Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[minno]

can u use that cocofiber eco earth for a living viv? just got some and i must say the stuff is amazing, could do with better instructions ( had mine in cold water for an hour with no change to the brick put it in hotwater and it was done in 20 minutes and on the packagin it just says water =D) but its amazing stuff stays nice and damp, 1 thing is it stinks out ur room 4 a few days lol

[MJ]

yeah it can be used but it's void of any good stuff so mixing in some peat and orchid bark would be the better way
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Paul

For all your Tropical plant and Naturalistic Vivarium needs please enjoy Urban Bromeliad

[arthur cooke]

Nice site MJ, one of the problems I've found with plants sold in the UK is that they have been evolved to live in front rooms and so back in an environment that approaches the original, they can't cope. I solved this by buying seeds from a company in Costa Rica and growing them myself.
The other thing I found annoying is the amount of bugs in the pots, especially woodlice, which breed like rabbits. So I would have to remove the plants and wash all the soil from the roots and replant, hoping they would survive.Many didn't, I discovered this was because many plants have a symbiotic relationship with a tiny fungi and if you wash the roots, goodbye fungi.
florescent lighting is good for plants to a point but there's little point in hoping that they will flower, not enough of the red spectrum.
I was wondering if there perhaps could be a section for plants where we might discuss plant problems. Gardening forums are never much use as they don't have the same problems as we herpetculturists.
cheers arthur

[MJ]

Thanks Arthur, there's still a lot of work to be done on the site (more articles, stock etc etc).

The thing with UK grown tropicals purchased at run of the mill Garden centers and super markets is they need a transition because like you said they have grown under window sill conditions so take a plant that's been watered every couple days lived in say 40-50% relative humidity and then goes into say 70-80% RH you're going to shock it just like you would yourself by jumping from a sauna into snow

I generally start raising the humidity over a period of a week or 2 before placing them into the vivariums also a lot of plants don't like getting sprayed directly until new growth has happened ( a lot of peperomia are like this).


The fungus and microorganisms found amongst roots are 100% important so yup rinsing a plants root system completely will also shock it I still rinse a good amount of pot soil from the plants tho as there is generally a good amount of the same stuff in the planting mix we use.

I think we might disagree (not really but your see what I mean) abut the wood lice and isopods found in the plant pots as I think they are a vital part to any ecosystem be it a small glass box or a walk in vivarium.. they're natures clean up crew taking care of molds, decaying organic matter and such. Also providing food for some in habitants so I never remove any hitch hikers unless its a seething mass of the little buggers


I get bromeliads, orchids and some dischidias blooming in vivarums hehe I've just enjoyed a Ludisia flowering lol from a cutting I tossed in the viv a year ago not spectacular but looked nice
_________________
Paul

For all your Tropical plant and Naturalistic Vivarium needs please enjoy Urban Bromeliad

[lol93]

Interesting thread! I like gardening and have grown some exotic stuff from seed in my greenhouse, but it doesn't seem to last!
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[arthur cooke]

Ah MJ, you got me there, had to look up dischidias.Didn't recognise it even then. Ludisia is a plant that I've had some success with and I think the flower are brilliant, for a viv the flowers are in the right scale, some orchid flowers are huge and look wrong to me. They are also not very expensive for an orchid, I got some at the RHS orchid show. I was tempted to get the black leaved one but didn't because the other on is commonly grown so I thought it might be easier to grow.
Actually I agree with you re woodlice, it's just I had a viv crawling with them once and they got every where. I have them in the walk-in but numbers aren't that high.
Big problem at the minuet, yep, slugs! I've got some slugsure coming.
Last year I put some down but my heating cable failed so soil temp too low. Wiped out all my fruit beetle larva too.
cheers arthur

[arthur cooke]

Hi lol93, what plants did you grow? Anything interesting. Could it have been lack of light in winter.
cheers arthur

[MJ]

The RHS Orchid show was fun this year Dragged my mother along and she got bored 3 rd time around I love jewel orchids for the most part they make amazing vivarium plants And the Dischidia are a huge passion of mine but a big slice of my collection got wiped out due to a green house getting blown to buggery early last year Ludisia discolor has to be the easiest of orchids to grow lol I normally buy a large plant and spend an hour or so cutting it up to propagate more hehe easy as
_________________
Paul

For all your Tropical plant and Naturalistic Vivarium needs please enjoy Urban Bromeliad

[arthur cooke]

Missed the last couple of years as I stayed in Italy for most of the year, will proberbly do much the same this year, so going to miss this years and the bug show at Kempton Park.
The blacked leaved ludisia, would I be right in thinking that it has less light requirement than the other.
I used to do the same with the wife, drag her round all afternoon ha ha,she'd carry the flask of tea, of course.
As a matter of interest I planted some of that grass that grows in the shade and it's doing rather well, I'll see how long it lasts..
cheers arthur

[MJ]

i used to drag the wife around reptile and plant shows back in the states

Most jewel orchids need real low light levels since their natural habitat is the forest floor but the cool thing about them is they still don't grow in the soils but through the leaf litter saying that most of the tropics plants don't actually grow in the soils but on top of it Love plants
_________________
Paul

For all your Tropical plant and Naturalistic Vivarium needs please enjoy Urban Bromeliad