Preparing Potted Plants for the Aquarium

Potted plants are grown in a substance called rock wool. This is great for growing the plants in the green house and protects the roots during shipment and in the pet store. We grow many plants this way here at Florida Aquatic Nurseries.

But it is not the rockwool is not meant to be left on the plant once you get it home. Slide the plastic basket off the rock wool. If that is hard to do, or if the roots have grown out through the basket, snip the bottom roots with scissors. You won’t need them anyway. Then cut the plastic with scissors as needed to get it off. The next step is to remove the rock wool. Sometimes the plant slides out easily, other times, it can be really embedded. The easiest way is to gently pull as much off as you can, under running water or in a bucket of water. You don’t have to get every last bit out, but you should be able to see a nice, clean root structure.

This pot of Crypts could be planted all in one clump, but it will fill in faster if it is divided into several, smaller sections. Make sure that there are some leaves and some roots on every section. We were able to divide this pot into three beautiful plants.