When placing real plants into aquarium, is it better to keep them in bunches or seperate them?

I was wondering how you place your aquatic plants in your aquarium. I always had trouble with my plants when I put them in bunches. The stem close the root seems to break but now when I plant them stem by stem leaving 2-3 inches between them, my plants do better. They actually do very well. Any suggestions? I'd like to add more plants to the tank but wanted some advice first.





The tank gets 11 hours of light per day and my current plants are doing ok with the exception of 1 stem.

When placing real plants into aquarium, is it better to keep them in bunches or seperate them?
I have tried both ways, but have a hard time getting them to stay put individually, so keep them in small clumps. One thing I tried that helps w/what your saying, is to trim the broken/flimsy root ends (on certain plants) before planting. Sometimes, they seem damaged from the store, so trimimg off the bended part seems to help them stay put. Adding a little more gravel around the plant bases might also help them stay rooted.
Reply:that depends on your sense of decoration more then any thing else but by experince put them in climps with few inches in between
Reply:For stem plants, you want to cut above the node, and you want to plant each stem and allow enough light between stems to reach the lower leaves. I planted my stem plants in the substrate with at least one node buried, making sure the stem end is as shallow as possible in the substrate by pushing it deep and then pulling up until it is shallow. The root will growth much faster this way.





For root plants, I always trim roots and leave about 1" or so. Use your thumb to make a hole in the substrate and then push the plant down deep, then cover the hole with substrate. Then I pull the plant up until I see the tip of the crown. This will work for most root plants. Don't plant Java fern into the substrate, you need to attach it a wood, rock...etc.





For Bulb Plants, I planted the bulb leaving half of the bulb above the substrate.





Hope this help