# Creeping fig... keeping it alive?



## GeckoElements (May 15, 2011)

So this is another plant i seem to like to kill and i love it. What is the trick to keeping this one alive? Any care tips I may go out and by a huge hanging basket one and take clippings and place in my Vivs.


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## ritersofly (Oct 23, 2010)

They need alot of humidity to grow, sometimes they will turn yellow on you but generally they are easy to grow,I have even planted them straight into my clay backgrounds so they are atleast a bit epiphytic, not sure why you are having trouble with it. 

my 2 cents.


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

The only trick to creeping fig is don't use it  In the past it has killed many an orchid of mine. 

This plant is basically a weed, if you buy it potted, remove it from the pot, mount it somewhere on the background, a moss patch, or even right on the ground. The only trick is keeping it moist until it roots, then from there it is nearly impossible to kill. I would HIGHLY recommend only using the oak leaf variety, as the Ficus pumilia will cover and kill every other plant almost if you do not keep it trimmed back . The oak leaf is a little slower growing, and much more attractive IMO.


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## yomamafat (Jun 16, 2010)

I agree, that thing grows like a weed for me and traps in heat in the tank. Almost impossible to kill as it grows right up against the lights in the tank. If you are having problems keeping it alive you're tank is probably not humid enough. It doesn't even have to be rooted in substrate to grow. If you like it - trim often keep it controlled. If you are having problems keeping the creeping fig, going to the oak leaf variety will have no success, as in my experience humidity is even more im to portant for that variety. You can use an evaporative water table to increase the humidity in the tank - basically having a resevoir of water in the tank that you can put a lamp under to get the humidity up - works better in a rack set up. I drill my tanks to allow the resevoir to automatically empty and I mist often. What ever will work for you - some people control the amount of ventilation to help increase humidity. Happy frogging!


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

agreed its an awful plant and a nuisance. really it should e impossible to kill. it should be able to simply be tossed into a tank and it should grow. so what are you tank conditions like?

james


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

I have three kinds of ficus vine in various vivs and one thing they have in common, is that they get a slow start. I have found that it is best to start them in the soil adjacent to the wall or object that you want them to grow on. It might take 3 to 6 month before you see substantial growth, but it puts down an impressive root system before growing foliage. As others have said, it'll grow and take over once it gets started. I've had it grow on the glass and out of the vent holes of my viv. I like the Oak Leaf variety best and it does grow more slowly than the standard variety. I also have some Panamanian creeping fig that grows even more slowly, but has really cool lance-shaped leaves. 

It needs to be damp but not under water and it needs lots of light. It simply won't do well in the shade. I have also found that it does much better on vertical surfaces than on the ground; however, I have started some by placing it on the floor of well-lighted grow-out tanks that have a layer of damp sphagnum moss on the surface.


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## Okapi (Oct 12, 2007)

For me the normal type takes over. Just dont let it dry out before it starts rooting and it will become a weed that drowns out all other plant life.
The white type grows very slowly.
The oak leaf type grows slower than normal, but faster than white.
The lance leaf species takes forever to get established and most of it dies before doing so. I think the problem might have been lack of air movement though.


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## boabab95 (Nov 5, 2009)

funny, i usually ask people how to KILL it!

my advice:

water it


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## arielelf (May 23, 2007)

Take it as a blessing!! It is next to impossible to control once it takes hold. It pretty much killed everything in my tank, and that is after pruning it every 2-3 weeks. It just keeps coming back with a vengance. I will never use it again.


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## mainbutter (Sep 2, 2010)

Huh..

I came to this thread wondering the same thing, and am surprised to hear some of the replies of people who have it taking over their vivs.

I have two vivs with the oak leaf variety in it, and both have been in there for about 6 months.

In one viv, the plant sent four or five vines up the background, going up maybe 8 inches. It recently died back a little bit and I lost about half the length of the longest vines coming off the main plant.

In the other viv, the plant has stayed a nice healthy green color, but hasn't grown AT ALL. Seriously, it was 2'' tall when I got it, and still is just 2'' tall, no new leaf growth or vines shooting out.

After reading through this thread, can I assume the issue is humidity? These aren't dart cages with daily misting, but young arboreal/semi-arboreal snake rearing display vivs that get misted/watered 2x a week and heated with CHEs... so it's fair to say that I have lower humidity than most of your vivs I bet (even though it never seems to dip much below 60%).

How high of a humidity do these things need? Do they just need daily misting to thrive? I love the look of these things and wish it'd grow all over my background.


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

The humidity is important for getting the plants to root, however if they are not growing and they are staying slightly moist, lighting is most likely your problem. I grow all of my oak fig under 6500 - 10000k compact fluorescents at around 600 - 1000 foot candles. It can be very slow growing under standard t-8 aquarium lighting. I have seen ficus pumilia grow in the Las Vegas desert on a water feature, in direct afternoon sunlight . So if you have moisture and it won't grow, turn up the lights .


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## jdogfunk99 (Oct 16, 2007)

I'm also surprised to hear some of the replies of people commenting about the negatives. This vine is the single most important plant to make my viv look lived-in an exotic.


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

jdogfunk99 said:


> I'm also surprised to hear some of the replies of people commenting about the negatives. This vine is the single most important plant to make my viv look lived-in an exotic.


I beg to differ about creeping fig being important to make a viv look lived in and exotic . Try using peperomia glabella or serpens instead, they are nice creepers but don't have so many negative side effects  also, Ficus sagittata and radicans are good alternatives.










Not one piece of Ficus pumilia was used in this viv...... 


 Ed Parker


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## vivlover10 (Oct 10, 2010)

Amazing viv Ed!

Also thanks for those plant names, I will be sure to use at least one of them in my pumilio build!


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

Misting the vines themselves might help, but they do best when the humidity is high enough that there is condensation on the inside of the glass - in other words, close to 100%. Most snakes have skin problems with humidity that high, especially arboreal species, so you might find it tough to have them thrive together. I have an Exo-Terra that I keep local treefrogs in and it has a screened lid. Although it has a water feature and the susbstrate is damp, I can't get the pumilo vines to grow in it at all. The only difference between that viv and my dart frog vivs is ambient humidity.

But, hey, a couple of dart frogs are easy to keep and many are very affordable. Perhaps you could set up a small viv and pick up a coupld of frogs. 


mainbutter said:


> Huh..
> 
> I came to this thread wondering the same thing, and am surprised to hear some of the replies of people who have it taking over their vivs.
> 
> ...


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## SanduskySerpents (Mar 2, 2011)

JimO said:


> Most snakes have skin problems with humidity that high, especially arboreal species, so you might find it tough to have them thrive together.


My emerald tree boas and amazon tree boas thrive in 80-100% humidity. When i first got an etb, i almost killed it beause the humidity was too low.

But back to topic. My creeping fig i split into 3 diffrent plants in a huge viv one in the top potter one in the middle and one on the bottom. Only the one on the bottom grew. not sure why dont really care because the bottom one is a weed! it doesnt grow up like i wanted it to, but i didnt know it was semi epiphyte. maybe i'll move part to the background instead of the potter.


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