new plants in pots

[Renee1]

Hey guys,
i just bought some new plants and they came in their own little pots. My lfs told me to keep the plants in their pots for about a week and then plant them in the substrate so they can take root. Does that sound right? I'm new to the plant thing and I dont wanna mess it up . Thanks

[DavidDoyle]

I prefer to remove the plants from the pots and remove as much of the rock wool as possible while minimizing root damage as soon as I get them. The wool is often infused w/ nutrients from the nursery where they were grown and and I dont want it in my tanks.

[Damon]

Agreed. Take them out as soon as possible. Once planted, don't be surprised to see the leaves die off. Plants grown in nurseries are usually grown emergant as they ship better that way. The leaves are usually bigger than the submersed form. The emergent leaves may die off and new ones will replace them.

[MyraVan]

Just for a differing opinion... If your substrate is plain gravel, I think you'd be better leaving the plants in the pots. Of course if you have a good substrate meant for growing plants, by all means take them out!

I have plain gravel in my "big" (20 gallon) tank and have all the plants in pots. Most of them are in pots with Flourite in them, but a few plants came in pots in rock wool and I have left them in it. They are doing pretty well, about the same as the ones I put in Flourite.

[DavidDoyle]

Myra- leaving plants in the plastic may work for a while. However, many plants get much bigger and when they do their root systems are getting even bigger. The plastic pots can stunt root growth. Morover, once you get a tangled goot mass around the plastic pot, it will be nearly impossible to remove the pot.

I do a lot of plants in clay pots with gravel and laterite, or a similar additive substrate, and these work much better.

[MyraVan]

I think you're right that plants that get large woudln't work in the plastic mesh pots that I use. However, so far I have avoided big plants (like Amazon swords) and stuck to little plants, like vallis or sagittaria (well, each individual plant is small, but they look good together as a bunch). For these little plants, the plastic mesh pots have worked fine for me so far. But then I've only had the tank planted for 6 months; it may prove to be bad in the long run.

Actually, we're planning to move in a few months, and then I want to replace the substrate with a proper planted tank substrate so I can plant then entire floor of the tank, so I don't have to vacuum the gravel. For now I'm stuck using the pots. If I were to get some big plants, though, I would definitely get bigger pots.