plants never last

[tryme]

my plants never seem to last in my veiled enclosure as i mist him 3 times a day and have the dripper on for 10 mins a day does any one else get this problem

 

[dodolah]

do you raise the plants?

 

[opihiman]

what kind of plants do you have?
what kind of potting soil do you have?
How often do you or does your mister run?

Just curious

OPI

 

[tryme]

I've got weeping figs and an umbrella I THINK. I can't remember atm but I know they are deff cham safe because at the time i looked into it...Erm i'm using topsoil..It seems like the leaves always fall off and I only end up with a few leaves the plants not dead but not exactly flurishing. Erm I mist 2-3 times a day for a bout 5 mins each time and drippers on for a bout 10 mins.

 

[beenpanced]

Do your plants ever get ACTUAL sunlight? When my plants look alittle off I'll normally take one out and let the sun work its magic, then swap. Or you could try having 2 sets of plants, one set outside prospering, the other set in your cham's cage. If that seems like too much, I suggest you buy your new plants from Lowe's. They've got an awsome return policy, even for plants.

 

[dodolah]

you probably over watered the plants.
Does the pot come in direct contact with pool of water?

 

[opihiman]

you probably over watered the plants.
Does the pot come in direct contact with pool of water?

shucks you beat me to it...

I would have to agree with dodolah. consider increasing the rocky stuff that they ussally put on the bottom of the pot and less top soil if possible...better drainage for you plants if possible may help...

hope that helps
OPI

 

[wendysjungle]

A plant grow light over the enclosure along with the reptile lights also helps.

 

[tryme]

Yeah I think they get over watered. I'm from the U.K btw guys so some plants are harder to come by as they often go under different names etc to.

 

[stucoady]

What plant grow light do you use?

 

[tryme]

Well there under my reptisun 10.0 uvb and my incandecent bulb to.

 

[opihiman]

I don't think that changing you light source will make much difference unless you can fix the drainage problem in plants...

Right now I have dendrobiums in my cage with chams. if you have chams that will eat the flowers, from what I have been told it's ok...they serve them with food here and are edible by humans. Dendrobiums (DEN) are potted in really loose rocky soil so water goes right through them. they have been doing well with the reptile light and didn't require any additional grow light.

hope that helps

OPI

 

[tryme]

So basically I need to make sure they aren't getting flooded? Problem is..My dripper system. When I put the dripper on it ends up going into the plants soil and flooding it.

 

[opihiman]

if your plants are near dead or dead you can pull the plant out and take a look at the roots...if they are soft and sparse you can almost bet it's too much water and the roots are rotting....

Good luck

OPI

 

[wendysjungle]

What plant grow light do you use?

Just the regular old GE Plant and Aquarium fluorescent tube right now. I have purchased the expensive "gro-lights" that horticulturists use in the past, but honestly saw no difference in the healthy growth from the GE tubes. I constantly have to trim back my schleffera tree to keep it from growing too big for the cage, it seems to shoot new growth off on a daily basis. And I know it gets WAYYYYY too much water despite my best efforts, as evidenced by the mushrooms that spring up occasionally in the pot right through the covering of river rocks! My pothos is thriving as well. Both plant pots have lots of drainage holes in them, and sit on the cage floor, which also has it's own drainage holes. I know some people elevate the plants slightly on racks to improve drainage, or even put a layer of rocks or crushed clay pots as a bottom layer in the plant pots, underneath the soil.