Andy Thurston
Member
- Joined
- 16 Apr 2013
- Messages
- 2,812
Hi all
I recently grew HC in a propagator to cut costs for a tank my friend and I were scaping.
Juwel 180 first planted tank | UK Aquatic Plant Society
I posted a few photos in the above journal and other threads. With the amount of interest the few photos I posted generated I thought I'd write a step by step of how I did it, so here goes.
I got all the things that I needed starting with ordering 1 in vitro pot of hc cuba that cost £5 from ebay (please note that I did the propagator without taking any photos, so the hc in them is what was left over after doing the tank). While waiting for it to arrive I acquired the other things I needed to buy, these were 1 x Sankey Growarm 100 propagator, about £18 from B&Q and bag of John Ines 3, about £4. So for less than £30 I had everything I needed and was ready to start.
I filled both trays with John Ines 3 about 2 cm below the top of the tray, breaking up any lumps and removing any big pieces of organic material.
Next I filled the tray with water so it was about 1cm below the substrate
Now its time to prepare the hc. I washed off all the jelly with water and pulled it into small pieces ready for planting.
The second time around was different. I took the hc and cut off the yellow bits, which included the roots, with scissors.
In the time it took to prepare the water soaked into the John Ines and it now looked like this.
I got single stems or clumps and placed them on the surface (Not planted like normal) like this
I continued placing stems/clumps until both trays were full
Next I placed the propagator on the kitchen window cill which gets direct sunlight from about mid day onwards.
I put the lid on with the vent fully closed and plugged it in.(sorry for dark pic, I forgot to take it when I started so have just done it now)
For the rest of this step by step the photos are my first attempt which I started with more hc in the propagator.
Week 1, nothing really happened.
Week 2, The first real sunshine, growth has started and its putting new roots down now.
Week 3, 3 days sunshine and 4 days rain.(British weather) Starting to grow well.
Week 3 and 4 days, 2 days sun shine and 2 dull days its really taking hold now. you can see growth daily.
All the rest of the photos are 1 week apart
2 photos this week
Week 9 or 10 Ready for planting into tank.
I grew this hc early in the summer and on the hotter days I opened the Vent fully and turned the heater off to avoid very high temperatures within the propagator.
This took no looking after apart from checking temperature and a couple of water top ups. In 10 weeks I turned 1 pot of hc into 25 pots which easily paid for its self.
If you are thinking about doing this during autumn and winter additional light will be needed.
Finally I hope you enjoyed my step by step and if you follow it I hope you get the same results I have.
Thanks for looking
Andy
I recently grew HC in a propagator to cut costs for a tank my friend and I were scaping.
Juwel 180 first planted tank | UK Aquatic Plant Society
I posted a few photos in the above journal and other threads. With the amount of interest the few photos I posted generated I thought I'd write a step by step of how I did it, so here goes.
I got all the things that I needed starting with ordering 1 in vitro pot of hc cuba that cost £5 from ebay (please note that I did the propagator without taking any photos, so the hc in them is what was left over after doing the tank). While waiting for it to arrive I acquired the other things I needed to buy, these were 1 x Sankey Growarm 100 propagator, about £18 from B&Q and bag of John Ines 3, about £4. So for less than £30 I had everything I needed and was ready to start.
I filled both trays with John Ines 3 about 2 cm below the top of the tray, breaking up any lumps and removing any big pieces of organic material.
Next I filled the tray with water so it was about 1cm below the substrate
Now its time to prepare the hc. I washed off all the jelly with water and pulled it into small pieces ready for planting.
The second time around was different. I took the hc and cut off the yellow bits, which included the roots, with scissors.
In the time it took to prepare the water soaked into the John Ines and it now looked like this.
I got single stems or clumps and placed them on the surface (Not planted like normal) like this
I continued placing stems/clumps until both trays were full
Next I placed the propagator on the kitchen window cill which gets direct sunlight from about mid day onwards.
I put the lid on with the vent fully closed and plugged it in.(sorry for dark pic, I forgot to take it when I started so have just done it now)
For the rest of this step by step the photos are my first attempt which I started with more hc in the propagator.
Week 1, nothing really happened.
Week 2, The first real sunshine, growth has started and its putting new roots down now.
Week 3, 3 days sunshine and 4 days rain.(British weather) Starting to grow well.
Week 3 and 4 days, 2 days sun shine and 2 dull days its really taking hold now. you can see growth daily.
All the rest of the photos are 1 week apart
2 photos this week
Week 9 or 10 Ready for planting into tank.
I grew this hc early in the summer and on the hotter days I opened the Vent fully and turned the heater off to avoid very high temperatures within the propagator.
This took no looking after apart from checking temperature and a couple of water top ups. In 10 weeks I turned 1 pot of hc into 25 pots which easily paid for its self.
If you are thinking about doing this during autumn and winter additional light will be needed.
Finally I hope you enjoyed my step by step and if you follow it I hope you get the same results I have.
Thanks for looking
Andy
