Plant Struggles

[sheilahinkley]

I have an umbrella plant and large hibiscus in my enclosure at the moment. My cham LOVES the hibiscus and eats the leaves which is awesome but I can't keep the hibiscus plants alive, I've gone through three of them in like three months. lol I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for plants that they like to eat and do okay with misting. My umbrella plant is also kinda of small and doesn't seem to be growing much so I don't really want to just get another one of those.

 

[Antihero383]

Umbrella plants are very hardy, but not great for chams that eat a lot of plant matter. With hibiscus its very difficult to keep them alive in an enclosure, one option is to have a few of them, keep some outside, and rotate them between the enclosure and outdoors.

 

[sheilahinkley]

I am trying that now but I'm honestly not great with plants as it is, I have two currently and they aren't completely dead but aren't really producing leaves and not really provide for much of a hiding place for my cham.

 

[Extensionofgreen]

Your issues are probably due to lack of adequate light and soil drainage.
My suggestion would be to google care of hibiscus and Schefflera, and then google wicking mix recipes, since wick watering is a method that deals with constantly wet soil mix.

 

[alphakenc]

http://www.gardenguides.com/110199-care-umbrella-plants.html
Try this link hope this help.

 

[cyberlocc]

What Extension said, you dont have a grow light do you? You are going to need 1 better yet 2 . I have read a few people say it helps to run a florescent 6500k along the side of the enclosure to make sure the plant gets amle light.

6500k leds would likely work for that as well, I was going to do that with a grow LED in the top of the cage as well.

 

[Antihero383]

What Extension said, you dont have a grow light do you? You are going to need 1 better yet 2 . I have read a few people say it helps to run a florescent 6500k along the side of the enclosure to make sure the plant gets amle light.

6500k leds would likely work for that as well, I was going to do that with a grow LED in the top of the cage as well.

From my experience hibiscus will not thrive in an enclosure, I have a t5ho 6500k bulb on one of mine and I can't keep hibiscus alive in it, and I feel like if I added anymore lighting the cage would be way too bright to be comfortable for the cham.

 

[cyberlocc]

From my experience hibiscus will not thrive in an enclosure, I have a t5ho 6500k bulb on one of mine and I can't keep hibiscus alive in it, and I feel like if I added anymore lighting the cage would be way too bright to be comfortable for the cham.

It can be pretty bright without being an issue I think. Just make sure you have dense areas.

Maybe run a strip of leds down the side, if you are worried about brightness do a strip of 450nm blues and 660nm reds, they wont add too much brightness. They might slightly alter the cages lighting but they will be best for the plant.

That is why I suggest the leds, from my research into this a 6500k is great for us to see the plant and give some light waves. However the plants themselves low the blue and red waves only.

This is why I suggested LED hood, as it will have 6500k for us, red and blue for the plants.

All that said, I dont have and haven't had a hibiscus, this is all from things I have read. So hopefully someone more experienced with that plant will chime in .

Cool article about reds and blues https://www.illumitex.com/full-spectrum-light-plant-growth/

 

[Antihero383]

It can be pretty bright without being an issue I think. Just make sure you have dense areas.

Maybe run a strip of leds down the side, if you are worried about brightness do a strip of 450nm blues and 660nm reds, they wont add too much brightness. They might slightly alter the cages lighting but they will be best for the plant.

That is why I suggest the leds, from my research into this a 6500k is great for us to see the plant and give some light waves. However the plants themselves low the blue and red waves only.

This is why I suggested LED hood, as it will have 6500k for us, red and blue for the plants.

All that said, I dont have and haven't had a hibiscus, this is all from things I have read. So hopefully someone more experienced with that plant will chime in .

Cool article about reds and blues https://www.illumitex.com/full-spectrum-light-plant-growth/

I haven't tried LEDs, but I have tried a wide variety of things with trying to keep hibiscus alive in an enclosure and it hasn't been successful for me. I have just given up on hibiscus altogether to be honest.

 

[cyberlocc]

I haven't tried LEDs, but I have tried a wide variety of things with trying to keep hibiscus alive in an enclosure and it hasn't been successful for me. I have just given up on hibiscus altogether to be honest.

Ya it is a very light needing plant.
I remember someone saying, to run a 6500k vertically down the cage side. They said the issue is the light on top the hibiscus doesn't get enough of it.

They did it with florescents that would be a little hard IMO. But there is waterproof 6500k LED strips, that you could run down the sides in the front, or maybe on 1 of those corner rails.