# ficus radicans silver leaf..



## LarryLee (Jan 15, 2012)

has anyone started these from cuttings????and will they work in vivarium??
thanks
Larry


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## therizman2 (Jul 20, 2008)

I have never worked with 'Silver Leaf', but I do use normal F. radicans in quite a few tanks and propagate it quite a bit and I dont have much issue. It does seem to do better when propagating if it already has some aerial roots coming off of a node, and it definitely needs to be kept in high humidity and moist as the leaves are so thin they can easily dessicate with even a little bit of drying. Rooting hormone also seems to make a huge difference in the success rates outside of a tank. In a tank, as long as there are some aerial roots and you are misting, I just set it on whatever I want it to grow on and let it go, seems to do fine this way in tanks as long as the frogs dont trample it before it gets going. Just beware, it is similar in aggressiveness to F. pumila and will go right through screens, put roots into silicone, etc., so you will have to keep it trimmed to keep it under control.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I googled it and got the exotic angels page... isn't this just a fancy name for the variegated form? Both the green and variegated forms are great for terrariums, but yeah many of the vines grown in terrariums can mangle screening - the creeping ficus forms especially (since they are actually woody branched!).

I've had best luck rooting them on a layer of sphagnum (wrung most of the water out so it was just moist) in a closed container for a bit. As soon as it was rooted I plopped it (and any sphagnum it was holding onto) into the terrarium. Typically since these grow UP, I start them at the bottom substrate (sitting the sphagnum ON, not IN the substrate - in can cause the cutting to rot before rooting). To transition to outside a tank I move it over on top of a pot (including the clump of sphagnum), and when the roots are down into the substrate I start lowering the humidity gradually. It may have to grow new thicker leaves to deal with the change.


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## pniksch (Oct 31, 2012)

Larry,
Did you ever find Ficus sagittata variegata anywhere? Been looking for it for years....
Thanks,
Paul


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## LarryLee (Jan 15, 2012)

yes I did get it going but its a slow grower..... I bought the mother plant from lowes and took cuttings and rooted them as suggested above. im getting ready to redo my viv and get rid of the pothos and the sygonium? arrow head plants and add some more.
I had just seen where Bonnie accepts paypal and that opens up a whole new world for me and my plants for my viv.. im wanting lots of shingling plants and ground cover. Bonnie if you read this im working on a list
LarryLee


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