Wisteria - very long stems, roots appearing at "nodes" in the middle - how to plant??

[CherrySparkles]

Hi everyone,

I'm very new to plants and have gotten my hands on a number of 12"+ long wisteria plants. But I have no idea how to plant them - both ends of the stem have leaves on them, and the roots are appearing at "nodes" (if I'm using the term correctly) along the middle of the stalk, every 4" or so.

How do I plant this in the substrate?

Do I need to cut the plant near the rooted points and plant the roots into the substrate? I'm nervous of just cutting it up without a bit of guidance from the more experienced aquarists for fear of just killing it!

My tank is a 10g, so I need these plants to be more like 8" - 10" tall and growing from the substrate, instead of floating, as they currently are, and blocking out all the light!

Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

[Goes to 11!]

You can just cut them exactly where your common sense was telling you to and then plant them.

Decent light and substrate & some ferts and they will take right off.

[Lady Hobbs]

Common for Wisteria. Nothing to worry about. Just whack 'em off anywhere. The more you cut, the more they thicken up.


oops......anywhere not anyway! *sigh

[homemadepopcorn]

Cut them at the nodes leaving a piece of root on each stem. Trim the root and the top of the plant and plant the roots in the substrate. Should give you some nice bushy wisteria in no time.

[madagascariensis]

I have HEARD(without personal experience) that after cutting stem plants they should not be planted in the substrate right away, but left floating for a few days to let the cut wounds heal and become less prone to rotting up from below. As said I don't have personal experience with that but it doesn't really hurt to try...

[Lady Hobbs]

I have planted again right away and I have also bunched up all the stems I've cut, banded them together and just dropped the whole bunch back in the tank. Within two weeks, I have roots and then planted them. I would hate to try to plant them in gravel tho.

[CherrySparkles]

Fantastic, thanks so much for the advice! I had heard that it was a very easy plant, which is why I grabbed it, and I'm glad that pruning it is just as easy.

I hacked it up and popped all the bits into the substrate, with some effort, to make sure that they're getting all the root-tab-goodness. The person that I got them from just letting them float to grow, so they've got all kinds of random kinks in them. I'm hoping that they'll straighten out a bit and start to stretch upward towards the lighting? They're a bit of a motley crew at the moment, pointing every which way in the tank!

If they don't sort themselves out, this will just have to be a jungle tank. As long as the plants don't die, I'll call it a success!

[homemadepopcorn]

They'll straighten out. They like light too much.