Any green thumbs?

[tortoisenerd]

I'm starting to get antsy for spring so I can try to grow more food for the tort. Right now I have a cat pan of russian tortoise mix that has taken off pretty well for winter (but it all looks like the same grass and clover sort of stuff; the little guy will eat the sprouts but not the grass). I have a few dandelions sprouting in a small tupperware nice and slowly.

I already bought Mesclun (baby lettuces) and turnip greens seeds. Planning to buy seeds for hibiscus as well as radish and beet greens.

Any other suggestions of easy-to-grow and nutritious foods for a russian tortoise? How deep of a pot do I need to plant these in if I plan to harvest just the baby greens (no backyard, but I have a patio)? Any reason why I shouldn't try to see if they'd grow indoors in the next couple months, especially if it could be done in a smaller pot/pan? It's in the 60s in my house mostly (maybe high 50s by the window).

 

[galvinkaos]

I am embarrassed to admit I am in So Cal, so everything is sprouting right now in our unusually warm weather. I have last years lettuce sprouting up again in the vege garden area and in weird places it was never planted. Anyway I planted last years left over squash seeds in the middle of a few pots in the torts table and transplanted baby lettuce and dandelion plants on top. no sprouts yet, but the lettuce is doing well under the uvb lights. I just have to remember to water them and try to keep Fred from crushing them in his escape attempts. Have you tried variety of vege/squash seeds? I know squash is easy to grow, the are a favorite of my son for science projects. I hope you get lots of answers so I can take notes. I have a 20 x 30 garden to plant soon for torts, and people (including neighbors).

Dawna

 

[tortoisenerd]

Excuse my ignorance, but does squash grow with leaves or greens good for a russian tort? I hadn't thought the squash itself would be good for him. I'm actually surprised how well my plants are doing inside so far, but then again we haven't been too far below freezing at all and reaching well above freezing everyday (Washington).

 

[galvinkaos]

I compared the edibles/inedibles to my vege garden list and all I saw I had to avoid was the tomatoes. I never did see on corn plants. Maybe some one else can confirm they are ok, but I know the squash veges are good.

 

[tortoisenerd]

What kind of tort/s do you have? I had heard no veggies--only weeds and greens and similar for a russian tort. I know it varies based on species though.

 

[galvinkaos]

Oops, you are right. It does vary. I have Fred and Doris, 15 mos old DT. I had a Russian for 2 days early last year. My hubby bought Rocky for me at a Pet Store. He/she was bought very sick and after some advice from friends, I was told probably would not survive. I returned him/her to the pet store and yelled at the manager about taking care of their tortoises better. He swore it was supposed to be in the back receiving medical care, not sold. He took it to the back of the store and said it would not be sold until healthy. I never had a chance to check out proper husbandry.

 

[dawnzky05]

I don't have green thumbs my self. I just ask for some weeds and veggies from the neighborhood.





-----------------------------------------------
chic shoes

 

[galvinkaos]

I was curious so I looked at old threads (under regarding russians) and it was posted that watermelon, canteloupe (sp?), zuchini, butternut, leaves and blossoms were ok. Also shredded butternut and zuchini fruits.

I have too green of thumbs. Most of my zuchini (sp?) were 18-24" long and I gave tomatoes and bell peppers and squash to all my neighbors. Come full growth I will be happy to pass on any excess to anyone who wants them.

Dawna

 

[Yvonne G]

Excuse my ignorance, but does squash grow with leaves or greens good for a russian tort? I hadn't thought the squash itself would be good for him. I'm actually surprised how well my plants are doing inside so far, but then again we haven't been too far below freezing at all and reaching well above freezing everyday (Washington).

Squash is a plant, or rather a vine, as as such, it has leaves, stems, blossoms and eventually fruit (squash). But if you plant a squash of any type in the tortoise habitat, it won't live long enough to mature and have fruit as the tortoise will eat the plant and the blossoms. When we say a tortoise should be fed weeds and grasses, we really should be saying a tortoise should be fed plants and grasses. There's nothing wrong with allowing the tortoise to eat a squash plant. Some may not agree with me, but if it grows, I feed it to my animals. They get squash (not the plant, but the fruit of the plant) at least once a week...zuchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, banana squash. Some of the harder squashes have to be nuked for a bit to make them easier for the tortoise to bite, but none of my animals has suffered because I make them eat squash once in a while. And I broadcast all kinds of vegetable seeds out on the tortoise grass every spring so the tortoises have more of a variety to eat besides just the grass and weeds.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

I too brodcast lots of vegitable seeds for my DT and Greeks. Rarely do they come to fruit. The torts do love the plants though. And my torts Love squash blossoms. Any squash blossoms. I also plant sunflowers they love the yellow petals and the DT love the leaves.
Be careful when asking for vegs. and weeds from neighbors that they do not have pestisides or chemicals used on them. Most plants will absorb chemicals, pestisides, etc. and hold them inside and this could hurt your tort.

