Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: safe plants, where to buy them?

  1. #1
    xboxQueen
    Guest

    Default safe plants, where to buy them?

    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..

  2. # ADS
    Circuit advertisement
     

  3. #2
    100+ Post Member Sarosaurus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Nationality
    [United States]
    Location
    Washington
    Age
    37
    Posts
    154
    Blog Entries
    2
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Default Re: safe plants, where to buy them?

    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.

  4. This member thanks Sarosaurus for this post:


  5. #3
    BonnieLorraine
    Guest

    Default Re: safe plants, where to buy them?

    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.

  6. This member thanks BonnieLorraine for this post:


  7. #4
    xboxQueen
    Guest

    Default Re: safe plants, where to buy them?

    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


  8. #5
    BonnieLorraine
    Guest

    Default Re: safe plants, where to buy them?

    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

  9. 2 members thank BonnieLorraine for this post:


  10. #6
    xboxQueen
    Guest

    Default Re: safe plants, where to buy them?

    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

  11. #7
    BonnieLorraine
    Guest

    Default Re: safe plants, where to buy them?

    The problem is any decent sized plant is most likely going to have fertilizer and pesticide, you could try to contain the pothos in pots buried in your tank, hack at them religiously, and replace them with other plants once you can get them up to size. Ideally you want to start a tank next time a month or two before introducing frogs so that your plants have time to root and establish themselves, it's hard for cuttings to root with little frogs bouncing all over them lol. The best I can suggest for now is start some cuttings in another covered tank in little pots of ABG, and transfer them over when they're big enough to handle the frogs (not sure what kind of frogs you have, pumilios and other thumbs won't do much damage, but tincs and auratus are quite heavy). I could say grow some faster growing stuff like Hydrocotyle, but you'll end up hacking that back too just like the pothos (though one of these days I'm going to make a tank of solid verticillata, it looks like mini lily pads).

  12. This member thanks BonnieLorraine for this post:


  13. #8
    xboxQueen
    Guest

    Default Re: safe plants, where to buy them?

    As of right now I don't have any frogs. I had planned on letting these 4 plants establish themselves and a month later order some frogs but I don't think a months worth of growing these plants will give them enough places to hide.

    I might do what you suggested, use the pothos until I get some actual plants and give them time to cycle through and I have plenty of the abg mix left over so it should be easy

    Bonnie you're the best, thank you so much for all the info and time you've given me!!

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Blackjungle plants safe?
    By RedHed in forum Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: June 14th, 2012, 12:55 AM
  2. Safe Plants?
    By Bumblebee in forum Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: April 4th, 2012, 12:25 PM
  3. Pacman safe plants???
    By Sadam in forum Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: March 31st, 2012, 11:32 AM
  4. Safe plants
    By Elwynn in forum Fire Belly Toads (Bombina)
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: January 29th, 2012, 07:55 PM
  5. Vivarium plants... Safe?
    By Heatheranne in forum Off-Topic
    Replies: 31
    Last Post: September 6th, 2011, 10:39 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •