Preparing store bought plants

[Okapizebra]

Hi all, I really want to add a spider plant to my tort's home. I'd like to get one from home depot and repot it with organic soil. But will it be safe right away to place in his enclosure?

How do you prepare store bought plants for your torts?

Thanks!

 

[Maro2Bear]

I’ll start, and others can add additional ino.

I would suggest removing entire plant from the plastic pot.
Shake off all dirt, fertilizer pellets, etc.
Take the plant to your sink and thoroughly rinse of every piece of dirt, all soil, etc.
Trim off any and all dead plant matter, including bits of roots.
Id soak the entire plant rootbase/structure inside in plain water for a day or two.
Then, repot in clean soil (clean meaning no fertilizers, etc)
Now, is the tricky part....how long should you wait until putting in with your tort? This might depend on a few things. You could trim it way back, and wait for new growth, then put in. Or wait even longer....

You could also buy the plant, but buy one with lots of babies. Take those babies and plant those and start new ones and use those in your enclosure.

Have fun. Wash thoroughly

 

[Reptilony]

Do you think my store bought hibiscus from one year ago will be safe to feed this summer? Do you think not because I didn’t removed it’s original soil?

 

[Okapizebra]

Much appreciated, thank you!!

Reptiolny, my guess is that it would not be safe because of the soil it is in. But I'm not sure.

 

[EllieMay]

Much appreciated, thank you!!

Reptiolny, my guess is that it would not be safe because of the soil it is in. But I'm not sure.

I’d like to add off his question... if you bought it last year and planted it in clean ground last year, would it be safe this year?

 

[Okapizebra]

From my understanding systemic pesticides can last in the plant tissues up to a year. So I would assume if in clean soil for a full year following maro2bear's plan, even old growth would be safe to feed.

 

[Reptilony]

The problem is that I repoted the hibiscus that was in a black plastic pot (like every store plants) to put it in a bigger pot but I just added organic soil without removing the soil stuck in the roots, and I don’t know if there was pesticides in that soil. Maybe I should do the maro2bear technique and wait another couple months...It’s a shame they put pesticides on everything nowadays I really wanted my girl to have some fresh hibiscus flowers. I guess she will have to eat dandelions and clover flowers instead.Btw the flowers look like this. It was called double flowers salmon hibiscus, I wonder if it’s just as edible as the regular ones. It’s been inside for the last couple months and it’s invaded with aphydes...I don’t know if I spelled that correctly but anyway my theory is that when I put it outside other bugs such as ladybugs will feast on them and I hope this is possible because I don’t want to add anymore pesticides

 

[Tom]

The problem is that I repoted the hibiscus that was in a black plastic pot (like every store plants) to put it in a bigger pot but I just added organic soil without removing the soil stuck in the roots, and I don’t know if there was pesticides in that soil.

Assume that there were systemic pesticides.

If there weren't, no harm comes to your tortoise. If there were, you just saved your tortoises life.

 

[Tom]

Hi all, I really want to add a spider plant to my tort's home. I'd like to get one from home depot and repot it with organic soil. But will it be safe right away to place in his enclosure?

How do you prepare store bought plants for your torts?

Thanks!

Decorative plants are now grow with systemic pesticides to make them look pretty and bug free for market. These toxins are absorbed into the plants tissues and can last for a year. I'm not sure that I trust them to dissipate and just be okay after that year, either.

Grow your own from seed, or get cuttings from older, long established plants.

 

[Okapizebra]

I know many people on the forum have spider plants in their tort's home. Where does everyone get theirs? I've never seen spider plant seeds available before.

 

[Lyn W]

I know many people on the forum have spider plants in their tort's home. Where does everyone get theirs? I've never seen spider plant seeds available before.

Come to think of it neither have I, but these may help:

https://getbusygardening.com/collecting-and-sowing-spider-plant-seeds/
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/spider-plant/spider-plant-seeds.htm

 

[Maro2Bear]

I know many people on the forum have spider plants in their tort's home. Where does everyone get theirs? I've never seen spider plant seeds available before.

Most Spider Plants i see hanging at our garden centers and Home Depot have tons of babies sprouting and hanging. Take those, and replant some, put others in vases and grow them soil less.

 

[Okapizebra]

Very interesting about the seeds.

Will definitely try to find one with lots of babies then. Great plan!