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acpart

Flowering plants for vivarium

acpart
17 years ago

I have 3 planted (not potted)vivariums which house 2 day geckos and a crested gecko --one to a vivarium. I know a lot more about the geckos than about the plants. The plants are doing well, but the flowering plants don't flower. I just looked up their care and discovered that the bromiliads flower once, then subsequent flowers have to come from their pups and that the anthurium plants need to dry out between waterings. I mist daily to maintain humidity of over 70% for the geckos' needs. I have florescent lighting designed to show off the geckos' colors the best, but do not regularly provide UV; the geckos are supplemented with D3 to facilitate calcium metabolism and have been thriving without UV.

According to what I have read, the "flowering" plants will probably not flower in their current environments. Are there plants anyone could recommend which could flower in a vivarium with florescent lighting and daily misting? Is there any more information you would need to be able to provide an answer (vivaria dimensions are 12"x24"x24", 12"x12"x12" and 12"x12"x18")?

thanks,

Aliza

Comments (8)

  • aes123
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The biggest issue is probably light. You could try african violets, as they tend to do well in lower light, but depending on how much and what kind of light you have, even they might not flower often.

    What kind of lights to you have? Number of bulbs and wattage?

    Have you looked at jewel orchids? Even if they don't flower, thier foliage can be quite striking.

  • garyfla_gw
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi
    Most of what comes to my mind is far to large for you setups. Will recommend some families that you can research
    Gesneriads,though not the AV it tends to rot whith water on the leaves. Check out Andy's orcids and use the search for lowlight ,non seasonal, high humidity types.
    There are hundreds of types of Anthuriums with many different habits some will even stay small,not much for flowers but have fantastic leaves.
    Marantas and Calatheas they will flower but the leaves are the interest.
    Probably the best flowering types are miniature siningias ,Episcias,Chiritas.Gesneriads that love terrarium conditions and stay small. There are many .many others but size is the main problem. Same is true of orchids but not the types you'll find in the average nursery.
    gary

  • acpart
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for your responses. Here is some additional info as requested and a few questions: The largest viv has a 24" florescent and a 20 watt halogen spot light; the mid sized viv has a 60 watt grow light and the smallest viv has two 9 watt compact florescents and a halogen 20 watt spot. All lights are on 7am-7pm.
    Are african violets OK in a viv that gets misted every day? I thought they didn't like the leaves getting wet. I have an anthurium but it doesn't bloom, most likely because it's getting too wet. I will look up the other suggestions and see if I can obtain them.

    Aliza

  • garyfla_gw
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    hello
    IME Av will rot in a terrarium.. I can grow them sitting on top but not inside. One Gesneriad I would highly recommend is Episcia. flame violet.They not only tolerate warmth and humidity they demand it lol. They come in many leaf types and will flower almost continuously. Another is miniature sinningias will flower at 2 inches!!
    they are the most cold sensitive plants I've ever encountered will decline at 50!! But no problem in a terrarium. gary

  • acpart
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks. It turns out I already have a gesneriad in my smallest terrarium. I don't know what kind but it has reddish leaves and is producing lots of leaves but no flowers yet. I will check out the sinningias.

    Aliza

  • larry_b
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Aliza,

    I hate to disagree with Gary, but I happen to have two African violets in my terrarium and they are flourishing. They have been in there for four months. They are both miniatures, but one is growing so vigorously that I keep having to trim back leaves so that it doesn't cover my miniatures sinningias. Both violets are blooming now and they looked wonderful.

    That said, I think it would really depend on how wet you keep your terrarium. Although mine is barely moist, I can't say that it is sopping wet. I mist everything every few days. I don't particularly mist the African violets. They don't need it. I don't worry about getting a little spray on their leaves though.

    One thing, I do have a computer fan in the terrarium. I suspect that the African violets would not be doing as well if the fan wasn't in there. They tend to like airflow and the fan provides that. It also keeps condensation from building up on their leaves.

    I hope this helps,

    Larry

  • larry_b
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Correction: What I meant to say was that the terrium is very moist, not barely moist.

  • dirtmonkey
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Not to beat a dead plant, but gesneriads really are great in vivariums if you're looking for flowers... Your light sounds adequate for most of the smaller ones. The regular size African Violets did hate the wet terrariums, but by wet I mean really really wet with water pools and splashing falls for frogs. But as with Larry's, the AV minis took off like weeds. Even though they got wet all the time. No air fans in mine, but there were screened holes for a little air circulation. Cut off almost all the roots and wash off old potting soil first, believe it or not in a humid place they will re-establish much faster that way with far less rotting. Expect to lose some older leaves as they adjust, like many other plants will do.

