Need help keeping plants alive.

[Lpsouth1978]

I have had some issues keeping some of the plants alive in my enclosures. I think the issue is a lack of proper soil hydration. I have been replacing pothos and spider plants mostly, every few months. I just replaced 4 plants today and am working on a plan to reduce the need for replacements.

I have plenty of plant lights above both cages as well as natural light from several windows in the area, so I don't think lighting is an issue. Right now, I mist the cages for 30 seconds @ 9am with 3 minute mistings @ 11am and 4pm. While this gets nice droplets all over the leaves of the plants, little actually gets to the soil.

To remedy the issue, I am planning on setting up an auto watering system. This will be setup similar to the misting system, but will be completely separate. I plan to use a diaphragm pump (RO booster pump) to pump water to each of the plants once a week. I will give them a good soaking and then let them dry out a bit before the next watering. It seems most plants prefer a good soaking followed by some time to dry out. Depending on how the plants are doing, drainage, and dryness of the soil, I can adjust the watering schedule and/or add drip irrigation nozzles @ each plant to control the amount of water each plant gets individually. I have already re-potted all of the plans in organic potting soil with a 2-3" layer of clay balls (HydroBalls) at the bottom for a drainage layer.

Let me know what you all think of this plan. What would you do differently, or what am I missing?

 

[Lindasjackson]

I think you have a great plan. We all struggle with the plants in our enclosures because often they don’t get enough light or they get too much water.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Ok, so I got the watering system mostly completed. I got all of the 1/4" tubing run throughout the cages and to each plant. The only thing I have left is to attach the irrigation drippers to the end of each tube @ the plants. I chose to get 1/2GPH drippers. I expect to only need to run these for 5-10 minutes each week. Hopefully this will make a dramatic difference for the plants.

The trickiest part was getting Bruce out of his cage so I could get everything done inside. I was able to coerce him onto the end of an extra branch and move him onto a fake ficus tree while I did the work. Hopefully I can do that again when the drippers get here tomorrow.

 

[Beman]

I put about 1-2 inches of clay balls in the bottom of my pots and some screen on top then the dirt. Allows for better drainage.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

I put about 1-2 inches of clay balls in the bottom of my pots and some screen on top then the dirt. Allows for better drainage.

Yup, I have clay balls at the bottom of all my pots.