Best Way to Keep Plants Until I'm Ready To Plant?

[rydin4life]

I have some plants coming from ACO and some from another vendor, but they are arriving on different days.  I prefer to just wait to plant them all together and do maintenance at the same time.  What's the best way to keep plants from one vendor for a day or two until the others arrive?  Can I just put in a 5-gallon bucket with a bit of fertilizer and sit my plant light on top of the bucket for a few hours?

[Lynaea]

If it’s only for a couple days the bucket will work fine with dechlorinated water . I would skip the ferts and light though so you don’t start algae growing. 

[rydin4life]

Thanks...I would imagine 2 days so I just wanted to be sure that having them in a dark 5 gallon bucket wouldn't be detrimental.

[GoofyGarra]

Personally I would remove any stem plants from their pots and float them.

[rydin4life]

On 9/30/2024 at 3:10 PM, GoofyGarra said:

Personally I would remove any stem plants from their pots and float them.

 

Gotcha - I did plan to remove any pots and just put them in a bucket...no need to weigh them down or anything?  Or do you mean simply float them in the tank under the light/lid and skip the bucket all together?

Edited September 30 by rydin4life

[GoofyGarra]

On 9/30/2024 at 3:56 PM, rydin4life said:

Or do you mean simply float them in the tank under the light/lid and skip the bucket all together?

This option

[Odd Duck]

Plants are pretty forgiving of a couple days in minimal light.  You might get a but of curving of stems if it ends up longer than that.  You can take them out of the pots or leave them in, whichever works best for your schedule / timing in regard to when they arrive, if you have time to unpot them that day, etc.  In the pots they do tend to stay upright and you won’t get the curving stems.  No need for ferts for only a couple days and it doesn’t even matter if you dechlorinate the water in the bucket.  I’ve been known to just plop them in the kitchen sink if it’s only going to be a couple days.  I do Reverse Respiration on plants no matter the source, even when they come from ACO.  I don’t want to risk any arrivals I’m not expecting.

[rydin4life]

On 9/30/2024 at 5:05 PM, Odd Duck said:

Plants are pretty forgiving of a couple days in minimal light.  You might get a but of curving of stems if it ends up longer than that.  You can take them out of the pots or leave them in, whichever works best for your schedule / timing in regard to when they arrive, if you have time to unpot them that day, etc.  In the pots they do tend to stay upright and you won’t get the curving stems.  No need for ferts for only a couple days and it doesn’t even matter if you dechlorinate the water in the bucket.  I’ve been known to just plop them in the kitchen sink if it’s only going to be a couple days.  I do Reverse Respiration on plants no matter the source, even when they come from ACO.  I don’t want to risk any arrivals I’m not expecting.

Thanks...I actually just learned about reverse respiration and will be doing that as well.  These are replacement plants as the ones I currently have didn't work out.  I did an aluminum soak on them so I'm not sure if that caused the issues or if there was another cause, but ill be doing RR this time around for sure.

[Tony s]

I have actually gotten a tank set up just for plants now. And older 20g that was empty. I am forever ordering plants, and completely running out of time to get them planted. I usually leave them potted as is until I'm ready to deal with them. This keeps me from losing the plants I just ordered and now have no time for

[Retrophyllum_minus]

On 9/30/2024 at 8:51 PM, Tony s said:

I have actually gotten a tank set up just for plants now. And older 20g that was empty. I am forever ordering plants, and completely running out of time to get them planted. I usually leave them potted as is until I'm ready to deal with them. This keeps me from losing the plants I just ordered and now have no time for

I do similarly in a 10 gallon. Medium ACO sponge filter running in it. Keep them potted. No substrate. Just let them sit there with a light on them until I am ready for them. I also will toss in any extra bits or cuttings I want to propagate. 

[MWilk]

Any reason I shouldn’t be tossing the whole pot in my tank every time I get plants? I always wait until the weekend to do any planting and they have lasted just fine. 

[Retrophyllum_minus]

On 9/30/2024 at 10:05 PM, MWilk said:

Any reason I shouldn’t be tossing the whole pot in my tank every time I get plants? I always wait until the weekend to do any planting and they have lasted just fine. 

No. I've done that too. I just like to have a separate plant grow out/acclimation/propagation tank. 

[Tony s]

On 9/30/2024 at 10:05 PM, MWilk said:

Any reason I shouldn’t be tossing the whole pot in my tank every time I get plants?

That works fine. If you know what you want where. I often don’t know what plant I want in which tank. Takes a few days to ruminate on it. 

[tolstoy21]

On 9/30/2024 at 3:56 PM, rydin4life said:

Or do you mean simply float them in the tank under the light/lid and skip the bucket all together?

That's what I typically do. If they are in a pot, I leave them in the pot. If they are stem plants bound together with a led clip, in they go that way.

Either that, or I use a 5g bucket. But if you have a lot of plants, make sure the plants in the bucket aren't blocking light to the other plants underneath them for too long. 

I tend to use a bucket more when I am, taking plants out of an aquarium and they need a temporary place to live.

Edited October 1 by tolstoy21

[JoeQ]

I habitually just drop new plants in my tanks with their original bindings for awhile. Partiality out of laziness, partially out of wanting to give them an adjustment period/observe their reaction to the light. I have 1 plant bought a month ago still bound. As long as they are well fed, properly reacting to the light and growing I see no rush to unbind them and get them planted other than for esthetic reasons. 

Edited October 1 by JoeQ

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I find reverse respiration plus just floating them in the tank as the way to go. With stems when I see some new air roots coming off the stem I know they are ready to plant. I typically depot the swords and rosette type plants although I have had great success leaving them in the rock wool with a fresh ACO root tab as well.