I am setting up a terrarium for some chams, and all i have here is birch as a hardwood but i like the cottonwood and willow leaves better! Is birch good to use as a ground cover and soil amendment or should i send for oak? thanks Oh and why dont people use soft wood leaves?
whats wrong with soft wood leaves??
- Thread starter joshuai
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any hardwood should be fine as long as the leaves have been allowed to brown and fall from the tree naturally. letting them sit out in the sun for a few days is a good idea too. oak is common so fairly popular. same with magnolia. magnolia leaves are also fairly thick so don't break down or get eaten as fast.
softwood leaves break down very fast, they're also eaten quickly by the clean up crew you'll have in the tank. you end up replacing them far more often. hardwood leaves last quite a bit longer in vivariums.
softwood leaves break down very fast, they're also eaten quickly by the clean up crew you'll have in the tank. you end up replacing them far more often. hardwood leaves last quite a bit longer in vivariums.
ok thanks! So here the only hard wood i can think of is birch, but it is a very thin small leaf! think birch is good? I may just find someone to sell me a bunch of oak or magnolia leaves! I think that would be my best bet! The soft wood leaves here are cottonwood, they are big thick leaves and look great as ground cover but those are out! Thank you for all your help jaymz!
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anytime, always glad to be of help! as long as the cottonwood leaves have died on the tree and then been shed you should be fine. those could be your whole leaf leaf litter layer on the very top, over a hardwood leaf litter layer if esthetically you find them pleasing, you will probably end up replacing them more often, but that really isn't a horrible thing. you'll have to add more leaf litter anyway.
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Just looked it up to be sure, Lilac is considered nontoxic. just allow the leaves to die and brown on the tree and fall on their own before collecting. letting them sit in the sun for a few days should take care of a lot of any potential pests. you could always boil or bake them, but boiling can cause them to break down faster, and baking them presents signifigant fire risk...dry leaves burn very very easily. the one thing to make sure of is that no pesticides have been used on the property the leaves come from. residual pesticides are bad. otherwise i say try em out, if they last longer than softwood leaves I'll have another species to add to my leaf litter as I've got several lilacs in my yard, and we don't treat with pesticides. good luck!
Awesome! Ya i looked them up and it says they are very hard wood shrubs! And i know some stick bugs like them! So ill try it out the leaves never turn brown till after a few frosts then they start to fall! But thats soon, it is getting down to 35 here at night now, most of the time!Just looked it up to be sure, Lilac is considered nontoxic. just allow the leaves to die and brown on the tree and fall on their own before collecting. letting them sit in the sun for a few days should take care of a lot of any potential pests. you could always boil or bake them, but boiling can cause them to break down faster, and baking them presents signifigant fire risk...dry leaves burn very very easily. the one thing to make sure of is that no pesticides have been used on the property the leaves come from. residual pesticides are bad. otherwise i say try em out, if they last longer than softwood leaves I'll have another species to add to my leaf litter as I've got several lilacs in my yard, and we don't treat with pesticides. good luck!