best way to get vertical and branching growth on new frags?

[codydemmel4]

What do you guys think is the best way to get vertical and branch growth instead of just insane encrusting for months on end and then randomly all of a sudden it just starts shooting out branches?

Do you think it is better to put it on say a 1-2 inch plug and let it encrust the whole thing and pray it starts shooting out branchs?

Or do you think it is better to put it on a half inch frag plug and after it encrust that base which will be better fast, you assume its going to start growing vertically and shooting out branches?

Please give your explanation for your answer and if you have any pictures or experience, please post them.

 

[Myka]

I think the plug size has little to do with it. Plug material is more important imo, such as ceramic, sand/cement, or rock rubble. I find if I mount them at a 45 -ish degree angle mounted onto rock rubble I get the fastest growth. Frags going into my tank get mounted on a small piece of rock rubble, and then the rubble gets mounted onto the rock in the tank. That way if I need to move the frag into a better spot, I don't have to damage it to do so. This saves WEEKS of set back.

 

[Scorpius]

No frag plugs shall ever enter my tank again. I've found that a freshly cut coral encrusts quicker than letting it grow off the plug.

 

[Rakie]

No frag plugs shall ever enter my tank again. I've found that a freshly cut coral encrusts quicker than letting it grow off the plug.

I agree. Although I've also been told they will encrust on putty really quickly -- so much so, that some people are making their own frag plugs from putty.

 

[kevlow]

Last year I purchased a Green Dragon frag ; 1.5 inch tall well encrusted on a small cement plug. On the trip home from the lfs , the stem broke off right where the encrusting started.

At first I was not happy but then I thought " Well, I will have two frags for the price of one". So I remounted the stalk frag onto a new plug and figured that I would have the encrusted plug as a back up.

The tall stalk piece proceeded to take forever to encrust and basically did nothing for months. The flat encrusted plug immediately began a fresh new growth. Within six months it was twice the height of the original broke off stalk.

The broke off stalk after encrusting started a new shoot which began to grow out of the encrustment. The original remounted stalk never really changed.

Thinking back, this is usually the case. The original vertical part of the frag is the slowest grower. Any new vertical shoots outgrow the original frag I purchased.

For me, the material it is mounted on or the plug size has not mattered. It has all been about how quickly can I get a new shoot to start up. Once that happens, it will out grow the original vertical starter piece.

 

[Big E]

Last year I purchased a Green Dragon frag ; 1.5 inch tall well encrusted on a small cement plug. On the trip home from the lfs , the stem broke off right where the encrusting started.

At first I was not happy but then I thought " Well, I will have two frags for the price of one". So I remounted the stalk frag onto a new plug and figured that I would have the encrusted plug as a back up.

The tall stalk piece proceeded to take forever to encrust and basically did nothing for months. The flat encrusted plug immediately began a fresh new growth. Within six months it was twice the height of the original broke off stalk.

The broke off stalk after encrusting started a new shoot which began to grow out of the encrustment. The original remounted stalk never really changed.

Thinking back, this is usually the case. The original vertical part of the frag is the slowest grower. Any new vertical shoots outgrow the original frag I purchased.

For me, the material it is mounted on or the plug size has not mattered. It has all been about how quickly can I get a new shoot to start up. Once that happens, it will out grow the original vertical starter piece.

Yep, so true in everything above, with few exceptions some stag horns and a few other species will start sprouting from the actual stick, but most explode with growth from the base and the intial stick browns or doesn't grow much while the growth edge colors..........once the base is big enough all the new sprouts show the colors and growth.

It used to be SOP to mount frags slightly aimed downward ..........tip pointing down and fresh cut stem facing up..........or mount them flat. That's how you create the most area of the coral actually getting light.

Think about it being flat.........you have a larger area for the encrusting pool to start as it expands it will get big enough for the coral to sprout to ensure a solid base.

The only reason this has changed is that people want a bunch of little tree sticks to show off that look like something.

In our current society of, I want it "yesterday", you'd think people would have caught on by now.

 

[Pife]

I lay frags down that I want to grow faster. I like to do multiple frags of the same coral on a disk too. It seems to me that if I use multiple small frags on a disk when the encrusting meets the coral grows exponentially faster as the one frag double the size of the 2 I put on the single plug. I hope I explained that well enough.

On my wd frags I have one that's on a small plug and another on a 3 inch disk. The one that was able to encrust out with out having to go down the side of the plug is growing at a very rapid pace in comparison to the other.

 

[Rakie]

I lay frags down that I want to grow faster. I like to do multiple frags of the same coral on a disk too. It seems to me that if I use multiple small frags on a disk when the encrusting meets the coral grows exponentially faster as the one frag double the size of the 2 I put on the single plug. I hope I explained that well enough.

On my wd frags I have one that's on a small plug and another on a 3 inch disk. The one that was able to encrust out with out having to go down the side of the plug is growing at a very rapid pace in comparison to the other.

I do this as well. When I put frags in at an angle, or lay them down on their side they grow up -- meaning new branches.