# Best background for plants?



## Justin144 (Sep 13, 2014)

I have a 12x18 exo terra. I have a foam background with coco fiber siliconed to it. Im gonna redo it here in the next week. I didnt really like how it came out. 
Can anyone recommend a new way to go on building my background? *My main Goal is to have plants cover and grow on the back ground.. with that said ive looked at tree fern panels (Which i cant really find anywhere) Coco panel or doing the foam background route again. 

What do you think will be the best route for me? And any tips on what plants and how to plant them on the background would help. 

Thanks! still a newb here!*


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## tazman2nj (Feb 8, 2014)

You can use cork terrarium backgrounds made by ZooMed. Kelley's Korner has tree fern placques and ecoweb (Mounting Media : Kelley's Korner Orchid Supplies, We offer everything to grow great Orchids!). 

Either of these can be used.


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

I am a fan of the "cork mosaic" method myself. Works great for all types of plants.
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/57140-cracked-cork-mosaic-living-drip-wall-pond-method-how.html
Most people don't bother making it into a drip wall and it isn't necessary as long as you mist 4-7 time a week.


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## Justin144 (Sep 13, 2014)

So far the Great stuff foam background with cork flats looks most reasonable.. will plants grow on the wall and attach to it? which is best to silicone to it peat moss coco fiber etc?


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## vachyner (Aug 10, 2013)

Hobby lobby cork panels. I just put up a thread with my new DIY tanks and used the dark heat fused cork panels they sell. Its $11 for a 4 pack of 12x12x3/8" panels. Just silicone them to the back and be done, easy peasy. Plus, they give the Viv a clean look.


Sent from my SGH-i677 using Tapatalk


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

Justin144 said:


> So far the Great stuff foam background with cork flats looks most reasonable.. will plants grow on the wall and attach to it? which is best to silicone to it peat moss coco fiber etc?


That works OK, but I have found that the colored silicone (GE II) seems to inhibit the growth of some plants, especially shingling plants. If you are going to go that way, I would use "safe for aquarium" silicone and personally I like peat rather than coco fiber.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

You can do the cork with GS, but the point of stuffing the cracks with long fiber sphag and not GS or silicone and peat is to allow the plants to root into the wall and grow around the cork. I've seen the cork/GS come out looking good, but always kinda felt it defeated the original idea behind my method 

Nothing more then cork siliconed to the glass is needed if you keep the cracks small enough to hold the sphag in place. Under an inch, with a half inch usually being best. Here is my flickr with the hex that used the method prominently...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]


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## Justin144 (Sep 13, 2014)

Thanks everyone! I think im going to do mostly cork board and put it in from the bottom to top looking like a "tree trunk" and fill the sides of it with a THIN layer of GS an peatmoss. 
Few questions 

Do they make aquarium safe silicone thats black? 
Also
Can i cut small slits on the cork to put spagham moss and roots of bromeliads into it?

Thanks!


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## Medic1 (Jan 18, 2013)

Dendro Dave's method is wicked. Easy to do and once you get the sphagnum in the cracks, your tank will hold some serious humidity. GE II silicone is your best choice for silicone. It does come in black. And of course you can make slits for brom roots. That's easy to do!


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## Justin144 (Sep 13, 2014)

Daves is sweet! i love it. So if i do mainly cork flat on the background i can cut slits in it and grow epiphytes on it? will they spread and attach to it ? 

And stuff it with spagham moss? will the dry spagham at petco work or do i need special stuff? cause i want the spagham that will have a chance of sprouting plants 

just trying to make sure before I gather the materials


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## Justin144 (Sep 13, 2014)

Sorry for so many posts and questions. But would cork background be good for vines like pothos to grow upward or should i add some areas like i said with peatmoss/GS/silicone


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Justin144 said:


> Daves is sweet! i love it. So if i do mainly cork flat on the background i can cut slits in it and grow epiphytes on it? will they spread and attach to it ?
> 
> And stuff it with spagham moss? will the dry spagham at petco work or do i need special stuff? cause i want the spagham that will have a chance of sprouting plants
> 
> just trying to make sure before I gather the materials





Justin144 said:


> Sorry for so many posts and questions. But would cork background be good for vines like pothos to grow upward or should i add some areas like i said with peatmoss/GS/silicone


Yep this is great for vines...
Basically you plant vines like ficus pumila at the base, or imbed cuttings in the cracks then pack long fiber sphagnum moss in the cracks around it. Their roots will find the cracks and then creep up the wall like ivy growing on the side of the building.

Here is an example of long fiber sphag...








Or...











Here is what your wall should kinda look like before you jam the sphag into the cracks..









Those two above are some of the most commonly sold brands of long fiber sphag. You want the fluffy tan looking stuff, not grey and not dirt like peat moss.

DO NOT buy the stuff in this package (it is technically what we want, but very bad quality sphag)...









Petco or pet smart sometimes carries zoomed brand sphag but usually it is over priced for the amount you get. I would buy a big 1-3kg bale. You will find it to be very useful stuff.

Good long fiber sphag may come back to life in humid high light environment and/or may contain some fern or moss spore that grows but for the most part doesn't just sprout random plants. You may be thinking of the moss mix that folius sold. You can easily make your own by mixing up sphag and live mosses and some gesneriad seeds or other seeds/spore you can find online.

Pothos will probably work but I prefer small leaf vining plants, like ficus pumila varieties or many Selaginella like uncinata are good choices too and will look really lush but might take over the entire wall if not pruned occasionally. Some microgramma and pyyrosia fern species are good choices too.
https://www.violetbarn.com/shop/index.php?_a=category&cat_id=80

You can even plant small gesneriads and all kinds of stuff that isnt technically an epiphyte and it will still grow on the wall. You can also cut some cork tubes at a 45 degree angle and mount them as little planters. And silicone some pieces of driftwood then do the cork mosaic around those and/or carve some GS (probably wanna paint it) or black waterfall foam into rocks (can get away not painting it and still look good), and use those as some of your mosaic tiles. Basically you can use all sorts of stuff as a "tile" or piece of the puzzle to make a more 3D background then the flat wall I did. Then pack the long fiber sphag in the cracks so the plants root in all around it.

Another thing you can do that I haven't tried but would likely improve my method is to silicone hygrolon fabric from folius.net to the glass then silicone your tile pieces to that and then pack in the moss in the cracks like you normally would. If you wallpaper the glass in hygrolon first and pack your floor substrate up against it, it should wick moisture from the soil up a good portion of your planted wall to help keep it moist. 

Here is a good source for some viv suitable plants....
https://www.violetbarn.com/shop/index.php?_a=category&cat_id=78

Most of their stuff stays relatively small and is viv suitable and reasonably priced so its a good place because whatever you get it probably has a shot at working and not getting huge. Nice for plant newbies Cuz its hard to screw up 

Also sponsors like NEherp, glass box tropicals and Josh's frogs are good sources of viv suitable plants.

Here are pics of 2 other vivs using same method after the moss has been packed in, but not much if any planting has been done...










This one worked for the most part but I made the spaces to wide between the tiles and some of the moss fell out before plants rooted and could hold it in place. That's why usually it is best to keep the space or "crack" under an inch wide. I find the space should usually be no wider then the tile pieces on each side are thick...










Hope that helps


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Oh almost forgot...

All kinds of ways to Mount broms. Most will have a hard stem at the base. The cork may have natural holes or fissures you can use, or drill some, can use film cans with hole in bottom or mesh pots embedded in background, wedge or tie em into place, hell maybe even a staple gun. If you do decide to use some foam like painted GS or black waterfall/pond foam you can easily put holes in the foam to slip the brom stem into and use those as part of the mosaic.

You can also tie or otherwise secure a brom to a cork tile then silicone the tile in place. Oh can also use epiweb or treefern pots, poles, or boards. I would avoid getting silicone on any live plants though, and if you use tree fern and possibly epiweb with live plants growing on it already and try to silicone it in place enough silicone can seep through to kill the plant. Learned that lesson with that green mossy square with the small fern attached in one of the above pics, nearly killed it... Low temp hot glue may be safe to help secure things in place.


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## Justin144 (Sep 13, 2014)

Wow thanks so much for all your help dave!
Dont hate me but im going to take your idea of siliconing the cork flats to the tank and leave cracks like your picture. It looks awesome and isnt messy like the GS...I shouldnt need Great Stuff foam now will I? Just black silicone?

Are there any sites that have epiphytic ferns? or did i miss them? I would like to put a small fern on the background or will a normal fern thrive in spagham moss like you said? I love ferns

Also can I collect bark from Trees outside and use it? Ill sterilize it and everything. But have you ever done this before? If so what trees are best?

But my plan is to silicone cork flats like you did and stuff the cracks with spahgam moss and hope plants will do well. Hopefully i can try to anchor these plants good. overtime will they root and anchor themselves?
Im going to be putting Green Anoles in this vivarium and they will probably be climbing on these plants alot more than my frogs do lol 


Thanks again!


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Justin144 said:


> Wow thanks so much for all your help dave!
> Dont hate me but im going to take your idea of siliconing the cork flats to the tank and leave cracks like your picture. It looks awesome and isnt messy like the GS...I shouldnt need Great Stuff foam now will I? Just black silicone?
> 
> Are there any sites that have epiphytic ferns? or did i miss them? I would like to put a small fern on the background or will a normal fern thrive in spagham moss like you said? I love ferns
> ...


