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When you put shorter plants in front of stem plants to hide the bottom part of the plants, does this make it more likely to have the stems rot, since they are being exposed to even less light.

My Scapes

nope not at all. The taller plants are getting their share of the light thru the leaves not the stem.

tetratech

You should not have a problem with that at all as the plant gets sufficient light through the higher leaves. Just make sure the lower plants (if not getting much light) are low light plants.

Keith

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So obviously the lower leaves will die off if shaded by the other plants, but your saying it should not affect the health of the plant itself (stem).



My Scapes

Now your on the right track Tetra./:'

I would disagree with the above posts. The stems do need some light to avoid rotting although generally a lot less then the main plant. I've had to many cases of stems rotting when the plants become too shaded (by themselves) no matter how much light the top was getting to believe otherwise. Although this is only applicable to stem plants. Other types seem to do fine once the leaves have sufficient light.

Having said that planting smaller plants in front of tall stem plants to cover the bare bottom shouldn't be an issue. The light comes from the top down. The smaller plants go in front, so the light coming from directly overhead is not going to cause a shadow on the stem plant, so the amount of light should remain the same.

Just be careful not to plant to close to the stem plant , allow enough room for the covering plants to grow out without it's leaves shading the bottom of the stem plant. For example most crypt leaves will arch slightly, leave enough room that the leaves can do this without getting squashed against the stem plant.

This is an old trick done all the time. The bare bottoms of stem plants (inevetible as the plant grows taller) can be very unsightly and disrtracting from an aquascape. Look at any good aquascape on the 'net and you'll see the stem plant bottoms are never visible. They are always hidden by either other plants or the hardscape (rocks and wood). In almost all stem plants it's the top 2 thirds that is the freshest and most attractive so this is the part of the plant you want to show off. For the same reason look at the same photo's and you'll notice that stem plants are never at the front of the aquascape. This is not just because of height issues but because the bottoms are invariably ugly.

Where possible you never be able to see where the bottoms of the plants are inserted into the substrate. A good aquascape is like a swan. You want to see it gracefully gliding across the water but don't want the see the frantic work going on beneath the surface that enables it to glide.

Wow, I'm feeling all poetic today ! Excuse while I dash off to whip up a few sonnets.




Last edited by bensaf at 01-Apr-2005 20:45

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Bensaf thanks for adding your 2 cents - gracefully!

My Scapes

Ben,

You would have to literally cement plants around the base to prevent them from getting enough light. They are just like any other plant in the world, They get the majority of their light from the leaves.

Neither Kieth nor myself advised this.