Need Help ASAP!!!!!!!

So last night me and one of my friends went down to the lake to take the dogs for a run, and of course smoke a bowl! We went down to this little secluded area, sat down loaded my pipe, and just as I was about to spark it up I looked in the water and was shocked! Someone had pulled up four beautiful little plants and just thrown them in the lake!
Of course I grabbed them and went home as fast as the speed limit would allow, completely bypassing the bowl I had just loaded.


NOW THE PROBLEM.........

Like I said someone had ripped them up out of the ground......I'm sure that they lost a decent amount of their roots seeing as how two of the plants are nearly a foot tall and starting to sprout branches (some nearly 1 1/2" to 2"!) and the roots were like three and a half inches long and not nearly as thick and full as I would expect for any plant. The third plant is only about 8 inches and after I potted it in a plastic cup with potting soil that I had just happened to buy that day (funny how that stuff works out!), it seems to be doing ok.....it's leaves aren't nearly as wilted and it can support itself now. The two big ones however are wilted really really bad. The leaves aren't drying up, so I assume they are still alive just very very badly shocked. I clipped off a few of the larger fan leaves, and lower branches (branch starts i guess technically)........I'd say about 20% of the total plant? Did I do the right thing? I figure since the roots are so small they couldn't support the entire plant, so i should take off some of the leaves so they didn't have to work as hard. Do you think I have a shot at saving these little plants?

As for the fourth "plant" it was the top of a plant of similar heighth but no stalk or roots. So I got rooting hormone powder and peat pellets. I clipped off nearly all of the leaves, save the newest fan leaves and two sets of "branchlets" beneath them. All and all it is like 3". It seems to be doing alright, although it's hard to judge by how bare it is lol.

I have them in a 10 gallon aquarium with a homemade wire screen top (like rabbit cage wire). I took the screen and bent it so that the top makes like a 45 degree angle, maybe a little wider and put it on top because the plants are taller than the tank with their cups, and I'm on limited funds seeing as how this was all unplanned. I went out and got two 12 3/4" T5 lighting fixtures (I believe they are 8 watt, not much I know but all I can afford as of now.) and they sit on the screen. The two large plants are lightly tethered to the wire screen with pipe cleaners because they cannot support themselves but the small one holds itself up, and the fourth one, my "clone", is setting on an upside down cup right beside the others but about 6 inches below the lights. The other plants the tops are about 1 1/2" from the lights. I also put a few pellets (very few.....a small pinch per plant) of osmocote on top of the soil after I watered them, was that a mistake?

Overall, does this seem workable for the short-term? And I guess my big question is about the roots being so small.....I know Pot is a weed and is extremely hardy but do you guys think they are that hardy? Obviously they have been through a great deal of stress.....being pulled up, floating in the lake for who knows how long (I don't think that long though), and then me repotting them and trimming them. I just hope they can make it!

Thanks in advance,
Princeofsin

 

What wattage do I want and where can I find them?

I am a total beginner.......ive grown houseplants before, but I've never really dealt with Ph or anything. How do I adjust the pH, and I guess even before that, what's a cheap way to test it? Is it completely necessary for them to have a pH of 6.5?
If I give them rooting hormone will it overload them because I put the osmocote on them?

 

Thank you guys for your help

Unknown Future- Didn't see your post in time.....today I woke up and the bottom leaves on the larger plants were starting to dry out, like actually starting to turn a little bit crispy, so I freaked out cut the top three inches off of both the big plants and cloned them. I left the branchlets right at the crotch where I "topped the plants" but those are the only leaves on the plants........ The remains of the plants actually look like they are doing good, the leaves are plumping up and actually look normal now. The clones are still droopy but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Wouldn't less roots make it even harder for the plant to come back if I left all the leaves on?
As for the lights, aren't T5 lights better than CFL's? I used to have a saltwater tank and I was planning on "upgrading" my lights from cfl to T5.............just wondering.........


Cantharis- Yeah I kinda figured as much, I try and keep things as simple as possible, all that chemistry shit just throws me for a loop! I guess it is something that I should work on learning though.......

Destroyer1- I'm usually pretty lucky Lol.......hopefully that luck will carry over to them being female!