How to plant Dwarf Hair Grass

[alunjai]

I have 3 small patches of DHG (around 2x2 inches) which I'm trying to plant into my soil substrate but I can't get them to anchor into soil and they end up floating to the surface.

Anyone have any ideas how I can keep the DHG on the soil?

[Kytkattin]

Do you have tweezers or something else that you can grip them with and then shove them into the soil? There are special tongs made for this, but in a pinch you can use tweezers.

[alunjai]

I do, but the DHG is in patches of 2x2 inches so even if I use them I can't push them into to the soil. I will take a pic later on tonight to show you what I mean.

[aokashi]

the trick to planting anythig is separating the portion. what kind of substrate do you have? i use to snap bamboo toothpicks in half and use that as a peg anchor

[Sundancex]

It sounds like you have a mat. You either need to separate the hairgrass into individual portions or buy plant weights to weight the mats down.

Side note, DHG does best with CO2 and high light. It might not yield the results you're looking for without this.

[aokashi]

some dwarf hair grass grows just fine in medium light . I actually planted some in a tank half a year back. My grandpa thought to "save electricity" and turned off the light I had on a timer completely. growth slowed significantly on the dwarf hairgrass but it still grew with no vertical growth.

In my own setups I have dwarf hair grass grown under med-high light and no CO2. it is sending out runners and filling out at quite a decent speed.

dhg likes to remain rooted in the substrate and once rooted, rarely sends out runners that stray from the substrate.

[Oldfishlady]

The way I plant grass that doesn't have much of a root system-I will lay them on the surface of my cap and lay something on it-either a rock or a handful of gravel to help keep it in place until it can anchor itself. Since this is a rosette plant you don't want or need to plant it too deep anyway. With rosettes-Its better to plant too shallow than too deep-the roots will find their way into the soil fairly fast and you can remove the rock or just leave the gravel-it will be hidden in no time as the plant grows.

[alunjai]

Thanks guys, some good pointers there.

I have tried putting soil and small stones on top but the buoyancy of the grass is greater than the weight of the soil/stones so they end up falling off and dhg floating to the top. I might try using small toothpicks as suggested by aokashi. I use pellet sized soil so it can be quite loose.

Another problem I'm having is keeping the tank and the substrate clean. I have a canister and hang on filter but sometimes the uneaten food will rest of the soil or plants. If I can see them then I will remove it but sometimes they do end up in areas where its more difficult to find i.e. behind rocks, underneath plants etc. What's the best way to feed the fish? Actually thinking about it I do have a feeder ring in my turtle tank. Maybe I could try using that?

Thanks.

[Kytkattin]

do you have snails, shrimp or non fish creatures in the tank? They will take care of small amounts of uneaten food for you. Otherwise, someone with fish only will have to recommend something!

[aokashi]

I would plant dhg a bit deeper. they like to send runners deep into the substrate anyway.

Here's an example runner system of my own microsword. dwarf hairgrass behaves in pretty much the same way ( I have both)
do you see the runner making a steady diagonal slope? that's how deep it's going into the substrate