Feed my plants

[wanabthemoon]

Hey everyone! I am still working on getting things together for a setup. One of the things that I have not seen discussed is how you are feeding the plants in your enclosure. Most of my houseplants will eventually go into my guy's home and I want to make sure I am keeping them well (coleus, pathos, corn plant, etc..). Usually, most of these plants require feeding with a plant food around 2x a month. I'm assuming that most of you wouldn't want to use a Miracle -Gro food on your enclosure plants. So what do you use? Do you "feed" your plants? Do you worry about what or how they have been feed in the past?

 

[Fchamel]

Definitely water them and get those plastic dishes to go underneath the plant pots. Make sure you're pruning the dead/yellow leaves off.

Honestly, the subject of feeding plants doesn't come up a lot here on the forums so I'm intrigued as to what others do!

 

[Fchamel]

@MissSkittles @Beman

 

[Beman]

I am really bad about this. lol I do not really feed mine. @DonKeesh posted something organic to use but I can not find my bookmark for it.

 

[Fchamel]

Grow lights also help keep them alive. I use the sansai https://www.amazon.com/SANSI-70W-Ou...t=&hvlocphy=9009939&hvtargid=pla-833100607637

 

[wanabthemoon]

Grow lights also help keep them alive.

Yep - lighting is a must. I am by no means a green thumb, but I'm trying, and everything I'm reading from the plant guys says they need food too. Any ideas?

 

[nightanole]

i use spray-n-grow and the matching fertilizer. Its worked for lizards for 30 years.

 

[Fchamel]

Yep - lighting is a must. I am by no means a green thumb, but I'm trying, and everything I'm reading from the plant guys says they need food too. Any ideas?

Check out what night anole said below

 

[ERKleRose]

I use organic worm castings, and it works great!

 

[Fchamel]

I use organic worm poop/compost, and it works great!

I actually repotted most of my plants with compost that we created outside. But, lately, I have used organic mushroom compost from lowes.

 

[DonKeesh]

I am really bad about this. lol I do not really feed mine. @DonKeesh posted something organic to use but I can not find my bookmark for it.

@Beman I use Epsoma organic indoor plant liquid fertilizer.

 

[Lindasjackson]

I use organic worm poop/compost, and it works great!

Where can I find that? Do I have to go squeeze some worms? No seriously do they sell it somewhere?

 

[ERKleRose]

Where can I find that? Do I have to go squeeze some worms? No seriously do they sell it somewhere?

Yup! There's lots, but here's the one I use:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZOEOE...abc_QVJ2W5GG509J8K62K35V?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Lindasjackson]

Yup! There's lots, but here's the one I use:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZOEOE...abc_QVJ2W5GG509J8K62K35V?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Thank you!

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

i use spray-n-grow and the matching fertilizer. Its worked for lizards for 30 years.

Yeah, but how does it do for your plants?

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Hey everyone! I am still working on getting things together for a setup. One of the things that I have not seen discussed is how you are feeding the plants in your enclosure. Most of my houseplants will eventually go into my guy's home and I want to make sure I am keeping them well (coleus, pathos, corn plant, etc..). Usually, most of these plants require feeding with a plant food around 2x a month. I'm assuming that most of you wouldn't want to use a Miracle -Gro food on your enclosure plants. So what do you use? Do you "feed" your plants? Do you worry about what or how they have been feed in the past?

First question I have is, will they be staying in their pots, or will they be transplanted into a bioactive enclosure?

Mine are all in well-drained pots, and the tops of the pots are covered with river pebbles. From there, we follow all their respective care directions.

Currently feeding with Osmocote. I don't worry too much about the past, because we clean and then quarantine any new (to the house) plants for at least a month—usually longer if they're going in an enclosure.

 

[wanabthemoon]

First question I have is, will they be staying in their pots, or will they be transplanted into a bioactive enclosure?

I'm not 100% sure yet. I LOVE the idea and look of a full bioactive setup. I don't know if I'll do that first and eventually add the cham. OR if I do a plant-only set up and get around to the bio active down the road.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

First question I have is, will they be staying in their pots, or will they be transplanted into a bioactive enclosure?

I'm not 100% sure yet. I LOVE the idea and look of a full bioactive setup. I don't know if I'll do that first and eventually add the cham. OR if I do a plant-only set up and get around to the bio active down the road.

Either way (bioactive or not) IMO it makes sense to take each/all plants' needs/requirements into account when planning out an enclosure. An extreme example might be that a cactus is not going to do well in an enclosure full of rainforest plants.

To paraphrase an old carpentry adage: Plan twice—plant once.

 

[Teletubbies]

I'm using MARPHYL Organic Liquid Soil Enhancer for the enclosure plants.

 

[EmilioTheAnkify]

I use organic worm castings, and it works great!

Do you use worm castings in a bio active enclosure?

Also I’ve read that worm castings sometimes contain egg. Do you know if that’s true?
Would those worms negatively affect the clean up crew(isopods/springtails)?