Plants

[DonLisk]

I definitely have little knowledge about plants and adding them to a viv.
Basically, when I add a plant I wash them down and sometimes I I take the whole plant and dirt from the pot and place it in the substrate of the viv, sometimes I pull apart the roots from the dirt and just add the roots with a small amount of soil to the substrate.


Can someone break down the different methods for cutting and adding plants to a viv?

[btcope]

depends on the plant ... if i just get a cutting of an epiphyte or something, i usually just sort of set it on top of some moist sphagnum and see how it does ... bromeliads i stick the stolon into the clay on the background and sometimes add additional supports made from toothpicks or those plastic coated paperclips.

potted plants that i'm moving into a viv i like to rinse them really well because one time i got a snail that rode in on one and ate a bunch of stuff. luckily there seems to only have been one and no eggs. as for the soil, i've been told that chemicals like fertilizers and such can cause problems for frogs, so I rinse the roots really well and make sure i get all the little white balls off of them before i put them in. then i just sort of scoop some of the top layers aside and stick them in.

-brett

[Leefrogs]

Some plants will root in water with cuttings. Corn plant does well with this method. Some others will root by just moist dirt. If u find your cuttings are rotting, it may be a plant that has to air lei or come from seed in order to propitate. You do this by wraping woody stem in damp spagham moss and wrapping in suran wrap. Make it kind of loose, don't swish it, you want like a pillow effect, then tape both ends tight. This will cause roots to grow inside pillow, usually takes about 6 months, depending on plant. If u see condensation griwing inside bubble, u did it right. You can google plant name and see if it can grow from cuttings.

[DonLisk]

Thanks for the replies.

After plants should expect some die off of the leaves if its already a pretty mature plant?

When I just planted my new Creeping Fig, I did use about 2 tablespoons of the original dirt with the little pieces of foam in it. I then buried that under some substrate. Should I remove it and just put in the roots and cover in substrate?

[clownonfire]

This is a great thread. Thanks Don.

[DonLisk]

Thanks Eric, its something I never learned and in the livingroom my plants do awesome and so far one of my vivs the plants are out of control.
My other Whites viv was OK but the frogs were too heavy for some of the plants and some never took.

Figure, who better to ask then the folks who have them doing well.

More info from others would be great too.

[Socrates]

I use a variety of plants for planted vivariums. I also use moss that I collect from my place up in Wisconsin. I always use a mix of some coco fiber and soil from my garden (pesticide/herbicide/fertilizer free of course) on top of hydro balls or smooth river stones - this is for proper drainage. I use about a couple inches thick of the soil/coco fiber mix and I will directly plant into the soil and/or place plants in pots on the soil and half bury them. Pathos is a nice plant because it basically can grow in any type of semi-tropical to completely immersed in water condition. Mother-in-law tongue is a good plant as well, almost impossible to kill it. Wandering Jew is another good plant as well as bromealids for tropical set-ups. Live bamboo also works nicely, because has a nice thick body - good for heavier set frogs. Having live moss also aids in moisture levels, helps cycle the soil and adds a nice look. I would also recommend throwing in some spring-tails and earth worms to help cycle the soil - keeps the Nitrogen cycle going and makes for nice fertile soil. For lighting it's good to use a fluorescent light bulb to provide a 12 hour light cycle. Also Exo Terra makes nice bulbs for this, because some are specifically designed for tropical habitats and others for desert. Hope this helps.

[Rocko]

Aside from the directions on the box, does anyone have any tips towards keeping frog (pillow) moss alive? I swear mine browns like within 2 days of rehydration.

[Kurt]

Don,
You need to take a ride out to Black Jungle. Just take Rte 2 all the way out to Turner Falls, take a left at your first set of lights, then bear right at the Cumberland Farms and your there. They have a great green house. Everything I know about plants I learned from Richard.

[DonLisk]

Don,
You need to take a ride out to Black Jungle. Just take Rte 2 all the way out to Turner Falls, take a left at your first set of lights, then bear right at the Cumberland Farms and your there. They have a great green house. Everything I know about plants I learned from Richard.

Hi Kurt, thanks for the reply. I really need to take a road trip there. Its about 3 hours I think so a day trip on a Saturday would be pretty cool.

