The Puffer Forum

I just thouht about it and maybe someones done it here..

Is it possible to drill holes into driftwood and stick sand and dirt into it and make em grow?? I think it look nice if I get some drift wood covered in baby tears.

Several plants do quite well attached to wood. The Java ferrns and Java mosses are commonly handled in this manner, as are the small Anubias species and cultivars.

However, making a wooden container for substrate would just rot the wood faster and provide insufficient root space for most plants.

I put anubias on some. Also on small rocks

So.just maybe no subtrate pure root. Cool!

I have anubias stuck all over my driftwood in every FW tank I keep.

I have some java moss tied to a piece of driftwood with fishing line. I read that it will eventually attach to the wood.

Be careful with fishing line if you keep any small suckermouth catfish, or captive-breed them. I lost the female of an extremely uncommon female miniature suckermouth to fishing line. NIMFT, never again.

Anubias will live indefinitely tied to driftwood, but will dwarf compared to letting its roots reach into the substrate, even with good water column fert. levels. Never bury its rhizome - it will rot. Anubias is forever, but is painfully slow-growing fully submerse. The large species or cultivars must have their roots in substrate, but rhizomes still exposed. This whole group of plants are waterfall streamside plants in the wild, temporarily submersed in the flood periods, but exposed during their growth periods. The many roots from their rhizome collect organic debris during flood, which assists in providing nutrients and holding moisture during their exposed periods.

The Java ferns also can do well with their rhizomes attached to wood or rocks, but some of the smaller species or cultivars may clog filter intakes with their baby adventitious plantlets, so check your intake screens frequent when these plants are used in any numbers. These plants are relatively slow-growing when submerse, but like Java Mosses are all but eternal. Trimming or torn-loose threads of Java Mosses can also clog intakes, so check those frequently to avoid problems.

HTH