Indoor plants for Dummies

[PeanutbuttER]

This is something that has really bothered me. I don't have that much experience with house plants. I took a beginning horticulture class like 6 years ago (very cool class BTW. I loved working in the greenhouses...) and went a bit overboard with plant care. Surprisingly everything grew like a weed then, but since that time I haven't been able to keep any plant alive in my house for any length of time.

I know that I'm not the only one. There are many tortoise keepers who have seen all the beautiful enclosures and wanted to grow plants in their indoor enclosures, just to have tried and failed. I want this thread to be a place where we talk about 1) why plants usually fail to survive and 2)what those of you who are having success with enclosure plants are doing. What are some tips that you all have to share, and all the advice that we can pool together would be very helpful for those of us who try and try to grow plants and just keep failing. I honestly think that this will be a great resource for the horticulturally-challenged among us.


That said, my last real attempt was just a couple months ago. I tried to grow Irish moss on my tort table. I was using a dirt/compost mix for a substrate (since then I have thrown it out) and thought my MVB would provide great light for plants to grow. I planted the plants at different distances from the light and within probably less than a week they had all wilted and died... Since then I have read that MVBs don't provide useable light to plants and that could explain their short life-span. I'm going to probably try to get a plant grow flourescent tube light at HD and place that over the plants.

 

[Missy]

Moss takes lots of moisture to grow, so if you spray it 2-3 times a day that will help. If you think of where moss grows it is in the shade and in moist areas.

 

[Tracy Gould]

i have a MVB and the weeds i am growing around the table are growing great I am a plant killer too lol but so far so good

 

[Edna]

I have a variety of succulents in my hermann's enclosure. They are in teensy pots buried in the substrate. When I first put plants in, some of them had minimal root development and Torty knocked them over by forcing his way between plants and enclosure wall. I have since placed them so there is just room to get by without hurting the plants. He leaves the furry kalanchoe alone, sampled a sempervivum but didn't keep trying, ignores the particular aloe I have, and hasn't bothered the jade plant at all. These plants are doing little to impact the humidity, but they look nice, like the heat and seem to do just fine with the light from the lamp.
In my leopards' enclosure, I have a dracaena, Boston fern, ivy, and a spathiphylum, again all in pots in the substrate. They have nibbled on the Boston fern and love to hang out under it. The ivy has a single chomp mark in one leaf, otherwise left alone. These plants are in taller pots and the torts can't get to the leaves of the dracaena or spathiphylum. These plants contribute much to the humidity of the enclosure, and seem to thrive in the available light.
I keep a couple of dozen extra plants in my window and around the house, so that if a tort plant appears to suffer I can replace it right away and try to get it healthy before it makes a return appearance in an enclosure.

 

[Balboa]

hmmm my irish moss died too. Its not actually a moss, but a regular plant, just really tiny. As I recall it requires bright light and not necessarily alot of moisture. It grows well on rock terrace gardens. I'm going to guess that it does require a broad spectrum light and constantly moist, but not soggy conditions.

as to plants in general, its just like our torts. Read more than one caresheet on a species (as opinions differ) and find out what it needs and provide. If it's needs conflict with the torts, it WILL die lol.

most plants require far higher levels of lighting than we typically give torts. A 2x4 indoor growing setup may have 160watts of flourescents or more over it and still not grow some high light species well.

our best bet is tropical plants, as many require low light, moist soil, high humidity, BUT most are toxic

As to the MVB I have not studied a SPD graph for one, but I'd think they should fair well as a grow light. Mercury produces a lot of blue light, and the incandescent filament that provides the ballasting function should provide lotsa good red. Possible though that the phosphors used shift things. Also possible that the directed heat is too intense and dries out the plants too quickly.