Philodendrons for live tank set ups

[hypnotic pets]

I just got in two Philodendron plants. Ones a Golden Goddess one is a mystery. But I've been brainstorming on live set ups with them. I know there toxic but ts don't eat them so should be good there. Don't want to go to wet with it if I do use ts. Anybody have some good ideas or has done projects with them before I'd like to hear them

 

[The Snark]

Most will burn in direct sunlight.

A man I know in San Francisco has a plant decoration service. Supplies and tends to plants mostly in offices. He builds these set ups of them, often philodendrons, a pot in a plate with a little pole sticking up the back which holds a halo of very dim lights about a foot above the plant. Pot, plate, pole and halo are black and difficult to see so you just notice this bright green plant sitting on shelves and tables in dim recesses or otherwise dark uninteresting areas. Quite attractive.
He has several hundred spread around the city that he makes regular rounds tending to. The lights need to be quite dim to keep them from overgrowing.

That first photo I know as lettuce leaf philo. Love the meaning of their genus name, Tree lover aka tree hugger. Philo-dendron.

 

[Wolfram1]

Well, the first one is a Thaumatophyllum (ex. Philodendron) of some kind, probably a baby T. bipinnatifidum. And they get HUGE.
I really like Pilodendrons but i wouldn't put them into spider enclosures to be honest.

 

[The Snark]

And they get HUGE.

Okay, what would the gigantic one in Thailand be? At the Queen Sirikit Botanical gardens, sort of a garden fit for royalty, they have a philo. The trunk is about 3-4 inches thick at the base and some leaves are 8 to 12 inches across. It's definitely a pampered pet and I'm suspecting maybe a one of a kind. The queen insisted only plants native to Thailand be grown there.

 

[Wolfram1]

What does the stem/trunk look like? And the leaves?

As far as i understand philodendrons are native to the americas.

 

[The Snark]

As far as i understand philodendrons are native to the americas.

My bad. Not paying attention and some Thai nationalism tossed in. Rumors abound around the King and Queen. I found the plant in question. Philodendron bipinnatifidum.
They do have some remarkable specimens at Sirikit and they are most certainly pampered to the max. But not quite desirable in a terrarium.

 

[Wolfram1]

If only palms could be grown indoors XD, the unpeeled-trunk would make for perfect habitat for any arboreal spider

 

[The Snark]

If only palms could be grown indoors XD, the unpeeled-trunk would make for perfect habitat for any arboreal spider

There is a small industry logging palms. I've seen the exterior planks with a rounded side out used for siding of houses occasionally. Apparently it's a highly rot resistant material. Not sure what they use the heart for. I'm going to take a guess they mash the heart up into fibers and call it coir.

Weird palm incident. A friend of my mother took a boat from the Phillipines to Los Angeles. It was a freighter loaded with copra. Half way across the Pacific the copra caught fire. Couldn't be extinguished. Slow cooking they arrived in LA and the passengers got off then the ship was towed to an outlying dock and water pumped in. Didn't do any good and it eventually burned down to the water line. Got to love the properties of organic oils.

 

[hypnotic pets]

I've got a few philodendrons these I just got cheap and am wanting to do something different with them. the high end ones are kept set up in the plant room. Got a few varigated ones. But I'm more into the dark colored ones myself. Black cardinal. prince of orange, Mccolleys finale are a few. Wanting a Carmel marble and a strawberry shake. There on the top of my list.

 

[Wolfram1]

I've got a few philodendrons these I just got cheap and am wanting to do something different with them. the high end ones are kept set up in the plant room. Got a few varigated ones. But I'm more into the dark colored ones myself. Black cardinal. prince of orange, Mccolleys finale are a few. Wanting a Carmel marble and a strawberry shake. There on the top of my list.

Nice, i am more a species guy myself, I really like most climbing ones but especially P. mayoi, P. elegans, P. radiatum, P. tortum, P. pedatum, P. squamiferum, not to mention some of the ones i whish i had but that are rarely seen in the hobby like P. bicolor, P. chinchamayense or P. adamantinum, but there are many more great ones.
I prefer them unvariegated for the most part, the only hybrid i really like is the Philodendron pedatum x squamiferum "Florida" and especially the "Ghost" variant.

Baby P. elegans:

 

[hypnotic pets]

These are the new ones here I just got. my wife is the brains behind the plants, I'm just getting into them. Still lots to learn. Got a few monsteras also. View attachment 423553

 

[The Snark]

My partner reminded me of the strangest philodendrons one is likely to see. In a garden at a restaurant. A multiple trunk tree about 15+ feet tall and the same across. All foliage and small branches had been cut back up the trunks. Several varieties of philodendrons had been planted around the base of the tree and had grown to entirely cover all the trunks.
So looking at this oddness from a distance it was pure what the heck? A large philodendron foliage bush from variegated to dark green topped with the branches and leaves of a deciduous tree.