwater, brackish, aggressive, etc.), they'd be hard to care for, and probably die a lot, too.
I strongly believe that with proper research, resulting in
choosing the right plants for your conditions and needs, anyone has a very good chance to successfully grow plants with no other care other than trimming them every once in a while, when they get too large.
As an example, I use my 10 gallon quarantine tank as a nursery. Standard 'kit', came all packaged in a box, regular lighting, marginal filter, no modifications, just regular gravel for substrate (neon blue, no less!
, no CO2 injection, no fertilizers. Just regular water changes, to keep the fish healthy. In short, I can hardly think of a way of giving these plants less care, barring not turning the lights on.
And my plantlets grow very well. No (or, at the most, minimal) signs of nutrient deficiency, good color, decent growth rate. Just lucky? Could be. But, I have to doubt that.
Now, if I took that same tank, and planted a bunch of rotala and made a big carpet of glasso and mondo grass, then it would probably turn into a pile of mush pretty quickly. The first two require high light, and mondo grass is not a true aquatic. Which brings up another point....
Unfortunately, some stores (in my experience, it happens more frequently in 'chain' stores) label and sell plants for aquariums that are not meant to be fully submerged. This helps spread the idea that plants are hard to take care of, because they invariably die, no matter what you do. Again, research is your friend.
And sometimes, we hobbyists ourselves don't help the situation, either. Often, when someone asks about growing plants, they'll be told something like "You need a $200 light fixture, some $4/pound substrate material, a pressurized CO2 injection system, and these four fertilizers -- add these two every day, one every other day, and the other once a week. And get a phosphate test kit."
While that is not a bad recommendation, in itself, most of it can be unnecessary. True, with all that stuff, you should be able to grow
any aquatic plant, but usually it's not needed -- again, if you choose the correct plants for your situation.
Anyway, rant over.
As far as planting plants goes, I generally break plants down into three basic categories:
1) Root plants -- Like your typical outdoor plant, large root system, usually comes potted. In this case, remove the pot and as much of the rockwool (the material inside the pot) as possible, and plant it like you would an outdoor plant. One thing worthy of note: many root plants, notably the 'crypts', do not like to be moved around once they get established. If they do get moved (or moved often), you may see that all the leaves 'melt' away. Although it usually doesn't kill the plant outright (from what I understand), it can take months to get the leaves to grow back. If you ever hear the term 'crypt melt', this is what people are talking about.
2) Rhizome plants -- such as anubias and java ferns. These plants usually have leaves growing from a rhizome (looks like a horizontal 'stem' near the bottom), from which roots also eventually grow. It is important to make sure the rhizome is not buried, or it will rot, and the plant will die. These plants are often tied to a piece of driftwood or a rock, to keep them from floating. Once roots start growing from the rhizome, they often eventually attach themselves to the rock or wood. However, at this point, these plants also do fine by planting the roots into your gravel (leaving the rhizome uncovered).
3) Stem plants -- usually do not have an extensive root system (hygrophilia is an exception I know of, it can grow tremendous roots). Can usually be planted by just sticking the end of the stem into the gravel, and moving the gravel a bit to keep the plant secured. Most people will recommend trimming off any leaves that will end up below the gravel, because they will just rot there.
Some stem plants, like anacharis and hornwort, are also 'floaters'. That is, they can do equally well, if not better, by just floating in your tank. I've personally never been able to keep hornwort planted for more than a week, ever.
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