How do I go about pulling up rooted plants?

[Crow]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I have a couple of swords that I want to swap between tanks and they’re rooted into the sand pretty well. I’m honestly not sure what the best way to go about it would be. Thanks in advance!

[Fish Folk]

Well, you can typically pull them out and replant. But it will make a cloudy mess. Bronze crypts can be exceptionally messy. I've had roots on them that stretch for eighteen inches.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Fish Folk

[Patrick_G]

I grab them by the base and very gently apply upward pressure. They’ll eventually break free. The roots might be long and it’s ok to break some, but be careful not to break the plant. Be prepared to have some cloudy water like @Fish Folk mentioned. 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Patrick_G

[JoeQ]

Slowly, if you pull too fast on a well rooted plant you'll disturb all of the substrate. If you do it in slow & gentle increments, you'll practically feel the roots sliding along the substrate surrounding them as the plant releases its "grip"

[nabokovfan87]

I would start with..... what kind of substrate?  what kind of plant?

For just about everything my tips would be to use your hand, try to gently get your fingers underneath the plant (about 2-3" around the base) and feel where the roots are going.  gently release them and move the substrate around until the plant can be uprooted. 

Then, you might want to trim the roots if some are very long and/or split the children off the runners, then replant. 

I toss those into a bucket of tank water to keep them wet (or specimen container) and then go ahead and move them to where need be.

[lefty o]

i just stick my hand under them to cup the bulk of the plant, and gently start lifting. unless you are a magician, you will break some roots off. as long as a good portion of the roots stay in fairly decent shape, it should have no long lasting affects.

[Odd Duck]

Yep, to all these suggestions.  I’ve got a layer of red, heavy clay dirt capped with sand in several tanks (either light tan or black sand depending on the tank) and I’ve found that I get less mess by pulling up slower.  Either that or the clay dissipates fast enough it looks less messy at the end.  🤷🏻‍♀️ Even going slow roots will break, but fewer break than if you get impatient and go faster.  I usually do a light siphon of the sand surface after pulling plants to help remove some of the clay that gets lifted up. If you have sand all the way, you will have less mess too clean up than if you have dirt layers.

[Crow]

Thanks for the replies! It's reassuring to know that I can break some of the roots and I won't kill my plants. That's mostly what I was worried about. 😊

[JettsPapa]

On 10/19/2022 at 11:45 PM, Crow said:

Thanks for the replies! It's reassuring to know that I can break some of the roots and I won't kill my plants. That's mostly what I was worried about. 😊

Trimming roots certainly won't hurt anything.  When my crypts get too thick I typically pull them all up (the roots are too interlocked to pull up just a few), separate them, sell some and replant the rest.  I trim off most of the roots on the ones I replant just because it's practically impossible to get all the roots back in the substrate if I don't.

I've done the same thing with a sword plant.

[Crow]

On 10/20/2022 at 6:54 AM, JettsPapa said:

Trimming roots certainly won't hurt anything.  When my crypts get too thick I typically pull them all up (the roots are too interlocked to pull up just a few), separate them, sell some and replant the rest.  I trim off most of the roots on the ones I replant just because it's practically impossible to get all the roots back in the substrate if I don't.

I've done the same thing with a sword plant.

This is great and helpful information, thank you!