Pots v cultures

[Nick16]

Hi all,

Looking to be planting a tank up in the near future and having been away from this side of the hobby, plant cultures are new to me.

What are the advantages / disadvantages?
Do the cultures suit certain species of plants alot better?

Not sure whether to invest in some of these or just stick to the old school pots.

Thanks

 

[zozo]

Cultures are grown in controled conditions and do not contain any snails, bugs, algae. parasites, etc. Name it it doesn't have it it only contains jelly and plant tissue.
If that aint an advantage? I do not know anymore. Disadvantages? Actualy can't think of any other than personal preferences in how and what you would like to put together.

Not that only cultured plants will prevent you from getting algae and or all the other stuff.. Depending on what your goals are and what you are planning to build a disadvantage could be that you need more patience for it to grow as big as the potted plants available.

1 disadvantage is, if you order from the internet and can't first hand choose what you buy and you get bad quality culture you might end up with about nothing when the melt kicks in. Culture plants are all very young and still very susceptible to maltreatment it doesn't take much to kill them. A relatively mature potted plant has more stored energy and might survive bad conditions longer and recover. 🙂

 

[Nick16]

Good advice thanks.

Planning to do an Iwagumi as i have never done one before.
But havent decided on the foreground plant!

 

[Nelson]

Culture plants are all very young and still very susceptible to maltreatment it doesn't take much to kill them.

That's me .I can't seem to get on with them.Most melt on me,not sure what I do wrong 🙄.

 

[zozo]

That's me .I can't seem to get on with them.Most melt on me,not sure what I do wrong 🙄.

Only thing i can think off, is dry start them or give them a massive load of co2 to get through the transition to submersed. Introducing cultered plants to a flooded tank with live stock, i guess always is a gamble if they can take what you have to offer without killing the fish. 🙂

 

[frogbit]

The only problem I have is the time it takes for them to grow. Patience isn't my strength!

I've used culture Echindoras successfully, but had a disaster with pearl moss.

You'll "eventually" get a lot of plants out of those little culture pots, so they do represent good value for money.

 

[Nick16]

I see, some mixed reviews so far!

I can and probably will be dry starting. It seems the best option to give the plants are good start.

 

[alto]

Do the cultures suit certain species of plants alot better?

Yes


Re pots & algae/pests,
I 've yet to get snails or BBA type algae from Tropica nursery plants (obviously the tissue culture plants are sterile) , there may be some cyanobacter type algae in the rock wool but I remove this before planting, I also rarely store purchased plants in my display tanks (they can easily be stored overnight or a couple days in the special (large) Tropica bags which keep plants damp with access to light & air).

Unfortunately Tropica has no control over shop displays/conditions, so look carefully at store display tanks for snails & algae etc.
If mail order, place newly arrived plants in a bin etc, then rinse thoroughly before planting in your tank, examine plant for snail eggs, algae etc, remove any damaged emerse leafs,
if significant algae, then place in an Excel "bath" (using up to 10X suggested aquarium levels) for 10 - 60 min (more delicate leafed plants will only tolerate shorter times whether Excel or peroxide is used as an algicide), continue dosing Excel etc in the tank during startup

I don't really do anything special with Tissue Culture plants vs pots
BUT
I use Aquarium Soil & moderate CO2 & 5-6h lighting & light water column fertilizers (Tropica 😉 ), one tank receives a lot of ambient light so I run CO2 24/7, just turning CO2 down outside photoperiod
I don't add in anything but shrimp (possible nerite snails) until plants are established - I think this is especially important with TC plants where leafs/roots are often fragile (& tiny)

 

[AndyOx]

Hi nick, I've had a couple of experiences with tissue culture pots. One was a mess on arrival and was always going to be a challenge (it melted very quickly) the other was crypt ciliata these grew slowly but steadily. I left them to float for a few weeks so they were bigger and easier to handle then just planted as normal and are growing nicely. It did take a year tho but I guess that's crypts for you!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Aqua360]

Love culture plants, no parasites etc; much healthier and value for money imo