[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Substrate longevity
>Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 15:20:52 -0400
>From: krandall at world_std.com
>
>I may be wrong, and, George, please correct me if I am!<g> But my
>impression from watching George's video is that he does a fair amount of
>uprooting when he does his regular maintenance. I suspect this is how he
>avoids the problem of root bound substrates.
Absolutely right. We typically uproot all stem plants, trim the best part
off the top and replant the top. We toss the root end and do a little
surface vacumming in that area. This avoids the problem of unsightly "water
roots" and, I conjecture, stirs the top part of the substrate enough to
remove any waste material or alleochemicals generated by the plant,
preventing it from "poisoning" itself. Also, it will get replanted in a
slightly different spot where there has not been a concentrated "nutrient
uptake" by its roots. Sort of like crop rotation <g>.
We typically don't do this in crypt groves or with larger rosette plants.
They only get yanked every year or two. We just moved a large E. horemanii
in the 120g tank from "front and center" where it blocked our view to a
rear corner. Quite a job.
George Booth, Ft. Collins, Colorado (booth at frii_com)
Back on-line! New URL! Slightly new look! Same good data!
http://www.frii.com/~booth/AquaticConcepts/