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Monte Carlo planting advise needed

I

Iwagumi_Scaper

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Joined
9 Jun 2018
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Location
York, UK
Hi all,

Im going to be planting my Monte Carlo in the morning to get my DSM going. The roots of the plant appear to be quite long in the packet. Should I trim these or just make sure they're pushed into the substrate? (Pretty sure they're longer than the substrate depth at the front of the tank). Any advise appreciated on how to best go about doing this.

Many thanks
 
Iwagumi_Scaper said:
Hi all,

Im going to be planting my Monte Carlo in the morning to get my DSM going. The roots of the plant appear to be quite long in the packet. Should I trim these or just make sure they're pushed into the substrate? (Pretty sure they're longer than the substrate depth at the front of the tank). Any advise appreciated on how to best go about doing this.

Many thanks
Click to expand...
it is not necessary to plant the roots in the soil.
You can simply push the stem flat on the soil and roots start to form themselves.

The results after 3 weeks
3weeks.jpg
 
Jurijs mit JS did the same recently for his dry start - progress photos on his FB page including CO2 info
 
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alto said:
MC invitro? which brand?
Click to expand...

They're the Tropica 1-2 grow brand. It sounds like simply placing them on the substrate might be the best way to go if they'll sort themselves out. Do they need to be separated into individual stems or can they be places in clumps of about 1.5cm?
 
Cor said:
it is not necessary to plant the roots in the soil.
You can simply push the stem flat on the soil and roots start to form themselves.
Click to expand...

Max light hitting the leaves :thumbup: makes sense ;) nice result for 3 weeks :cigar:
 
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individual or clumps - up to you really - Jurijs just dropped clumps all of very until he was satisfied with the coverage
(I watched some video but don't recall posting details)
 
Thanks guys :) One other thing I'd like to ask about is that I've read that carpet plants need to be removed and replanted after X amount of months and that they only last a certain period of time? Is this true? :/ I was hoping this set up would last a year to 18 months at least.
 
Iwagumi_Scaper said:
Thanks guys :) One other thing I'd like to ask about is that I've read that carpet plants need to be removed and replanted after X amount of months and that they only last a certain period of time? Is this true? :/ I was hoping this set up would last a year to 18 months at least.
Click to expand...
No, that is not true.
You often have to prune to keep it healthy do. The foliage certainly may not be too thick, otherwise it will die and come off the bottom and starts to float.
I've kept mine in good health for approx 24 months.:thumbup:
 
Cor said:
No, that is not true.
You often have to prune to keep it healthy do. The foliage certainly may not be too thick, otherwise it will die and come off the bottom and starts to float.
I've kept mine in good health for approx 24 months.:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Aah excellent. I plan on keeping mine short and dense so fingers crossed I don' get too much dying at the bottom :)
 
Just finished planting. Ordered far too much MC but figure it would be better to do a thin layer with a few stems and let it do its thing. Will see where I'm at in about 4 weeks time :) Got the lights on full power for about 11 hours a day at the moment. Once flooded I'll reduce this to about half power.
G1.jpg
 
Zeus. said:
I would say your DSM is too wet. The water level should be below the lowest level of the substrate. 1cm below IMO
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I found it a bit hard to tell where the water level actually was - the soil seems to have absorbed a bit more of the water now so hopefully it's ok (definitely below or at least level with substrate now). I'll leave it a couple of days before spraying.
 
More plants, less water, and a heat mat under the tank will do wonders.

With the substrate so wet, you'll probably end up having mould and/or algae in the substrate before you even flooded. I would also leave 1 corner of the top a bit open to allow the tank to aerate a bit more.
 
kadoxu said:
More plants, less water, and a heat mat under the tank will do wonders.

With the substrate so wet, you'll probably end up having mould and/or algae in the substrate before you even flooded. I would also leave 1 corner of the top a bit open to allow the tank to aerate a bit more.
Click to expand...

It's not this wet any more. Soil has absorbed it :) I have two corner of the cling film open for air as well.
 
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