safe plants, where to buy them?

[xboxQueen]

So I bought a few plants but when I ordered them, I didn't realize how small they were going to be, yeah I'm a newb to all of this, I was thinkin they would be like what you'd find at Walmart, the size of those 5 dollar plants, nope! They are teeny plant clippings with some roots.

Needless to say even by next month, there won't be enough cover for frogs. Where can I order frog safe plants of a decent size? At lease 5" tall with some fullness to them?

Also my mother in law has a bunch plants, she plans on visiting within the next 2-3 weeks, she's going to bring me some clippings of some wondering Jews (2 diff kinds) and a piece of what she thinks is an aluminum pilea, I have one in my viv but its tiny, I figure an extra sprig will help lol. She doesn't fertilize her indoor plants at all, just waters them, so would it be safe to put the clippings right in the tank so they can root right in it?

Has anyone bought plants from eBay? I've seen a few I like but I'm afraid of bugs or fertilizers. As for repotting, I know you get as much of the old potting soil off as possible, replant them but how long does it take until its safe enough to put in a tank? Mind you, I'm a plant serial killer so any and all info about this will help loads n loads. lol but I'm hoping in the viv I can grow something lol..

[Sarosaurus]

http://www.frogforum.net/plants-plan...ts-online.html

There is this thread that lists a lot of sites to purchase plants from. I ordered a Copper Lady Cryptanthus from Rainforest Flora and it came in a 4" pot. Just look through all the sites until you find a selection you like.

[BonnieLorraine]

The reason terrarium plants are usually sold as clippings is so they can root in and adapt to your tanks conditions, also, no worry about getting all the soil off. If you do it right, it shouldn't take very long to have a very full tank (I can get mine going in about a month). Your MIL's plants should be fine to put straight in, just check for pests, and be warned that the wandering jews are going to constantly be swallowing your tank and you'll be forever hacking them back, for some people that's a plus, others not so much. The reason you won't find most terrarium plants in stores is because they're very slow growing, awesome for terrariums since we can keep the plants small for years and years, not so great for plant producers that want to sell giant 4" full pots. I sell 2" pots at shows, and those take me as long to produce as it used to producing 4" pots of the larger stuff for the school.

[xboxQueen]

Hi again Bonnie, thanks again for your reply and actually I somehow wrote my original message wrong lmao. She's bringing clippings from 2 different pothos lol. I already have a rainbow wandering jew, its one of the teeny plants I ordered. But anyway, when I cut them back, will it make the plant fuller, correct? How long should I let the vines get before I trim it back? I'd like to get it nice and full before I work on length of the vines. The other plants I orderd are a pilea aluminum, streptocarpella sp. And an itty bitty bromeliad (neoregelia dunhsiana) its cute lol about 2" lol do you know about how long it'll take for these to offer some kinda cover for my future darts?

Ty for the info about the clippings, it makes sense now I was really disappointed lol.

Also, I found a post on here from last year that says if one is buying from a nursery or store, all I have to do is rinse, rinse, rinse and rinse some more to get rid of the fertilizers. Is this true? Is it really this easy? If so, I'll be checking home depot, Lowes and Walmart lol. I also read in the same thread to dip them in a soapy solution to get rid of or help prevent bugs. How does that work? Submerge the whole thing, roots and all or just the top and no roots? Do I let it soak a little or just dip and rinse?

Sorry about all the questions, hope no ones sick of me yet

[BonnieLorraine]

If you're buying from the store (or even a lot of the big frog vendors purchase wholesale plants from large suppliers) I would wait at least a month for any systemic pesticides to wear off (systemic means it goes inside the plant, into the cells, and no amount of washing will get rid of it, though wash anyway to get off any soil and whatever is on the surface of the leaves). As for pothos, it's probably going to swallow the other plants you put in your tank, when people use pothos in a vivarium, it usually ends up being only pothos because it will strangle everything else in there. The Pilea is good, can get a bit leggy eventually, but you can always pinch it back, Streptocarpellas are awesome gesneriads that we grow in hanging baskets at the school, but can be kept tiny with trimming, and Neoregelia dungsiana gets to about 3"-4" and forms nice little clumps. I try to get a good mix of plants when I'm doing a tank, a few broms (I like to do the same kind of brom in a tank though, looks more natural to me than the people that do 10 varieties of colorful broms in a single tank), some vines up the back wall or climbing the wood, a few epiphytes for up on the branches, one or two ground covers, and some larger filler plants for the mid to back area (your Pilea would fall under that category). Feel free to ask away on the plant questions, I grow this stuff for a living

[xboxQueen]

Wow, the bromeliad is going to stay super tiny.. I thought it was going to grow to 6-8" lol oops my bad. Guess I'll be looking for another one of those. So, its a no go on the pothos.. my pilea is planted in the back-go me for getting something right lol. I have the streptocarpella in the front and the wandering jew in the back corner.

I really want a pink polka dot plant but if I have to let it sit out for a month, ill probably have my frogs by then, won't too little of plants stress them out? Do you have any suggestions as to where to find a decent sized plant pesticide n fertilizer free? even if I don't like it, it'll work until the others grow or buy me some time to cycle some new plants