# Mounting plants to DW with hot glue?



## zachary908 (Feb 12, 2011)

I use gel super glue, and it works great!


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## akdylpickles (Feb 21, 2011)

I'd recommend using super glue (make sure to get the gel type) because the hot glue gun might damage the plant and kill it.


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## Kurious (Jan 21, 2012)

Not to hijack, but can I also use hot glue or gel super glue to affix soaked driftwood to slate? I know folks recommend drilling screws through slate and into wood, but for thinner branches 3/4" thick I'm afraid to drill and maybe destroy some pieces. But will wet/waterlogged wood adhere to glue?


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## DesmondTheMoonBear (Dec 19, 2011)

I did it with anubias and java ferns without any consequences. I didn't have any fast drying super glue at the time, and the hot glue gun worked better than I anticipated.


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## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

I used the hot glue gun to mount a bunch of anubias to my dw. Worked great! Only time will tell if there was any side effects.


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## dunehole (Sep 13, 2011)

Kurious said:


> Not to hijack, but can I also use hot glue or gel super glue to affix soaked driftwood to slate? I know folks recommend drilling screws through slate and into wood, but for thinner branches 3/4" thick I'm afraid to drill and maybe destroy some pieces. But will wet/waterlogged wood adhere to glue?



I super glued smaller branches to my bigger branches. It worked well on the wood that was almost dry, just took a bit longer to dry ( I had to hold it for a minute or two instead of a few seconds). But the wood that was wet to moist did not stick at all.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

Kurious said:


> Not to hijack, but can I also use hot glue or gel super glue to affix soaked driftwood to slate? I know folks recommend drilling screws through slate and into wood, but for thinner branches 3/4" thick I'm afraid to drill and maybe destroy some pieces. But will wet/waterlogged wood adhere to glue?


I'd be pretty hesitant to try and glue anything wet. most glues won't bond to wet materials. I don't have experience with trying to hot-glue wet stuff, but I would guess that the wet wood would have an immediate cooling effect of the glue that contacts it, lessening it's ability to mold around the pores and such of the wood. Can't imagine there would be much harm in trying, aside from a miniscule amount of wasted gluestick.

maybe try a polyurethane glue (like gorilla glue) I believe these are activated by moisture, so as long as the piece isn't dripping wet, the water present in the wood may actually encourage a bond? 

or possibly one of those epoxy putties - I know there are special "aquarium-safe" overpriced varieties targeted towards reefkeepers for attaching live rock/coral pieces, but I imagine some of the regular hardware-store versions would work just as well at a fraction of the price. I just don't know which ones myself, and haven't heard of anyone testing them.

As to the worries with a piece of wood, unless it's less then ~1/2" or so in diameter, I think proper drilling should be pretty safe- just make sure the drill bit you use is as big or bigger then the shaft of the screw you are using, but not quite as big as the threads.


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

Superglue gel (cyanoacrylate) has worked well for me with mosses and fissidens. You do have to dry both the rock/wood and the plant a bit to make sure they bond before glue dries up.


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

zergling said:


> Superglue gel (cyanoacrylate) has worked well for me with mosses and fissidens. You do have to dry both the rock/wood and the plant a bit to make sure they bond before glue dries up.


You can actually super glue under water if you want doesn't need to be dry at all for attaching plants.


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## kcartwright856 (Jan 16, 2012)

Craigthor said:


> You can actually super glue under water if you want doesn't need to be dry at all for attaching plants.


+1. You don't need to dry anything.


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## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

superglue underwater can get a bit messy. I used to do that with frags.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Zip ties are good for wood. As the wood rots over time it will eventually rot where you glued it. If it gets soft where you zip tied it, just snug the zip tie a bit tighter. 
They don't work too well on rock, though.


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## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

Update: Nothing held down with hot glue stayed down. I will stick to superglue I guess.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

Diana said:


> Zip ties are good for wood. As the wood rots over time it will eventually rot where you glued it. If it gets soft where you zip tied it, just snug the zip tie a bit tighter.
> They don't work too well on rock, though.


 Won't anubias eventually attach it's rhizome (via, uh... little root-like thingies that I don't know the term for...) to the wood? 

I just figured something like this just needs to be temporary, to hold the plant to the wood long enough for the plant's mechanisms to attach itself.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

I use Gel superglue.
I even use it underwater... 
Just wear a rubber glove, apply it to the part of the plant that needs gluing and plunge it underwater and press it to the wood, it sticks in about a second. 
Of course you can use it above water too. 
Super glue cures very very quickly underwater so there isn't any danger to anything.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Super glue actually needs moisture to bond. That's why it likes your skin so much. If you have a problem attaching SG to a surface that it normally should stick to, spritzing it with water first actually helps it bond.


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## jersysman (Jan 7, 2007)

Yep.... I attach all of my moss to my driftwood underwater using superglue gel. It's amazing how good it works underwater!


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