Plants that tolerate daily soakings?

[reptileszz]

Hi all, you guys were nice enough to help me out months ago when I got my Chameleon (Fischers) and things were going along fine. I have been realizing for the past month or so that the umbrella plants in the enclosure are not enjoying being soaked all the time. I have a misting system set up and it goes on and off all day and keeps things pretty moist. I installed a drain in the bottom of the cage and basically tilted the cage so the water runs out into a bucket. But the plants are just losing all their leaves. The plants are not sitting in standing water but are subjected to all that mist and dripping all day long and they just arent tolerating it at all...

What plants can I put in there that tolerate all this water? Will lifting them up on something help? I cant imagine it will but maybe?

Thanks for any advice.

Carole

 

[Pure]

Pothos handles it. In fact you can grow clippings in pure H2O.

You can try repotting your current plants and add some rock to the bottom of the planter to help with drainage. Also adjust your timers so that the soil has time to dry out a little between soakings.

 

[joshdhensley]

Yep, pothos. Just hang them from a wooden dowel rod from the top of your cage.

 

[reptileszz]

Thanks guys, pothos it is. I will redo the whole thing on Sunday. The poor umbrella plants are nearly done in with little cover left. They lost most of their leaves pronto.

Thanks for the info!

Carole & Louie

 

[chambabysitter1]

What kind of soil are you using? And are you packing it down really tight? I found this helps drainage for me alot better. I've started mixing in sand and lavarock into the lower sections as well.

 

[Nicodemayo]

Pothos for the win. I have switched 75% of all my plants to pothos, and so far I love it.

 

[Garrett]

You can pretty much use any plant you want as long as the water completely drains from the bottom of the pot after each watering session. The trick is using a highly aerated soil, like 75\25 perlite to potting soil mix. I either hang the plants, or elevate them off the bottom with risers. I can grow ficus, shefflera etc with 45 minutes of watering per day with misters. The plants will actually start to die if i remove them from the constant watering after they get used to it

 

[cushcameleon]

I had major problems getting my plants to tolerate the over-watered conditions that chameleon cages require. I had proper elevation, air circulation, properly packed and maintained soil and I even used three different types of plants (pothos, umbrella trees and ficus). In the end, my plants always suffered and dropped leaves and/or drooped completely within a week or two. I found that one of the biggest problems lies in the soil itself. In my plants I use a mixture of sand and coconut husk. The combination works incredibly well and has kept the plants in perfect health (it has been well over a month now since I have used this mixture). For more detailed information, you can check out my blog https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/cushcameleon/131-custom-plant-soils.html