No prob, that's what we're here for  ...GS may come in handy if you try to attach some pieces of drift wood, or as tiles that you can easily mount a brom to, but silicone should serve for the most part. You shouldn't see the silicone so color doesn't matter much but if you wanna use black or brown just in case cool. I try to put the silicon on the back middle of the tile and not the edges because that lil area around the edge detached from glass can help clamp the moss into place. Just make sure you have a good contact point between the cork and glass and it should hold.

Violet barn has some ferns like those microgramma or pyyrosia that I consider epiphytes. Check mountain orchids and the sponsors too... Most things will root and grow in sphag so that's one reason why It is so handy

Here is a list of plant vendors i made years ago you can explore too..
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/de...tions/55466-can-plant-seller-list-sticky.html

I've never used regular tree bark so not sure how it will hold up. Cork lasts quite awhile in moist environment. And yes as the plants root they will secure themselves to the background. Its nice if you can give the vivs a month to grow in before adding animals that may disturb the plants trying to root. Actually its best to give a viv a couple of weeks or months to let it go through the nitrogen cycle and the environment become stable anyways before adding animals.


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## Synthetyk (Oct 20, 2011)

Any resource for finding cork bark at a reasonable price?


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## carola1155 (Sep 10, 2007)

The cheapest you are going to find will be at Maryland Cork. Last I checked it was $2.95/lb for flats... but I think you have to order by the box and its like 30-35lbs per box. Sooo thats a lot of cork.

Some of the sponsors here offer good prices too though. Better than you'll find at any pet store.

Off the top of my head, I know NEHerp offers wholesale stuff by the pound and Josh's and Genesis exotics both offer individual pieces you can order. I'm pretty sure some of the other sponsors sell it as well.


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

I would recommend placing a wanted ad on here for cork. Lots of people order more than they need and have extra. I've gotten some really good deals from various members.


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## Justin144 (Sep 13, 2014)

Dendro Dave said:


> No prob, that's what we're here for  ...GS may come in handy if you try to attach some pieces of drift wood, or as tiles that you can easily mount a brom to, but silicone should serve for the most part. You shouldn't see the silicone so color doesn't matter much but if you wanna use black or brown just in case cool. I try to put the silicon on the back middle of the tile and not the edges because that lil area around the edge detached from glass can help clamp the moss into place. Just make sure you have a good contact point between the cork and glass and it should hold.
> 
> Violet barn has some ferns like those microgramma or pyyrosia that I consider epiphytes. Check mountain orchids and the sponsors too... Most things will root and grow in sphag so that's one reason why It is so handy
> 
> ...


Thanks again dave! 
Today i picked up the silicone GE Black and some GS foam. Im going to use the foam to mount the vines i make to the top corner of the tank and silicone for the rest. 

Ill make a build thread when i start!
One LAST question haha

When i mount the cork to the glass and leave areas to stuff with spagham should i silicone the spagham to the glass in between the cork? Or just stuff it as well as i can and hope it doesnt fall out ?


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Justin144 said:


> Thanks again dave!
> Today i picked up the silicone GE Black and some GS foam. Im going to use the foam to mount the vines i make to the top corner of the tank and silicone for the rest.
> 
> Ill make a build thread when i start!
> ...


Well I didn't because of my experience with silicone soaking through and nearly killing my fern, but now that I think about it some more you could do a thin layer of silicone and press some dry sphag into that. The other reason I didn't do that was because i soaked the sphag in water so I could compress it and jam more into the gaps because as it dries out it expands and helps wedge itself in there. 

But a thin film of silicone with dry sphag would still let you add the wet sphag later and shouldn't effect plant growth once it is cured. It will also help hide any area where the sphag works its way out, like if your gap was to big to hold it. 

So ya that might be good to do, just keep the silicone layer real thin there because you don't wanna fill your gap up to much because the depth of that gap is what helps hold the wet sphag in place.

I don't know, I never tried just doing dried sphag and silicone, so that might work OK on its own. I was just afraid that if I didnt wet it first and compress it that I wouldn't get enough in the gaps, and I knew wet sphag wouldn't stick to the silicone, and I also wasn't sure if I could get enough dry stuff in there and stick for good coverage


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## Mandalore77 (Apr 5, 2014)

Just about any pets store here in pa has tree fern panels


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

Mandalore77 said:


> Just about any pets store here in pa has tree fern panels


That's just not fair! I have never seen them in any store here in Washington. I have to buy all my tree fern online or from other froggers. Thats just not fair....

That is an awesome username 

John


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