# Suitable plants?



## A.Wilko (Feb 14, 2013)

I'm thiniking ahead to what to plant up my (45x45x60cm) exo with (hopefully for D. imitator one day) but not sure if they're suitable...

Neoregelia tarapotiensis, offset from the middle of the floor providing a nice centre piece visually as welll as perches and a well for the frogs
Ficus scandens (Mountain or Oak Leaf Creeping Fig) for cover - a slightly slower growing variety, because as much as I'm going to be itching for the plants to grow I don't want to have to be constantly trimming
Aspenium antiquum (Lesser Tongue Fern) near the bottom of the water feature providing more perching spots and shading for the ground
Pilea cadierei (Aluminium plant) for a bit of colour and background cover (probably situated behind the brom at the base of the background). 
Does this sound about right or have I gone a bit crazy with plants?

Trying to google these species doesn't bring up much information, or brings up information for regular/giant sized varieties :/ I was thinking of having Pearl Lace Anthurium scandens 2/3s up the background by the trickle water feature, but I don't think it would do well in the direct light (tho I currently have an exo hood with UV bulbs in I'm thinking about using LEDs instead as they have a longer life). Are there any more appropriate species? I don't want just 1 or 2 sp. dominating the background but I want a nice thicket of plants for the frogs to hide in.


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## JPccusa (Mar 10, 2009)

Try adding "dendroboard" to your Google search, along with the name of the plants. If other dendroboard members have spoken about it, you'll find it.


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## Groundhog (Dec 17, 2006)

You are right Mod, but I'd like to clarify a couple of points for the OP:

1) Do not grow Neoregelia as a terrestrial. It needs better drainage and would prefer being mounted closer to the lights;

2) _Anthurium scandens_ can adjust to good light, also an epiphyte.

3) In nature, "a nice thicket of plants" often means one or two species! Basic rule: Repetition looks more natural than "one of everything." (Black Jungle is right on about this!)


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## A.Wilko (Feb 14, 2013)

Thanks for the replies 



JPccusa said:


> Try adding "dendroboard" to your Google search, along with the name of the plants. If other dendroboard members have spoken about it, you'll find it.


Thanks, will have another google later!



Groundhog said:


> You are right Mod, but I'd like to clarify a couple of points for the OP:
> 
> 1) Do not grow Neoregelia as a terrestrial. It needs better drainage and would prefer being mounted closer to the lights;
> 
> ...


Hmm not sure how I could mount Neoregelia closer to the light, could you recommend an alternate bromeliad that'd be suitable for imitators and planting in soil? Or I have a lovely piece of bogwood which I was thinking of mounting some plants to ... 








Wouldn't raise it much closer to the lights but it'd give it better drainage then being rooted in soil.

Rightio so don't go crazy on the different species but multiple of the same ... I'd still just have Creeping fiscus (and moss, got to have some moss!) growing on the background. Seems like it could do with another plant but then this will be my first planted viv and it is a finite amount of space.


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## Groundhog (Dec 17, 2006)

A.Wilko said:


> Thanks for the replies
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hope you're cool with American idioms, mate

That piece of bogwood?

What cher gonna do is dis:

Mount a bromeliad in one of the higher holes/depressions in the wood. A good one would be _Vriesea erythrodactylon_:

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/identification-forum/92740-anyone-id-these-broms.html

This vriesea holds water and does not need to be up near the lights (besides, it has a fairly tall inflorescence).

Hope this helps.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

I will add that I am not so sure that Neo. tarapotoensis is a suitable terrarium bromeliad. Last time I worked with it, it seemed to have a serious sensitivity to fungal infections, even grown outdoors in a green house. This plant may need significant air flow coupled with humid cool temps. Please keep us posted should you try it out.


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## A.Wilko (Feb 14, 2013)

Groundhog said:


> Hope you're cool with American idioms, mate
> 
> That piece of bogwood?
> 
> ...





Frogtofall said:


> I will add that I am not so sure that Neo. tarapotoensis is a suitable terrarium bromeliad. Last time I worked with it, it seemed to have a serious sensitivity to fungal infections, even grown outdoors in a green house. This plant may need significant air flow coupled with humid cool temps. Please keep us posted should you try it out.


