Potted houseplants question

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Mar 31, 2016
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I am re-doing my tortoise area (Russian) and researched indoor plants she can eat. Any advise on how to plant so she wont totally destroy the plants? Also is the topsoil in the plants going to be okay if she gets into it?

These are the plants I am considering: jade, aloe, african violet, bromeliad, coleus, prayer plant, and spider plant.
 

Linhdan Nguyen

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Plant the whole pot into the substrate. This way when the plant is almost totally destroyed, you can pull it out and replace it with a "full" plant. Then just put the eaten plant to the side & let it regrow.
 

JoesMum

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Plant the whole pot into the substrate. This way when the plant is almost totally destroyed, you can pull it out and replace it with a "full" plant. Then just put the eaten plant to the side & let it regrow.
What Linhdan said plus don't push the pot completely into the substrate. Having a half inch lip of the pot showing above reduces the trampling risk.

Spider plants are good. You can grow one on a windowsill and harvest a steady supply of replacements for the enclosure:)
 
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One more question. I read that too soil is a good substrate. I am cutrently using coconut coir but top soil is much cheaper. Can I just pick up a bag if organic top soil without fertilizers at a nursery?
 

Linhdan Nguyen

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Im sure you can, i used soil before and i switched to coconut coir now. It holds humidity much better and my Russian loves burrowing in it . Its a bit messier than soil though.
 

Prairie Mom

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You can use top soil. I agree it's just messier etc.

I agree with the advice on potted plants. Here's a link to a discussion I had a while ago where I posted photos of how I kept my big tough sully from ruining my plants as she was growing too big for my setup. You might get some ideas from the photos etc...
Plants in enclosure
 

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