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Plant Bundles

Otterwoman

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I made these "plant bundles" for my tanks, because I wanted to try to grow a plant in them. I chose a low-light plant, Pothos (aka philodendron), since the only plant I've been able to sustain long-term so far has been Java moss.

I bought a bunch of pothos from the store. I got some larger ones and smaller ones, not that the large ones have grown better than the small ones- they were those sizes to start with.

First, I took the plants out of their pots and washed them thoroughly, getting as much of the store dirt off as possible. I didn't know what their soil contains, fertilizers, other chemicals, so I washed it off. My efforts got about 90% of the dirt off.

Next, I took some old stockings, and cut them into tubes about 6 inches long. I made a knot in the bottom, and put in dirt that I use in my tanks (jungle earth, eco earth, etc.) and nestled the plants inside.

Finally, I put a rubber band around the top (if you use string, it'll rot inside a month). In some of the plant bundles, I used a little pot inside the stockings, and in others not. Just trying to see what worked the best. The ones in pots are easier to stand up and place around.

Finally, some of them I put inside clay pots, to keep them in place, and a couple I used zip ties to attach to these clay pot stands, as sinkers. Otherwise, they float. I thought eventually they'd sink, but they hadn't after two weeks, so I anchored them this way.

They've been growing over a month now, and so far so good! I didn't know if it would be too much water, not enough soil, not enough light.

But it appears to be working.

01 Here you can see how I knotted it.

02 Here is how I placed it in the tank.

03 Sitting in the tank. They are buoyant.

04This one wouldn't stay in place, so zip-tied the plant bundle in the pot. After this one, I put the pot itself into the stocking.

05 This one is tied to the clay pot holder as a weight.

06 With this one, I tried some other nylon fabric I had laying around, that wasn't so convenient as to come in tubes. It works well too. This plant is still waiting to be placed into a tank that is undergoing a glueing project.
 

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Azhael

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Nice, Dawn!
I love this plant. I have it growing over half a coconut and some rocks in my orientalis tank and i love watching it´s roots growing over every surface.
It grows amazingly well hydroponically or semi-hydroponically. Although it´s nice to have it anchored to objects, you can grow it by putting stems directly into water...no substrate, no nothing.
 

freves

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Neat idea Dawn. Like Azhael I tend to just let mine root on it's own in the water. I love this plant as well and have even started collecting some of the various cultivars. I have them growing in most of my salamander and Rhacodactylus enclosures. One slight correction based on my limited botanical knowledge, to my understanding golden pothos and it's various cultivars are Epipremnum aurum and native to the Solomen Islands If I remember correctly, philodendrons look very similar (at least some do) and are native to Central and South America. The two names are often used interchangebly on the ID tags found in Lowes, Walmart. etc.
Chip
 

Jennewt

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Three cheers for nylon stockings! I don't recommend wearing the darned things, but they make excellent media bags. And evidently they also make good planting bags!:bowl:
 

firefly

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I am so lucky - I have this plant growing in two places in the garden, it's so rampant that in the summer we have to hack it down quite a lot.

If anyone wants some shoots or whatever I'm willing to send some for the cost of postage ??

Just email me or pm me.
 
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