MamatoElvis
Member
I love to use hibiscus in my enclosure but I've noticed my plants really decline once I cant fertilize them. Is there any kind of fertilizer that is safe? Worm castings? Fish fertilizer? Any ideas?
Worm castings
- Thread starter MamatoElvis
- Start date
carol5208
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hibiscus are VERY hard to keep indoors. Flowering plants need plenty of sunshine. Are you using a grow light in addition to your UVB? If not, it is probably not enough. I don't think fertilizer is the issue. It is lighting and sometimes too much water with these plants. My other suggestion to you would be to bring the plant outside from time to time if possible. I know this sometimes mean dismantling the cage though, which can be a pain. If the cage is small enough, you could carry it outside with the plant. Of course, depends on where you live as I know fall and winter is coming to most parts of the country. I live in Florida so I forget! Edit: haha just noticed you live in Florida too!
MamatoElvis
Member
I only keep the hibiscus in the outdoor enclosure so it's sunshine level hasn't changed. I keep a lot of fancy hibiscus and the are pretty heavy feeders. I'm not referring to the red and pink ones that are everywhere in Florida. I have plenty of those in my yard that I never fertilize and they are beautiful. The fancy ones tend to stay smallish with huge flowers so they fit really well in his enclosure and they pretty things up. I guess I might have to just switch and put a standard hibiscus in because you are correct they really just need sun and water.
reptileguy112
Member
Throw a few red wigglers in there and never fertilize again!
carol5208
Chameleon Enthusiast
haha learn something everyday on here!!!
reptileguy112
Member
I have been small scale red wiggler worm farming for a couple years. Dig through any of my plant pots and there is your fishin worms and fertilizer
MamatoElvis
Member
So then work castings are safe to use? Do they ever come out of the pots? Does your Cham eat them? Don't they come out every time it mists thinking that it's raining? How many do you put in a pot? Last question. Do you get them at a bait shop?
reptileguy112
Member
Castings are safe to use although I would just use worms. They shouldn't come out of the pots unless the pots are super small (like a pint) or you mist so much that it floods the pots. I have never seen a cham eat one but it is just fine if your does. In a gallon pot I would put about fifteen and a five gallon pot about fifty. They will reproduce and to help population not to get out of control using them as fishing bait worms. I don't know if those bait shops use any chemicals but I get ones on amazon specifically for composting like this...
http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Jims-Wo...&qid=1442156586&sr=1-14&keywords=red+wigglers
infinityedge
New Member
Worm castings only offer micronutrients to the plants, not the macros you need for growth and flowering. This is because the worms concentrate the nutrients of whatever they are eating, so if you just throw a worm in your pot it will not create any new nutrients that weren't already there. Conservation of mass is rarely violated.
The best way to fertilize, is probably the safest for your chem. Get some balanced organic fertilizer (5-5-5 ish at almost any hardware store) or go fancy and add bat guano for nitrogen and if you have flowering plants, aged seabird guano for phosphorus. If you want to be paranoid, sterilize the fertilizer by heating it in the oven in a foil covered pan until it reaches 180F. Then add the fertilizer to a tub larger than your plant pots and fill the tub with water making a guano tea. Soak your plants in this tea until bubbles stop escaping from the top. Take plant out, let it drain, then rinse the plant and pot with a light spray of fresh water.
There won't be a high concentration of fertilizer like there would be with pellets, and even if your chem is a dirt eater, a little guano film on the particles won't hurt them.
Plants go nuts after this treatment with their leaves darkening and new growth stimulated by the next day.
The best way to fertilize, is probably the safest for your chem. Get some balanced organic fertilizer (5-5-5 ish at almost any hardware store) or go fancy and add bat guano for nitrogen and if you have flowering plants, aged seabird guano for phosphorus. If you want to be paranoid, sterilize the fertilizer by heating it in the oven in a foil covered pan until it reaches 180F. Then add the fertilizer to a tub larger than your plant pots and fill the tub with water making a guano tea. Soak your plants in this tea until bubbles stop escaping from the top. Take plant out, let it drain, then rinse the plant and pot with a light spray of fresh water.
There won't be a high concentration of fertilizer like there would be with pellets, and even if your chem is a dirt eater, a little guano film on the particles won't hurt them.
Plants go nuts after this treatment with their leaves darkening and new growth stimulated by the next day.
reptileguy112
Member
Also every few months dig a little hole in the soil and put a few chopped up fruits in veggies. That way there is lots of food for the worms to turn into nutrients
MamatoElvis
Member
I think maybe I'll do both. Where do you get bat and seabird guano?
Reptile guy thanks for the link to order the worms. I know my friend uses them in her composting soil.
Reptile guy thanks for the link to order the worms. I know my friend uses them in her composting soil.
infinityedge
New Member
Either online or at your friendly neighborhood grow shop (the nudge nudge wink wink type).
MamatoElvis
Member
Ha ha, well sadly we don't have any of those here. I'll try online.
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