# How to establish oak leaf creeping fig?



## The_Greg (Sep 10, 2007)

Hello all

Tried planting my tank and definately killed my oak leaf creeping fig. Ordered two more, and i should probably know how to plant them properly before i just kill them again...

tank specs

fig&sphagnum substrate
gs&coco background
70-77* temps
90%+ humidity
sees 8-12 hrs of light/day
misted once a week, about...


Previous fig:
Opened a hole in the substrate and put the root ball + dirt in and tried to forget about it.. It died.

so, specifics on how to let it survive and thrive?


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## skronkykong (Jan 1, 2007)

I've found this one is touchy. I ordered one and cut the plant and roots in half and planted each have in different spaces. One died out completely and the other is growing slowly. The one that survived gets more light, but I don't know if that's why. All the cuttings I took from it to try to root in there just shriveled up. If I was you I would carefully break apart your new orders and try them in different areas. Odds are at least one out of four will make it!


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## NathalieB (Apr 23, 2007)

i just pinned the roots + dirt to my background in 4 different vivs and it took off just fine in all cases. it doesn't like to be in the shade and needs water but not too much. it takes off very slowly at first but after it gets well established (here that's after about 6 months) it starts growing much faster and will start covering your walls.


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## The_Greg (Sep 10, 2007)

NathalieB said:


> i just pinned the roots + dirt to my background in 4 different vivs and it took off just fine in all cases. it doesn't like to be in the shade and needs water but not too much. it takes off very slowly at first but after it gets well established (here that's after about 6 months) it starts growing much faster and will start covering your walls.


should i separate the roots out and try and pin them, or just the whole ball?

can the roots be exposed to dry cocofiber (lots of light) or do they need a damper piece of background to live in?


This is my first time dealing with plants whatsoever, so thanks a bunch!


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## NathalieB (Apr 23, 2007)

what I do is wash of most of the soil (to avoid nasty bugs in the viv) and then add new soil mixed with spagnum moss. I make a ball of the roots + soil and pin the whole thing to the background.
I have pinned them to pieces of wood, wet flevopol-backgrounds and dry backgrounds covered in epoxy so I don't think they need a damp background. they even root to the glass after a while. I do spray directly on the plants every day for the first couple of weeks to make sure they get enough water. the spaghnum helps keeping the roots moist.
I have found that cuttings do need to root outside the viv because they don't root when I just stick them to (any) background.


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