Also, the plants and leaves of the Tomato, bell pepper, any other pepper and eggplants are hightly toxic to your torts. They can have the fruit of these plants but not the plant itself as these plants are of the nightshade family and toxic to your torts.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Thanks everyone--glad to hear squash is on the good list too because we tend to buy it more than any other fresh veggie except greens now! That's really interesting that the plant won't grow if the leaves and blossom get munched...sounds like I could get away with a shallow planter if I don't care to get the veggies (I'm thinking the couple foot depth for planting would take up a lot of space/weight). We're in an apartment and actually don't know any of our neighbors. I don't know anyone with a garden around here--one of my co-workers offered up her yard if I wanted to take care of it though, lol. Maybe if she lived closer. Someday. Don't have a lot of storage space for soil or the care to lug it up all the stairs.

What is the nutrition content for the veggie leaves? I know I could look up the stats on the veggies but I don't know about the leaves. If I don't have the grazing space since I'm in an apartment, would it be better to stick with greens since I'll be picking them mostly to give to him? I want to get the best nutrition bang for my buck as far as space and time goes (top of my list now is turnip greens since I can't find them here at all and they have a good Ca/P). No need to focus on covering a yard area. I'm kinda doubting it'll get warm enough on the soil to ever let him graze in it because even summer here is kinda dampish (Maggie can relate!). He's really sensitive to cold and prefers the 80s and 90s. Ideas?

Would a windowbox planter be ok (probably less than a foot deep and a lot of area, but very narrow)? I was thinking to keep it on the kitchen windowsill for now and move it outside in March or so. Probably wouldn't need to water it when outside since we get a lot of drizzle and not too much sun.

Wow-I just Googled "squash blossom" and was blown away. I'm a suburb girl and don't know much about farming!

I definitely try to get him organic, and if I can't I buy the uglier greens that got less pesticides, and then I wash and dry them well. I was thrilled we made it through an entire cactus pad. Took him a month but it didn't go bad in the fridge. I painstakingly took out all the thorns and sliced it bite-size weekly since it's the only thing he has trouble with besides dandelion stalks. Bought another last weekend--34 cents!

 

[galvinkaos]

The water pan for the long thin planter boxes should work. Any home and garden store (I think you have Fred Meyers in your area) sell them, usually separate from the actual pot. They are about 1 inch deep and somewhere on another thread I saw someone had posted pix of one they had planted. If you are real tight for space you probably could get or build them a narrow shelf so they have 3 or 4 inches in between and have a "rack" of them planted growing. They would be Trevor size plants at no more than that height.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Oh wow that's awesome I don't need them too deep. I might just continue with the cat pans then...they are about 12in x 10in and $2. Haven't noticed a problem with not having drain holes yet. Just enough room on the windowsill for them and light to carry out when needed. Probably not the nicest aesthetically though.

I've been thinking about warming up the pan I have going already near the heater and then letting him go to town for awhile. It could be some nice entertainment for us and an adventure for him to eat all the growing sprouts and stuff (russian tortoise seed mix). I was surprised today he ate his snack from my fiance's hand outside of his habitat--he's getting really tame. We've been taking him out for a bit every few days so he gets used to us. I just don't want him to catch cold (I had a problem with that just starting out with him--he was really inactive because he was too cold).

 

[K9KidsLove]

Kate...Are you using organic soil instead of potting soil? For my outside garden, I bought about 30 bags of cow manure($1 each 40 lb bag) and tilled it in really good. I had a great garden and had collards, mustard greens, carrots, and mesculin all winter. I had planted squashes & pumpkins last summer and put it in the freezer to use this winter. I am making a new patch this spring with weeds seeds I got in a catalog I got from www.prairiemoon.com.

I used to do the kitty litter box mini gardens when I only had a couple critters. You can get plant lights from Walmart to put over the growing plants.
Good luck
Patsy

 

[tortoisenerd]

I bought organic potting soil (small bag). I definitely don't want to deal with manure in the apartment. I got suggestions before about having growing lights but I don't want to deal with that yet as even in winter I'm getting stuff to grow without them (no space really besides the garage which would make it even colder and no light at all). I only have the one hatchling so it's quality not quantity!

 

[galvinkaos]

Bathrooms are a good place for plants too, especially if they have a window. Shower humidity and people have a tendency to keep them warm. (Cold toilet seat, BRRRRR )

 

[tortoisenerd]

We actually have a weird bathroom situation. They are both on the third floor, no windows, and no heat (only individual thermostats in the adjoining bedrooms). lol I don't think that would work. The kitchen window has been good. Our house humidity is between 40-60% since it's so damp here. Glad we don't have tile in the bathrooms or that would be horrible.

 

[galvinkaos]

Well good luck with the plants. Maybe I'll have to figure out how to package and ship surplus veges. We tend to have a garden that just goes nuts every year. Last year I tried to cut down on what I planted - no cantelope, no watermelon and only one yellow and zuchini squash. The vines take over. Then volunteers from the year before popped up and I went a week without weeding and it was chaos again. My neighbors started hiding from me when they saw I had a bag or box. I just dug up about 15-20 lbs of carrots that never got pulled and gave them to a local friend with adult tortoises.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I wonder if your local food bank would take fresh donations? That would be really cool.

 

[galvinkaos]

I don't think so but I could ask. If not I'll be posting my "local fresh veges free" post here. I see I have people close by that have kids to feed. I hope they don't start hiding from me though. Every year my son wants to have a vege stand in the front yard, because we have so much.

Dawna