# 7 Day DSM??? Opinions please.



## Fran (7 Aug 2015)

Hi all, I will be starting my new project next week with in vitro plants and plan to use the DSM. I plan a carpet of Micranthemum monte carlo and will be planting into normal type Amazonia, hence the DSM as I fear planting such small roots into amazonia would cause each plantlet to float away. Anyway, I am wondering if a seven day DSM would provide sufficient root growth to allow me to flood the tank. Due to work and holiday plans, it suits better to do the large water changes etc in the next few weeks. The other plants are mostly mosses which will be attached to seiryu stone and I am happy to tie them with cotton because I know its unlightly they will attach in one week. Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.


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## zozo (7 Aug 2015)

Make it 4 weeks  that might do it.. The first 7 days the plants are more like in a shock from the sudden changes where they need to recover from. The day you see growth, that's the day the roots kick in. This you can't give a schedule about amount of days, it differs per plant per tank, per soil, temp, humidity etc.

I had invitro HC in DSM for 2 weeks, did put 8 inch of water in the tank to see and the HC bubbled itself to the surface within a few hours Had to drain it again and wait 3 weeks longer.. But Monte carlo is easier and faster growing..


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## Fran (7 Aug 2015)

Cheers guys. It looks like I will need a bit longer so. I might just keep going with the DSM for 6 weeks which will then take me into a period where I will be able to dedicate some time for water changes after flooding etc. I was wondering how to provide ferts to the plants during DSM. How about spraying RO water mixed with macro ferts???


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## zozo (8 Aug 2015)

As said, Amazonia is rich soil so that would be enough certainly for the first week.. I guess everybody has his own method and experiences with DSM. In my experience growing young plantlets in rich soil (substrate) i wouldn't add any ferts the first week. These first days nothing much will happen, the plants get a transplant shock, the roots need to addapt to the soil and any root damage caused by cutting and sticking in the substrate, since you drasticly switch them from invitro or rockwoll to a rich clay based soil.

Depends on the plantlets some are stronger some are weaker. If every plantlet would be in his own pot, it would be easy to give each the specific care it needs. But with DSM in a tank the whole bunch is in one big pot.

The way i would go around is first week just keeping moist and spray a few times a day with demi-water.. I'm a great fan and have only positive experience with the use of naturaly seaweed based root stimulators which i spray from day one. (Actualy i keep using it regularly next to the ferts.) It contains hormones and vitamins and helps to prevent the transplant shock, benefits root repair and growth and kickstarts bacterial collony in the soil. Even mosses love it and thrive on it. Maybe you'll see some plantlets looking droopy the first days, some come back after a few days others may not and just melt away. If the majority looks healty after 7 to 10 days i would add very little ferts to the spray bottle starting with 1/10 of the recomended dosage, spray it every other day, the days in between spray with demi-water to clean the leaves from residue left from the ferts. Little by little up the dosage to 1/4 of the recomended dosage if you see the plants doing well with this regime.

Putting young plants in rich soils there will always be a great risk of getting burned roots and leaves.. Making it even richer only increases this risk. Young plants don't need much, they need an isotone inveronment so they can easily recover. If the soil already is rich enough, putting more in it and on the plants you disturb this process and the soil starts sucking the plantlets dry (burn), roots die, leaves start to curl and discolor from yellow to necrotic dry brown tips, in moist inveronments, rotting slimey and black (melt). Rich soil already is like salt on it's wounds the first weeks

Then after a few weeks you'll fill up and the transition from emersed to submersed will kick in, shock number 2. They won't do that much again these first days. Always go slow, little by little..  Addapt to what they tell you, help them addapt. Rather prevent than cure..


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## Fran (9 Aug 2015)

Hi and thanks for the replies. So, I will spray the mosses and other plants with liquid ferts. I will check out the seaweed based root stimulators on line and might get some. I agree and am aware that its the large amounts af ammonia in Amazonia that causes burn. The mulm idea seems sound to me. Still carrying out research. Cheers for the help guys.


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## Iain Sutherland (9 Aug 2015)

plant it up, keep it moist, you dont need to spray ferts or worry about ammonium during dry start.  Keep it simple and it will go fine.  Hundreds of DSM tanks using amazonia on here, done a few wabi with it myself and never had any issue.
If you want to spray anything just use tap water, while it will leave calcium marks it has enough nutrients for moss but it isnt a must, it will go just fine as long as it doesnt dry out.


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## Chris Jackson (9 Aug 2015)

I dsm started Monte Carlo in Amazonia for about 10 days with my Island Shore scape. It took off like a rocket, have a look, I posted daily pictures.


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## shrinkwrap (11 Aug 2015)

I used dry start method for 8 weeks with success. Have HC carpet and a variety of other plants. Sprayed with diluted frets every couple of days and enough water in bottom to cover lower portions of substrate. Covered top with plastic wrap. 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk


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## zozo (11 Aug 2015)

I lately did plant Monte Carlo from the rockwoll (swaped with some HC).. It grows like crazy had to trim it within 2 weeks..  So maybe invitro is best to dry start, because it's so tiny, but from the rockwoll, no problem if the tank is full only takes little time (weeks cutting replanting) to make it a dense low carpet, since it's a bigger plant and planting bigger chunks with longer stems, it rather shoots up than spread.


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## Fran (12 Aug 2015)

Thanks for all the help. No going back now!!!


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## Matt Havens (5 May 2016)

I know this is a late reply but how has this turned out Fran?


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## Fran (5 May 2016)

Hi, its ironic you posted here today as I have spent the last few hours re-planting this tank. The tank has been dormant for the last couple of months with just water and soil in it. The previous scape worked out okay in that the carpet of monte carlo grew very well  and was over two inches thick after a couple of months. The mosses did not attach however and the dry start was a complete failure for me. I noticed that some green slime appeared in a pool of water on a rock a week or so into the dry start. When I flooded the tank the water was stained green. Even today my water is not really clear but I'm hoping that this is just the redmoor leaching tannins. I would not use the dsm again. I know it works for many people but I don't really see the point of it. You can super glue mosses and I planted over 100 stems of mc today and not one floater. You just have to fill the tank slowly. I got tired of the old scape and stopped trimming the mc and the entire carpet just lifted up one morning. Anyways I'm happier with my current hardscape and will hopefully keep my current set up for a couple of years. Cheers.


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## GHNelson (19 May 2016)

Hi
Some mosses will not attach.....Java moss will though!
Maybe we could get a list up and running!
Cheers
hoggie


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