If I do get a Neo. tarapotoensis I'll make keep this thread updated as to it's progress on the bogwood 
I've been picking my lecturers brains about vivariums plants (as he's kept frogs and reptiles far longer than I have) and he said:

"Go for multiple bromeliads – Neoregalia olens is one of the best as it offshoots freely from the main plant. You’ll need to give imitators a choice of broms so aim for at least 3.
Asplenium – I’d stick with another brom tbh as they’re of greater use to the frog

Put the broms nearer the top, the others will prefer or cope with light shade so use them to underplant. You can have handfuls of the Tradescantia from the viv in Ross’s office, it’s gone mental and has crowded out the other species that were in there."​
Any more thoughts/criticisms on plant selection/placement? I'm guessing Tradescantia (I think it's T. fluminensis tricolor) is pretty hardy and will go crazy wherever it is so long as it has sufficient water and light?


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

I highly recommend you avoid the Tradescantia.


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## A.Wilko (Feb 14, 2013)

epiphytes etc. said:


> I highly recommend you avoid the Tradescantia.


Why? Because it'll crowd everything else out?


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## readygrown (Apr 5, 2008)

Groundhog said:


> You are right Mod, but I'd like to clarify a couple of points for the OP:
> 
> 1) Do not grow Neoregelia as a terrestrial. It needs better drainage and would prefer being mounted closer to the lights;
> 
> ...


I have to say as a bromeliad grower for over five years I have to disagree with the statement that one should NOT grow neos in a soil media as I have seen many people say here on DB. Yes they prefer being grown as epiphytes, I have grown MANY neos in soil and many have done very well, and some have not. Give it a go and if it doesnt work try another way, thats what growing plants is all about. Good luck.


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## Groundhog (Dec 17, 2006)

readygrown said:


> I have to say as a bromeliad grower for over five years I have to disagree with the statement that one should NOT grow neos in a soil media as I have seen many people say here on DB. Yes they prefer being grown as epiphytes, I have grown MANY neos in soil and many have done very well, and some have not. Give it a go and if it doesnt work try another way, thats what growing plants is all about. Good luck.


Hold up--You've grown "many neos in soil?" In tanks, or as houseplants in pots?

Bear in mind:
--Many vivaria, especially pdf tanks, can be very moist, almost wet. No bromeliads like this--some cryptanthus and pitcairnia will tolerate it;
--Many amphibian keepers opt for vertically-oriented vivaria. As such, they lose serious light intensity at the tank floor. Now, some tank floors have enough light to keep some cryptanthus in color--but this is not enough light for many neos, especially fireball and its hybrids.

Q: I am seriously curious: Why would I want to grow a neoregelia as a terrestrial? For me, that's why God made (okay, evolved) African violets Isn't the beauty, the fascination, of an epiphytic plant to grow it as it was meant to grow, as an epiphyte? That can be difficult in the house, but these tanks provide us with the opportunity to do it as nature intended (or as close as possible). Yet even when grown in net pots or teak baskets, I like to hang bromeliads--tehy just look better at eye level or above.

I find epiphytes--grown epiphytically--to be an endless source of fascination. I have seen many a stately Anthurium or Birdnest's fern grown in pots. Imagine if I could grow one on its own tree fern, 5-6' off the ground... Oh baby... 

Back to the OP: A _Neo punctatissima_ grown up near the lights, 18" above a _Crypt beuckeri _on the floor, looks more natural and better than the other way round. I do not think that a controversial assertion.


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## Groundhog (Dec 17, 2006)

A.Wilko said:


> Why? Because it'll crowd everything else out?


Ever see either version of _The Blob_?


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## ICS523 (Mar 10, 2012)

> I have to say as a bromeliad grower for over five years I have to disagree with the statement that one should NOT grow neos in a soil media as I have seen many people say here on DB. Yes they prefer being grown as epiphytes, I have grown MANY neos in soil and many have done very well, and some have not. Give it a go and if it doesnt work try another way, thats what growing plants is all about. Good luck.


Yeah, I would sort of agree. My Neos have always done well even with mounts that don't dry out very well. That said lots of people have bad luck in soil and you may lose plants by trying them in the ground. I think for most people its best to grow them as epiphytes. They look nice as epiphytes too, so it may be kind of pointless to waste every other plant by growing them in wet dirt.

Edit: Groudhog, you also have a great point; Many epiphytes look best as epiphytes.


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