Tissue culture plants are known for their cup or tight plastic sealed packaging. They're more expensive than potted plants but are more reliable in quality and quantity. This packaging doesn't include the irritating fluffy rock wool or stem suffocating twist tie, but instead some fertilized gel. In this tutorial, you will learn how to prepare your new plants and how to separate and plant them.
Step 1: Remove the plastic tab and remove the plants onto a paper towel or other surface
Notice how our weeping moss (top plant) has a large amount of gel left. Our S. Repens on the other hand, are completely devoid of any gel. This might be due to the s. repens using up the fertilizer much quicker than a moss. Provided this plant stayed on the shelf longer it may have begun to wilt.
Because the s. repens are devoid of any gel, all that is needed to prepare them is a quick rinse and separation.
Step 2: Rinsing
Rinsing is important as this gel does not dissolve well in aquariums. Its best to use mild water as too hot or too cold might shock the plant. Gently rub it under a stream of water until no sliminess remains.
Step 3: Separate
Tissue cultures are always decievingly small but pack a lot of plant into their small little cups. Separating them may seem intimidating but don't worry you WON'T harm this plant. Just be gentle and work from the outside inwards. Pushing your fingers through the stems and gently pulling away from the central mass. A steady stream of water can help separate tangled roots or stubborn pieces.
Step 4: Plant
Using fingers or planting tongs pick up each plant by the base of the roots and wiggle it deep into your substrate, the deeper the better! Don't worry about burying leaves, the plants will make their way back above the surface. Some users also reccomend trimming the roots on any plants you're trying to transplant. Personally I take this advice with a grain of salt and if the root systems don't seem very long or strong I usually leave them be.
You don't necessarily need expensive planting tongs either. The ones shown are actually lizard feeding tongs from the pet store. But there are some cheap aquarium tongs here, and thicker, stainless steel lizard tongs like the ones shown, here.
Conclusion
If you haven't had the opportunity to try tissue culture, I definitely recommend it. This 7 gallon aquarium is now fully planted with only 3 tissue culture cups. If you're interested in adding some tissue culture plants to your tank, check out our blog post titled, "6 aquarium tissue culture MUST HAVES" for some of our favorites from amazon.
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