when do you plant?

[ColleenT]

do you plant before the sphagnum moss and leaf litter, or after? if you plant before, does it choke out the plants when you put a few inches of leaf litter? Sorry i am not sure what to do when i plant mine. anyone have a pic of how you did it?

[Bombina Bob]

I tend to plant before adding sphagnum and leaf litter. From my experience, it doesn't
choke out the plant. If you are planting Epiphites, i would plant above ground on driftwood.

[awelcome]

I did it before because I assumed they would need to be in the more solid ABG to stay upright anyway. I did go lighter on the moss/leaf litter around the plants though. But my leaves were HUGE and I had to cut them all down to size to even fit in my small viv lol. Mine were Magnolia leaves. I am not expert when it comes to plants though, so I will be checking back here as well for advice.

[LilyPad]

I plant before and fill in around. I usually stick with live oak leaf litter because it is smaller. I don't put a few inches in, just a layer to cover the substrate. No experience on building dart vivs though, so it may be done differently.

[ColleenT]

ok. i have a pothos from lowes that i might take only a little bit from, and a fittonia, which is really pretty, and 2 air ferns on the way. i have spots for the air ferns, but don't know where to put the other stuff. i have a branch on the way, and a coconut hut, so i am running out of room..i got 2 bags of ABG like recommended at Josh's but it does not seem like a lot to me. i have a culture of springtails coming too, so maybe that will add some depth.