May 7, 2023 Mijn Aquariumshop

Aquarium plants on wood or stone

Attaching aquarium plants to wood or stone

A plant attached to a piece of wood or stone is a nice addition for anyone setting up an aquarium.

Although these types of eye-catchers can be purchased ready-made in the store, it is of course much more fun to get started and create a work of art yourself.

In this blog we discuss what it is like to attach a plant to a decorative piece yourself.

We're going to look at which plants are best to use

What means can you use to secure the plant?

And a small step-by-step plan on how you can do it at home.

Which plants?

First, let's look at what type of plant is best to use to attach to a decorative piece.

We often take a plant that does not need to be rooted in the ground. But a so-called rhizome plant.

Good examples of this are:

But also the Hygrophila Pinnatifida, Pogostemon Helferi, Cryptocoryne species and Staurogyne Repens can adhere well to coarser surfaces.

Which mosses?

In addition, you can also attach different types of moss, these may not grow very high but will rather cover the decorative piece with a beautiful green moss layer.

Commonly used moss species are:

Plagiomnium Affine 'Pearl Moss'
Taxiphyllum Barbieri 'Java Moss'
Vesicularia 'Christmas Mos
Riccardia Chamedryfolia 'Coral Moss'

In order to attach a plant or moss, you will need material to hold the plant or moss in place on the decoration so that the roots have time to attach to the decoration.

There are several options such as tying it with fishing line, securing it between decorative pieces by clamping it, attaching it with a piece of clay or by using plant glue .

In principle, the plant can be attached to anything, but to increase the chance that the plant will actually remain attached and grow well, it is best to choose a decoration material that promotes this.

This includes most types of wood, where the location of the plants is sometimes determined by the recesses in the piece of wood.

The difference in stone can also make a difference.
A beautiful slate or broken stone may look solid and smooth, but you will soon notice that a plant attaches itself better to a piece of lava stone or other stones with a coarser structure.

To attach a plant to a decorative piece, you can follow these steps:

(in this step-by-step plan we use special aquarium glue and tweezers)

Step 1: wash the decoration material and let it dry thoroughly again
Step 2: Remove the plant from its pot and make sure you take as few other materials with you as possible
Step 3: Check again that both the roots and the decoration piece are clean and dry
Step 4: Apply a small amount of glue and use the tweezers to press the roots into the glue
Step 5: Hold the plant with the tweezers for 15 seconds and then let it dry for another 15 seconds
Step 6: You can now carefully place the plant in the aquarium