Plant pot size preferences?

[Thesolecontender]

Like the title says I'm just curious what size pots you all have found a happy medium with?

I don't really want to have anything on the floor or any pots visible so just curious what people's thoughts are.

(My apologies if a thread like this exists I searched and didn't see anything relevant)

 

[Madmango]

I like a 4” black nursery pot. They are not to have to hang from branches or from the screen. If your plants are full and layered you can really see them. I also like to use natural cork to attach plants too.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Like the title says I'm just curious what size pots you all have found a happy medium with?

I don't really want to have anything on the floor or any pots visible so just curious what people's thoughts are.

Hmmm... I leave that to my Missus, and she chooses pots according to the size of the plants going in them. Whatever size you choose, the plants will likely outgrow them at some point.

The 3 centerpiece plants are currently in 9" pots, there's a snake plant in a 6", and climbers are planted in rectangular trays along the trellis on the back wall. Also a pitcher plant hanging in a 4" pot.

May I ask why you don't want anything on the floor?

 

[JacksJill]

I try to use 6 inch pots for most plants but if I'm going smaller I use the taller pots. Like Klyde said Expect to re-pot yearly or possibly twice yearly. I pull the plants out trim back the roots and add fresh soil.

I don't have plants on the bottom of my permanent or adult enclosures either. I don't have room for bio-active and I like to be able to find the poop easily and claen quickly. I hang all my plants of of the sides which also gets them closer to the lights.

 

[Thesolecontender]

I try to use 6 inch pots for most plants but if I'm going smaller I use the taller pots. Like Klyde said Expect to re-pot yearly or possibly twice yearly. I pull the plants out trim back the roots and add fresh soil.

I don't have plants on the bottom of my permanent or adult enclosures either. I don't have room for bio-active and I like to be able to find the poop easily and claen quickly. I hang all my plants of of the sides which also gets them closer to the lights.

I went with white tall narrow pots you'd typically see used in hydro growing. Cut raked out roots and put them in my own soil blend. I have to say I was incredibly impressed with quality and cleanliness of the plants I bought at lowes. I did spend like 60 minutes picking up and going through every plant at the store though ppl thought I was nuts lol. Roots were really strong on them all.

 

[ERKleRose]

I went with white tall narrow pots you'd typically see used in hydro growing. Cut raked out roots and put them in my own soil blend. I have to say I was incredibly impressed with quality and cleanliness of the plants I bought at lowes. I did spend like 60 minutes picking up and going through every plant at the store though ppl thought I was nuts lol. Roots were really strong on them all.

If you don’t mind me asking, what soil blend do you use?

 

[Thesolecontender]

Hmmm... I leave that to my Missus, and she chooses pots according to the size of the plants going in them. Whatever size you choose, the plants will likely outgrow them at some point.

The 3 centerpiece plants are currently in 9" pots, there's a snake plant in a 6", and climbers are planted in rectangular trays along the trellis on the back wall. Also a pitcher plant hanging in a 4" pot.

May I ask why you don't want anything on the floor?

Not 100% opposed to having stuff on flower but had a particular aesthetic in mind I'm shooting for. If putting something in floor makes cage more functional/ better environment for the cham I will certainly do so.

basically my plan is to kind of have two main "centerpiece" trees and then to trim and train them as they grow so they grow in parallel up the cage interior. Tho hope is sort of for each tree to stand out on it's on but blend into the overall environment. Idk if I'm explaining this well lol

 

[Flick boy]

Chameleon academy

 

[Thesolecontender]

If you don’t mind me asking, what soil blend do you use?

Right now I am trying to use a bunch of old lightly used soil from a bunch of indoor plants I had so I am basically just mixing it back into some fresh organic soil (roots organic) at a 1:1 ratio and then adding some biochar, microbial innoculants and amending is with oyster shell dust, alfalfa meal, worm castings a couple other things.

In general when I do big fresh mixes I will do the following however;

1 part base ( and organic topsoil, coco coir, peat etc. Dealers choice)
1 part organic material (compost/castings)
1 part drainage (i use perlite but there are plenty of other options. Perlite is cheap and readily available)

 

[ERKleRose]

Right now I am trying to use a bunch of old lightly used soil from a bunch of indoor plants I had so I am basically just mixing it back into some fresh organic soil (roots organic) at a 1:1 ratio and then adding some biochar, microbial innoculants and amending is with oyster shell dust, alfalfa meal, worm castings a couple other things.

In general when I do big fresh mixes I will do the following however;

1 part base ( and organic topsoil, coco coir, peat etc. Dealers choice)
1 part organic material (compost/castings)
1 part drainage (i use perlite but there are plenty of other options. Perlite is cheap and readily available)

Thanks!

 

[Flick boy]

I would be careful with the perlite unless it's down in the pot as its an impaction risk

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Not 100% opposed to having stuff on [floor] but had a particular aesthetic in mind I'm shooting for. If putting something in floor makes cage more functional/ better environment for the cham I will certainly do so.

basically my plan is to kind of have two main "centerpiece" trees and then to trim and train them as they grow so they grow in parallel up the cage interior. Tho hope is sort of for each tree to stand out on it's on but blend into the overall environment. Idk if I'm explaining this well lol

Sounds like you're aware of & willing to put the added work into that, so go for it.

Two (of the) things I learned in setting up an enclosure:

• Like a kid's eyes can be bigger than their stomachs, my ideas for the enclosure were more grandiose than practicality.
• Beware of the trap of form over function rather than form follows function.

 

[Flick boy]

I understand what your saying about visible pots what I was thinking about doing was getting hanging basket liners shaping them to whatever size the said side wall plant pot was attaching them to the viv and possibly attaching live moss to grow over the liner

 

[Thesolecontender]

Oh m

Sounds like you're aware of & willing to put the added work into that, so go for it.

Two (of the) things I learned in setting up an enclosure:

• Like a kid's eyes can be bigger than their stomachs, my ideas for the enclosure were more grandiose than practicality.
• Beware of the trap of form over function rather than form follows function.

Oh my eyes are bigger than my stomach believe me haha. I'm aiming for most incredible cage on earth and expecting to land at a nice looking and highly functional cage. Form is not all that important to me at end of the day, but I do want to create the best looking cage I can.

 

[Thesolecontender]

I understand what your saying about visible pots what I was thinking about doing was getting hanging basket liners shaping them to whatever size the said side wall plant pot was attaching them to the viv and possibly attaching live moss to grow over the liner

That sounds like it could be pretty cool! I'd you do that lmk how it goes. Seems like we might have a similar aesthetic appeal. At end of the day I just want it to look cool but look natural. If it looks like I went to madagascar or some tropical island and cut a 2x2x4 piece of forest and stuck it in tank I did my job

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Form is not all that important to me at end of the day, but I do want to create the best looking cage I can.

Umm... that's what "form" is—what a thing looks like.

Form follows function​

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

If it looks like I went to madagascar or some tropical island and cut a 2x2x4 piece of forest and stuck it in tank I did my job

If that's the aesthetic you want, you might want to consider going bioactive. It's more work, and has its own pros & cons. The most difficult part, IMO, will be getting plants native to Madagascar.

Bioactive Vivarium Maintenance 101 — Yes, They Do Require Maintenance!