    Small-leaved Episcias were great, but the bigger ones grew too fast for my tanks. My own pretty smallish hybrid called 'Aloha Mauna Loa' is available sometimes through dealers, and grows at a reasonable compact pace. I need to get that back someday, last one I traded turned out to be something else, mislabeled :-/ A common E. cupreata hybrid just about smothered a 55 gallon in only a few months.

    Chirita tamiana and the other little Vietnam area ones grow excellently, and you almost won't be able to prevent the C. tamiana from flowering all the time, a very quick and proficient little miniature.

    A mini Sinningia should do OK, but can be fragile, a gecko or lizard could keep it looking pretty ragged unless it's protected from being climbed on. They can always come back from tubers, but my frogs kept them fairly ugly until I just planted them under short ground cover where the leaves were mostly hidden, and the flowers would pop up out of it. Most Sinningia have tubers that will get you a new plant going soon if you manage to break or kill the tops at any time.

    Kohleria amabilis and its hybrid 'Flirt' have done very well in moist terraria for me, as have others of the small rhizomatous gesneriads (but Diastema, Phinaea, Niphaea etc. are hard to find unless you're in a club or society). The only Achimenes that reliably bloomed though, was 'Tiny Red' The best mini rhizomatous all around in my terrariums was xPhinastema 'California Dreaming'. It always had pretty purplish leaves and magenta flowers going on. The smaller of these might be fragile too, but broken-off cuttings root and continue to grow as if nothing happened while the base re-sprouts. The rhizomes give the same survival advantage as the Sinningia tubers, if not even better.

    Goldfish, lipstick, and the like vines will often grow well but not bloom much in a terrarium that doesn't get at least a little sun or really bright light for a while. In the brightest spots though, a little bunch of Nematanthus (goldfish) cuttings make a neat little bush that can be trimmed back if it gets leggy. They're easy to cheaply find in department stores too.

    Petrocosmeas do well, most take temperature and humidity fluctuations as well as Chiritas and often have flushes of purple flowers looking like (real) violets.

    As I'm writing all this I'm trying to think of anything else that flowered, at least more than once a year in the terrariums.... non-gesneriads, but there are so many of those... I still have no idea why that family isn't the mainstay of terrariums everywhere. Certainly not all of them are sensitive primadonnas.

    Since yours are misted but not really too wet, I'd look into those jewel orchids too. The easiest to find and grow (and most reasonably priced) is the pretty Ludisia discolor. It only bloomed once or twice a year in terrariums for me, usually in Winter, but the leaves are very nice and when it blooms you get lots of flowers.

    Mounted up on wood closer to the lights, small pleurothallis and similar miniature orchids can do well, but I always rotted mine (again, frog tanks, never dry out at all). Orchid dealers and vivarium sites can direct you to the best ones for your conditions.

    Plectranthus oetherlandii also has colorful leaves and blooms fairly regularly under fluorescents, but if it really likes it there will try to take over- not as bad as 'Swedish Ivy' plectranthus though, and much prettier imo.

    It's easy to find plants that grow well, but a regularly flowering display can be tough unless the tank is designed for the plants more than the animals I guess. Hmmm...

    -Dischidia pectinoides, little vine, always blooming if in a reasonably bright spot or where it climbs up closer to lights, little bunches of red matchhead flowers. If one of the halogens is aimed at it a few hours a day-not close enough to burn- the fluorescents should be enough otherwise.

    -Miniature begonias!

    -miniature peace lily (Spathiphyllum). The prettiest one with the silver stripe leaf was a kinda shy bloomer for me though.

    -Bertolonia marmorata, pink flowers, gorgeous leaves, likes misting. Sorta spendy though.

    For the taller terrarium, a amall leaved Abutilon might keep you in flowers- will require pruning and pinching, I don't know of any true miniatures yet. They get to be full size shrubs in bigger pots. No soggy roots, but doesn't mind misting at all.

    I know there are more not mentioned yet. Maybe try looking at... oh, does this guy even allow mention of retailers? I don't come in here much any more. Well, a google search for *terrarium plants flowers* should get you to a few dealers with lots of choices or ideas.