I need to hit them up for some springtails and hopefully for some extra nozzles for a Exo-Terra Monsoon. I saw they have a ton of plants and they also have some D. Leucomelas and I can definitely use one to two more :-)

[Sugar]

Defoliating plants won't kill them unless you remove around 75% of the foliage. Less than this will encourage lots of growth in the root system. Cutting off the leaves on the tallest parts of most plants should release the lower stems from apical dominance, and should produce lateral growth, or a "bushier" appearance.

Most species can be reproduced by making clippings close to the base, as in the removal of a whole stem, and placed in water. The water should be filtered to limit uptake of heavy metals and chlorine/chloramines, but never distilled because doing so removes essential minerals. Some species can take a few weeks to produce a primary root. I think there are water soluble, organic fertilizers available, but I've always just given my cuttings lots of sunlight and regular water changes and haven't had a problem.

I buy my plants from a local nursery, and they try to grow organically. In spite of this, I still wipe new plants down with clean cloth (no soap) and rinse their root systems. Some people quarantine for 30 days in organic soil before adding new plants of mysterious origin to their vivs, but I haven't actually seen anything conclusive about fertilizers and such eventually being "pushed out" by the plant. Be careful when washing root systems because doing so can damage the root hairs and inhibit the plant from taking in nutrients.

I've also added earthworms and pillbugs as gardeners.

Also, watch out for plants that grow fairly tall. If they get too big, they can burn under lighting. To stunt, or limit plant growth, envelope the root ball in a mesh cover.

The best lighting temperature ranges around 6500K to 6700K, and I prefer fluorescent lights because they don't get as hot.

My tree frogs have shown the most preference for philodendron vines and croton, but I try to stick to edible plants.

~Aja

[DonLisk]

Thats for the great info Aja.
I think I need to into the viv and cut back a few leaves then to give the roots some help to the creeping fig I just put in.

[Kurt]

Remember to call ahead before heading out as Black Jungle does a lot of shows and might not be there.

[DonLisk]

Remember to call ahead before heading out as Black Jungle does a lot of shows and might not be there.

Thanks Kurt, I'm gonna try for this Saturday.
I'll call in advance too.
It will make for a nice road trip for me and my wife.

[clownonfire]

Don, have you worked a bit on your plants after this thread? As your viv must be my favorite one (sorry, everyone else...), I'm curious to see if you made any modifications.

Have you ever used moss too? Or try to attach some on wood? I'll attempt this today while planting the plants to mine.

[DonLisk]

Don, have you worked a bit on your plants after this thread? As your viv must be my favorite one (sorry, everyone else...), I'm curious to see if you made any modifications.

Have you ever used moss too? Or try to attach some on wood? I'll attempt this today while planting the plants to mine.

Hi Eric,
The only thing I've done so far is trim back some of the creeping fig and trim off anything that seemed be dieing off. This helped the plants a lot and most are doing well.
One issue I have is my misting system does not get everywhere it needs to so every few days I have to hand mist areas.

I want to change up and get one to two more Broms but need smaller. If Black Jungle is open today I might attempt the 3 plus hour trip. (one way)

Thanks for the comments too. I really like this viv, but I have to say, I get jealous of all the ones with a water feature.
The dart seems to like his new home too. I find him everywhere so that pretty cool.

[DonLisk]

I haven't tried moss to wood but my first though was to hot glue the pieve of wood and then place the sheet of moss over it. I would only do a line of glue here ad there so the moss can actually be touching the wood with most of the bottom sheet.
Also, thought that using fishing line would be fine since once you know its attached itself you can clip the line and remove it.

[clownonfire]

3-hour trip, huh? Wow, that is dedication my friend. The more I read about misters, the more I'm tempted by the Mist King, because of the amount of nozzles you can potentially add... Although there's a Monsoon on special not too far from me...

We're getting plants today, and the creeping fig is on the menu. I hope I find some...

And there's no need to feel envious about any other viv (although http://www.frogforum.net/members/mikem670.html's is also the bomb). Honestly, yours looks beautiful and well suited for your yellow dart.

[DonLisk]

Thanks. Yeah, 3 hours isn't bad if we catch a sunny day (like today) and catch a nice dinner on the way back.
I mainly want to grab another yellow dart and see if they have spare add on nozzles for the Monsoon. Thats the main issue so far, a splitter and adding nozzles.
I talked to my local dealer and they were going to check with the rep.

Mist King you get from Mist King so you know where to get nozzles.

Good luck with the plants today. Your back ground looks awesome.

[bshmerlie]

Yeah...what's a little 3 hour drive when it comes to frogs?