[scadut]

New to planting and I sucks at keeping plants alive. I've had this Rabbit's foot fern for about 3 weeks and it's been doing great except now I'm starting to notice that it's going brown around the edges? It's in a 24" tall viv, direct-semi indirect sunlight, and soil humidity is fairly high as it sits right below mistking nozzle. ABG substrate. It seems like it's slowly going downhill. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong here? Sorry for the google drive link but my free photobucket is already full and cant figure out for the life of me how to upload photos.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vaIpQ_vJ3ely9X5LOzp_Lj1-piICFDvK

 

[minorhero]

New to planting and I sucks at keeping plants alive. I've had this Rabbit's foot fern for about 3 weeks and it's been doing great except now I'm starting to notice that it's going brown around the edges? It's in a 24" tall viv, direct-semi indirect sunlight, and soil humidity is fairly high as it sits right below mistking nozzle. ABG substrate. It seems like it's slowly going downhill. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong here? Sorry for the google drive link but my free photobucket is already full and cant figure out for the life of me how to upload photos.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vaIpQ_vJ3ely9X5LOzp_Lj1-piICFDvK

I am also interested in the answer though I suspect direct sunlight is way too much for it.

What is the humidity in the vivarium?

 

[Socratic Monologue]

I don't grow any ferns in vivs, but I've not found that plant to be hardy as a houseplant.

The sunlight issue is definitely worth considering (that's not a standard practice, AFAIK), as is the position relative to the mister. Most plants like water cycles (i.e. not always soaked), especially if they are epiphytes planted in substrate.

 

[scadut]

@Minorhero Well right now I don't think I'm getting an accurate read on the humidity since I'm using a cheap reptile humidity gauge. The humidity is registering 60-70%. There is no open top, just a slit of mesh in the bottom front (european style). The plants are all in their infancy/clippings since they are newly planted and there are no frogs in it yet. I'm waiting until I get all the temp/humidity, shady spots, plant growth in a consistent and appropriate cycle before getting frogs. I feel like the humidity will raise as the plants grow in and take up more space of the tank.

@Socratic Can you explain on the sunlight issue? If you are refering to high amounts of sunlight, the delimma I'm having is I designed my tank very open with note too many shady spots exposing the plants to direct sunlight for approximately 12 hours. For watering, I have my mistking set to go off everyday @ 8a, 11a, 2p, 5p for 15sec and an 8p mist for 10sec. I originally had it less but the humidity was rather low. Plants are always dry by the time the tank is completely dark at 10pm.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

My point was that not too many people light their vivs with sunlight -- it isn't controllable in duration or intensity, and has the potential to raise temps too much. Is there no LED lighting on the viv?

 

[scadut]

Hahaha I'm so dumb. Totally didn't mean the word sunlight I meant light in general. I have a Fluval plant 3.0 LED. sorry for my lighting illiteracy!!

 

[Pumilo]

When you say that it is right below a misting nozzle, does that mean it is in one of the wettest parts of the vivarium? Most ferns, while they like light moisture, demand very well drained conditions to keep their feet dry. They hate wet roots.
I've not kept rabbits foot ferns, as I like them tiny. A quick search brings this up, "The Davallia fejeensis belongs to a genus of 40 plants that are epiphytic in nature, which means they grow on trees or within rock crevices taking moisture and nutrients from other sources "not soil" such as air, rain, trees and other debris."
Epiphyte. Epiphytes in general, hate wet feet. They grow in trees, or in rock crevices, in very little to no "soil" or substrate.

I think she might well be telling you that she has jungle rot so bad that she's having trouble walking, and needs a new pair of dry boots.

 

[NICKP]

I’m kind of going through the same thing, I have had mine planted for about 4 weeks now. This is my first vivarium as well so feel free to take what I’m saying with a grain of salt..... when I first planted it I lost about 50% of the foliage within the first 2 weeks...just turned brown and fell off. I have been careful as far as spraying goes to not soak the leaves but I keep the substrate damp near the fuzzy rhizome (Neherp v2 substrate, it drains very quickly)About a week ago 6 or 7 new shoots have popped up and are slowly forming. There is also another small rhizome popping out. I think it just went through an acclimation phase and hopefully yours is going through the same. I would be careful and try to keep the leaves dry and the humidity up. Good luck!


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[scadut]

Yeah I had to move some plants so they weren't directly under the misters and less humidity is best. My newest easy plant kills include a ficus pumilia, christmas moss (thought this was indestructible) , and a 5-leaf clipping of marcgravia sp. is slowly tanking. I think the ficus and marcgravia just wasn't rooted. I had to clip the baby leafs so the plant focused all of it's energy on rooting.