# Dwarf Hair Grass (eleocharis parvula) planting ideas needed



## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

I picked up some DHG from petsmart last night. Looking for some ideas on how you plant them. I have researched online and on youtube and have a good idea how to plant them.

what I am looking for is should I trim it short so that it all grows the same height? or should I plant some short ones around three sides and leave the middle and back long? or just go with the flow and plant what I have.

My tank is only about 10"-11" tall so I just don't want it to look too out of place. Here is the latest pic of my tank. For reference the two sword plants are about 9" tall roughly measured from the substrate.


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## Naladari (Jan 4, 2013)

Id bunch them in your front left foreground in the picture.


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

From what I read they will eventually fill in the rest of the tank, correct?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

You can tear or cut them into pieces (assume the ones you got were in a 3 inch long by 1 inch long mat) and then plant them about an inch to inch and a half away from each other and they will eventually fill in like that if you have enough lighting and ferts. They're heavy root feeders too as most carpet plants are, so they'll enjoy either substrate for plants or root tabs.

Anywho, I'd line them across the front in small bunches about 1-1.5 inches away from the glass but in front of the swords. It's going to kind of look spotty for quite a while until they're acclimated and will grow after that.


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

my DHG came in the plastic package from petsmart that was hanging on the shelf. Soon I will pull them out and put them in some conditioned water so they can breath.

my tank bottom is not completely flat. there is actually a smaller deeper square about 1" or so smaller than the tank. so there is going to be a little path between the DHG and the sides. You can look at the swords, they are in the front most corners of the deep part of the tank.

Does anyone have any recommendations on height? should I make and keep them short or let them be natural height?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

If you want a carpet, go short but if not then go natural. Or you can have it shorter where the "path" will be and towards the edges of the tank, let it grow natural to give the illusion of a deeper tank.


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

if plant everything and trim it later will it grow back fully or stay short? all the information I read has said to make the decision of short or tall before planting. but nothing ever says anything about it after planting.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh yes, it will grow! As far as I know, they will continue to grow up, much like regular grass does.

Some plants like Microsword, if you trim them they scar over because they don't self heal like some plants do. All Swords don't self heal but as far as I'm aware, hairgrasses do.


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

so it sounds like I need to make the decision of short or long BEFORE planting, correct?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Not really. Lots of people "mow" their DHG on occasion. For me, it's semi-hard to grow...and I love the way it looks. The only thing I really know from experience is it grows better if it isn't "clumped." And it will spread and eventuallu carpet your whole tank. Just thin and replant when one area gets too thick.


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

Can somebody confirm that if I cut both the roots and tops short from the begining will it stay short? that has been the consensus of my research.

because you know they can't put anything on the internet that isn't true :lol:


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol, you can cut the roots to stimulate growth, that will help. 

In my research it does grow back after being trimmed, that's part of being a carpet plant. Just like normal grass outside, you trim it and a few weeks later it's already over growing. But that's IF you have good enough lighting and ferts. So you can gvie the top just a slight trim for now so it's not too terrible looking when you plop it in. Make sure to get rid of all the gel as well, it won't harm anything but it's just a pain in the butt is all


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

several youtube vidoes indicate that if the roots are trimmed to stimulate the growth and the tops are cut short that it will stay short. I find that hard to believe though. guess i need to invest in an underwater mini lawnmower for the tank now :lol:

The package didn't have any gel on the roots that I could tell. it was just in a small sealed clear plastic bag. So last night i took it out and put it in a small container with one drop of prime and sat it next to my tank.

The DHG looks very healthy so hopefully I can get it planted this weekend. am I going to need to invest in root tabs? My swords are doing fine and I have never put in root tabs.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

You don't necessarily need root tabs but it will definitely help them grow! My swords were fine without them but they started to get flimsy so I added root tabs and now they're much healthier, growing quicker and firmer leaves.

Yeah I don't think that's very true about the hairgrass....I've seen plenty of youtube vids were people are cutting their carpet's because well...it grows!! lol Although if you are worried about it, don't trim the top, give the roots a bit of a trim and then plant it. For the first month or so it's not going to do much but once it's fully acclimated to the water chemistry and the lighting, it will start to grow and then you can trim after that ^_^


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

I was hoping to find something that would stay short in the 1"-2" range and this was what I came up with and what was available local.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It will be short after it acclimates to your tank and doesn't melt or anything. You can then safely trim it whenever it get's too high. I think what they're talking about and this happens often with plants, when cut out in the open air it does something and reacts against the plant but when cut under water, it keeps it alive and healthy. Well alive is relative. But that's what florists do when cutting flower's, cut the stems at an angle and under water and it will live longer in a vase.

So I would assume that's more what's going to happen with the hairgrass. But once it's root and growing, you can trim it down wherever you want it to and it will grow back


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

I guess I will give the trim a try and some of them and see what happens. I have to work on a lighting issue this weeked before planting.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, always worth a shot. You can always buy more if it doesn't work the way you want it to.


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