# a safe fertilizer alternative?



## Guest (Oct 31, 2005)

after plenty of searching (i dont want to be one of THOSE newbs) its pretty obvious of the toxicity risks of using varius forms of ferilizers.

personal story, my folks always got their xmas tree right after thanks giving and it always lasted through new years, without ever going sour and with minimal needles falling off.

momma's secret..... 7up in the water bowl under the tree. she began using it after hearing of a guy who kept his tree till valentines day with this methode.

i was wondering if this was only good for evergreens or possibly a safe alternative for us viv geeks as well.


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## littlefrog (Sep 13, 2005)

tint_frog said:


> after plenty of searching (i dont want to be one of THOSE newbs) its pretty obvious of the toxicity risks of using varius forms of ferilizers.
> 
> personal story, my folks always got their xmas tree right after thanks giving and it always lasted through new years, without ever going sour and with minimal needles falling off.
> 
> ...


The soda is only providing sugar to the plant, not mineral nutrition. The X-mas tree never grows... you are just trying to keep it alive a bit longer. 

Don't know what to say about 'safe' fertilizer. I know that many species of frogs colonize greenhouses, and all of these (and certainly coqui) frogs will live through pretty much any fertilizer you throw at them. In a planted vivarium, you shouldn't need to fertilize much, if at all. I don't think I'd use any fertilizer there. In the greenhouse, I fertilize everything the same, plants destined for vivariums or not. Before I'd put a plant in a vivarium, I'd rinse it off well with clean water to remove any surface residue, and I think that is sufficient.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Most people don't fertilize their plants at all in tanks, or very little. Thats what the frogs are for


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## Darks!de (Nov 16, 2004)

If you must fertilize, you might want to look into Dynagrow. Most organic ferts are ok for the frogs as long as they are added in very small amounts, and it is even best to take your frogs out when dosing. Like Corey said, frog crap is a very good fertilizer and all plants will need.

Personal experience: I added some fish emulsion to my tank after I finished planting it, partly because I was very impatient for the plants to grow in. It helped the plants out someout. It actually did more harm that good, because after the fert traveled through the substrate and into the sump and water feature, it let tons of algae grow in the water which was a real pain to get rid of.

Luke


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2005)

im for looking much of the same.... just a quick rapid growth then i swear to lay off......

jesus, i sound like a MLB ball player.

just another interesting read i found

http://www.sustainableenterprises.com/Business/coffeefert.htm


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## littlefrog (Sep 13, 2005)

tint_frog said:


> im for looking much of the same.... just a quick rapid growth then i swear to lay off......
> 
> jesus, i sound like a MLB ball player.
> 
> ...


If you are looking for a quick hit, MSU Magic is the drug of choice around a large portion of the orchid world right now. Comes in two formulations, one for RO or pure water, and one for well water (our well water... which may not be yours...). Designed for bedding plants, but we use it for orchids.

I've got both kinds and can send out a sample. Just PM me. Dynagro works too, and is fairly similar to the MSU stuff.

If you really have to put something in your viv, I'd strongly suggest knowing what it is... Coffee grounds are far less defined than a half tsp of fertilizer in a gallon. Do you use dark roast or americano? De-caffeinated (probably not a bad idea...)?


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2005)

ill pm ya 2nite with my address, would love a sample, gotta gt to work for now.

who knows the coffee might make them shy frigs a lil more active.... :lol:


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## twisner (Jul 7, 2005)

actually, the coffee is a very bad idea. 
There is some sort of frog in hawaii that is a bit of a pest, and i believe they are using concentrated cafeine to kill them.
Also, there was something recently about putting coffee plants in a viv, and someone put up a list that said that it was bad for amphibians...
my point is, the coffee could kill the frogs, i wouldnt risk it.


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2005)

wow... gotta link to that article? ill google it in the meantime. sounds like an interesting read


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## twisner (Jul 7, 2005)

http://dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10650&highlight=caffeine
http://dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5984&highlight=caffeine
Heres the too links i was talking about.
What kinds of frogs are you putting in there just out of curiosity?
We really need to meet up us norcal people.


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2005)

i googled some interesting stuff off google too.

i dont ever see putting decaf up to my lips, so guess that aint gonna work.

i just like thinking outside the box.

just sent a pm to fr0gman..... hes a chico local too.

im literally amazed how many of us geeks are out there.

i was gonna be in sac this weekend, but the job got cancelled.

where in norcal you from again?

(sorry, im a bit overwhelmed trying to absorb everything, and im horrible with names)


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## twisner (Jul 7, 2005)

davis, if you know where it is


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2005)

20 minutes past sac towards frisco.

old fish geek buddy's bro goes to school there. 

if youre ever up my way, hit me up, we'll go see pugmans setup


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## rbrightstone (Apr 14, 2004)

Caffine is a known carcinogen and mutatagen in ampibians. I have used fish emulsion and mild aqarium fertilizers. I mix it at 10-20% rate, and use a turkey baster to place it directly into the soil. I think spraying itinto the tank would be a bad idea, as the residue would be over everything. I would not want to take a chance withe burning the frogs.


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## Guest (Nov 17, 2005)

Ive been known to stuff time release pellets at the base of my plants.

Matt


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## Guest (Jan 13, 2006)

*fyi about dynagro...*

just for anybodies info who didn't know, i've seen a few posts on here and another dart frog board about dyna gro being a good plant food for frogs. in this post it is referred to as organic. while i have no idea about it's safety around frogs, it isn't in fact organic. it's more like the anti christ of organics. thats why you see so much salt on the cap when it's sat a bit... it's pretty pure as far as chemie's go, but if you actually want an organic fertilizer that doesn't need to rely on microbial action for breakdown (something that a viv is probably too small to do really effectively without risk of some serious funk in the substrate) then i would recommend pureblend pro, mostly organic, purblend original, OMRI certified, both by botanicare, both comparably priced to botanicare, both not leaving nasty residues on all your leaves... bio genesis by the company green air makes the only set of supplements you'll ever need, should a plant get a deficiency. then again, if they aren't getting a deficiency, why feed in the first place? plants will give you fair warning on most major and trace problems...


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