Foreground plants guide

[Aeon]

I'm currently investing on a bunch of Gloosstigma to populate the foreground of my 2ft tank. quite easy to plant. Somehow I feel Glosso isn't "fine/detailed" enough and I want the luscious grassy effect of the Big tank in Sam Yick Simei.
After searching around I realised it's Hairgrass. Is it fairly easy to plant? (I have lots of patience), Where can I get it cheap? or is it expensive? Anyone knows if there are any in the North?

[Simon]

hairgrass are very slow growers so patience is the key.. you can get hairgrass from Teo

[hwchoy]

do a search on the forum, there are many threads on how to plant hairgrass But I can advise to NEVER plant them in clumps of more than 5-10 strands each.

[Aeon]

How do I go to Teo's via public trans?
The Lim Chu Kang area seem very ulu... check street directory already, cannot see any bus stops etc...
please advise!!

[vinz]

Go look in the Aquatic FAQ forum of AQ. I posted directions to Teo's there.

[cheeboonyong]

Actually, there's plenty of alternatives to Teo's for hairgrass. Any normal LFS should have it. Probably $2-3 per pot. Teo's is probably cheapest. Heck, he gave it to me for free when I got it with other plants.

Question is are you willing to travel to LCK just to get hairgrass? If you've never been there, I suggest you take a look for yourself. Should try to grab other plants while you're there too. Otherwise, travel to Teo's just for hairgrass is too much hassle, in my opinion.

[bluezing]

well...hehe...i did travel all the way there from my house at aljunied.haha...nice dwarf hairgrass.gd luck to ur planting.

[victri]

Hi,

Dwarf hairgrass takes a really long time to establish itself, and the 1st month will be very prone to all kinds of algae. Patience and cool temper required. It needs a lot of trimming to remove algae during that initial period. As long as your tank parameters are ok, it'll take off and spread nicely. Then all you really need to do is a periodic haircut and combing through it with a sharp pick or wide-tooth comb to work out debris and tangles. Here's mine after 2 months. Haven't cut it recently as there're some tiny baby cherry fries hiding in there.

[Aeon]

Nice Harlequins Victri.
I'm ok with triming and stuff. Just want to have that luscious look hehe!

[vinz]

I think the word is "lush" not "luscious".

[Aeon]

I just checked the dictionnary, it's a legal word to use.
But... lush is a better word. Ok lush.

[msmurf]

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On 12/15/2003 10:28:05 AM

do a search on the forum, there are many threads on how to plant hairgrass But I can advise to NEVER plant them in clumps of more than 5-10 strands each.
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hi hwchoy, just being curious, any special reason NEVER plant them in clumps of more than 5-10 strands each. abt a yr ago, i ever had hairgrass which grow ok but i did not take note the number of strands. recently, i just planted hairgrass again, hence would appreciate if u could enlighten me some "secret". heeee...... tks

[kadios]

I used to plant them in clumps and it was infected with algae badly. In the end, I had to pull everything out to replant them again.

Another thing is that the older leaves may rot and the clump may look messy and become an algae magnet.

Lastly, planting them in smaller clumps provide more space for the new shoots to form.

I did an observation on my HG and when the plants are grown under direct light, it will take approx. 3-4 weeks to create that lush look in victri tank.

A point that you may want to take note of is to clear away the new HG shoots that grow against the front glass or side glass. This will act against hurting(bending) the hairgrass when you scrub your tank glass.

Cheers!

[hwchoy]

first we have to understand that hairgrass is in fact a rosette plant, each growth point is a rosette capable of producing new leaves over and over again. Compare this against glosso, where the growth tip keeps moving forward with the runner. At each pair of leaves (talking about glosso here) it may produce a branch runner, which moves forward, but never a new pair of leaves.

So each point where a HG leaf grows is a rosette, just like a micro-Echinodorus. Now, it also produce runners, which moves away and creates a new rosette a short distance away. So very soon, you have many many many many rosettes, each producing leaves, over and over and over. Now you see why it is such an ideal carpet plant? If you cut the leaves all the way down to the gravel (but not cutting off the growing rosette, it will produce new leaves. If you cut your entire HG lawn completely botak, when the new leaves comes out, they rises from the gravel together, quite spectacular.

So if you plant HG in too big a clump, you're packing many rosettes into one point, forcing all the leaves (and subsequent new leaves) to be packed together. So having understood the physiology of HG, it is clear we need to spread out the individual plants to evenly seed the lawn and prevent overcrowding.

[msmurf]

interesting!

tks kadio n hwchoy! guess i gonna replant my hg liao. being lazy, i plant in quite a big lump. tks![] [] []

[lorba]

if you want your HG lawn to look more natural and nice, take choy's advice. Otherwise, you will probably see dark green clumps (your originally planted big clump) among your HG carpet.

[MikeKoh]

Is it true that the more you trim the HG, it will stimulates the grow rate?

[lorba]

it is so for most plants, esp those which put out runners (more aggressively) such as HG, tenellus, glosso. Stem plants react to trimming too, by growing 2 or more shoots at the cutting point.

By limiting certain growing factor, a plant will be tricked to continue propagating in another fashion in order to survive, or simply, tricked to enter another growing phase such as entering the eg. the spring season or into a dry season.

For example, to convert a submerged plant emerse, you can keep it moist until the plant grows the emersive leaves to embrace the 'dry season' or 'off water period'. Of course, not all 'aquatic plants' can be grown emersed. Also, by purpose limiting eg, the size of a pot, a plant might be forced to stop growing branches and leaves (due to limiting growing space) and starts to blossom.

Opps, a bit off the track, am I?

[MdmBudak]

I managed to grow hairgrass after 2 failed attempts. You need to seperate them and not plant one big bunch together. Also, its leaves are very prone to hairy alage and BBA.

Patience is the key, my started to grow and spread only after 2 months.

[MdmBudak]

$3 worth of hairgrass from 'Ah Pek' or Teo will easily fill up a 3ft tank.