How should I keep my plants Alive?

[SaIiLdVaEnR]

I have a few potted plants in my veileds enclosure. Just some basic stuff like Pothos, Hibiscus, and Ficus. I have a Reptisun 7.0 on the top of the enclosure, one day bulb, and one regular light bulb. The tanks is 4 foot tall, 30 inch deep, 30 inch wide enclosure. The UV rays do not reach the bottom, is there anyway I could help the plants live?
Thank you in advance


Aidan

[K1LOS]

i run my 4ft uvb tube vertical up the centre of the back of my cage. That solves that problem. Mind you, my ficus is all but dead now... My draceana, corn plant, and scheffleras are all doing fine though. Don't really know what happened to the ficus, it was thriving for months then just up and died. Any ideas?

Geoff

[CarlC]

Your UV bulbs reaching the plants is not the problem. Think of plants that grow on a window sill. The glass from the window blocks almost all the UV from the sun.
I would think you might be providing to much light. The species you list except the hibiscus are low light species. Ficus, pothos, and schefflara do much better with medium light.

Carl

[peterm15]

Originally posted by K1LOS
i run my 4ft uvb tube vertical up the centre of the back of my cage. That solves that problem. Mind you, my ficus is all but dead now... My draceana, corn plant, and scheffleras are all doing fine though. Don't really know what happened to the ficus, it was thriving for months then just up and died. Any ideas?

Geoff

DONT TOSS IT... they will grow back... my teach had one by a window and turned it around and the next day it was dead..... they get stressed with the slightest change, drop all there leaves and usually get tossed... but its really not dead

[K1LOS]

It still has some life to it on some of the branches. I was thinkign about buying a second ficus and rotating the plant housed in the cage every few months. Just waiting to find a good deal on a ficus. I got the last one for $5 for a 4' at Rona. How do you suppose i revive the current ficus?

As to the low light thing... The cham's needs come first, and it prefers bright light. So if i lose a few plants to suit the chams needs, ahh well.

Geoff

[DragnDrop]

Ficus are tough plants but they sure like to play dead often. They'll drop their leaves if their environment changes.... like going from the greenhouse to your house or from a window to artificial light. If the changes are made slowly, very few leaves will be dropped. As long as the thinner branches where the leaves grow are still soft and pliable, it's most likely still alive and kicking. Just leave it alone, don't move it, keep it where it is so it can sprout new leaves. Moving ficus in and out of the cage is harder on the plant than leaving it there to adjust to cage life.

[CarlC]

The light needed by the Ficus and the Chams suit each other fine. Recent studies show that more than enough usable UV light is produced by Reptisun 5.0's for panther chameleons. Over exposure to higher doses of UV causes problems just as under exposure does. Then add the fact that we all use D3.

If you provide a balanced spectrum both will do fine together.

For further reading on UV requirements of panthers look into purchasing the book- The Panther Chameleon- Color Variation, Natural History, Conservation, and Captive Management By Gary Furguson, James B. Murphy, Jean-Baptiste Ramanamanjato, Achille P. Raselimanana.

Carl