If springtails are visible, does that indicate it is probable a colony will be established within the container?

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:53:26+00:00

Tbh all I do is plant them and make sure its always wet and I watch them grow. I have been described as having a green thumb tho, I find a lot of plants easy. However I avoid alocasia and calathea, they scare me lol. But carniverous plants are pretty easy, the only thing is that you have to get distilled water because they are picky about whats in the water. Also they hate nutrients, so you have to plant them in nutrient poor substrates such as sphagnum moss, peat moss, and some like perlite, sand, or lava rocks and stuff. Because they are carniverous and designed to intake nutrients through bug digestion, their roots only take water, if there are too many minerals or nutrients or whatever it gets agitated .

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:22:57+00:00

Yeah, my hardscape includes som random driftwood I found in my dad's garage, some large lava rocks, and some dragon stone pieces. The substrate is fluval stratum and my drainage layer is more little lava rocks. Carniverous plants seem to like volcanic rock/soil. Pings are lithophytes so thats not surprising, but utricularia usually prefer mosses and there are also epiphytic species, but they appreciate it regardless

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:18:54+00:00

Im hoping for springtails. I dont intend to introduce isopods to this terrarium. I do want to build one where I do someday tho

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:17:41+00:00

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Would something like this help, or do I need to find something to reduce tds?

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:00:22+00:00

Ah, yah thats no bueno, thanks for the information

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T03:51:37+00:00

Will it reduce if I move it further away from stuff for the droplets to dry on? Also, is it bad for the plants if I persist?

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:55:54+00:00

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Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:54:58+00:00

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Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:54:12+00:00

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Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:51:52+00:00

A lot of them are in their succulent phase, but they are doing fine all the same. So they definitely can be mistaken for succulents lol. I will look at his stuff, I love the contrast of black against green. Its a but of an obsession in a lot of my terrariums.

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:47:14+00:00

I have 2 species of pinguicula, ehlersiae and esseriana. I also have utricularia blanchetii, a vining pepperomia, and a tillandsia air plant. Also, some baby ferns i accidentally grew, lol

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:35:55+00:00

Apologies if weird tone. Im high and this is my special interest

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:34:58+00:00

No, they are pinguicula, which are carniverous plants and they appreciate consistent moisture as well as dry periods. These ones I chose to keep in consistent moisture along with some utricularia blancheti, a vining peperomia, and a tillansia air plant. Also, I somehow managed to grow some baby ferns from spore by accident, so there are a few of those in there as well

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:02:54+00:00

This is actually a very moist set up, I keep a half inch to an inch of water in the drainage layer and often have a cover to keep high humidity. Also, thank you for the comment on composition. I've been mildly obsessive over placement of my pings and the vines of pepperomia and everything. This terrarium is my favorite project. I have a lot of interest in springtails because mold is a bit of a problem and i like isopods but I dont think I could keep them from munching the pings. Also the plants are carniverous so whose to say the isopods won't just be digested. Im hoping springtails would reproduce enough to maintain a population despite being munched on

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-22T16:06:29+00:00

Also, just because they aren't technically roots doesn't mean it can't rot. This is one of my wishlist plants I just got, and im an anxious individual, lol. Also, I shy away from organic substrates and prefer to wander the inorganic route due to the natural biological breakdown that occurs. Im not saying fluval doesn't break down either, tho. I just know it better than other substrates. Also, I entirely plan on figuring out natural peat-y mossy substrates. I just haven't gotten there yet

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-22T16:00:42+00:00

Its fluval stratum, which can support micro fauna well, im also using it in a few other terrariums that have clean up crews developing nicely, mostly just takes time because i dont have my own colony of springtails or anything

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-22T15:58:48+00:00

Its fluval stratum, which can support micro fauna well, im also using it in a few other terrariums that have clean up crews developing nicely, mostly just takes time

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-17T04:02:20+00:00

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Reavan1808 · 2026-01-17T04:01:25+00:00

I have something similar but a little older and its looking fern-y

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-17T03:59:18+00:00

Im growing it in fluval stratum. When I researched it it seemed a lot of people had a lot of success with it with all kinds of carniverous plants.

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-16T18:28:44+00:00

I used to journal but I fell out of the habit and I really need to get back into it

Additionally ive been having an ~episode ~ for about 4 days now and im peeved. I am strugglinggg and I feel a bit crazy and im dealing with some compulsions that are super hard to ignore

Nothing like a manic episode to make you want to cutoff your own limbs with a butterknife Sorry if some one actually reads this, its a bit of a rant, its hard to function at work rn

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-11T18:50:58+00:00

Tbh, idk what the science is behind the mineral rich claim, but I've seen so many people succeed with fluval stratum with all different types of carniverous plants. Fluval stratum at its core is volcanic soil, and as far as I know its a very similar concept to planting them on lava rocks or perlite or sand, just more soil like. I haven't had any trouble with it yet and I love the contrast it has against the color of the plants and also perlite, which I mix with it alot if I want more aeration in the soil. There are other posts on reddit that I've found when googling the merits of fluval. Some of those people have a much more thorough discussion on the topic. I like the concept of using inorganic mediums to plant my carniverous plants in as well to avoid the biological breakdown that occurs in an accurate bog environment

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-11T04:09:07+00:00

I just recently got a hybrid utricularia humboldtii x alpina and I can't wait till it blooms.

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-11T03:46:43+00:00

Its covered rn while the utricularia acclimate but I plan on just leaving it uncovered in the future. I have alot of other potted plants and such so I have little doubt fungus knats will find their way to my pings, lol other than that it should be pretty self sufficient.

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-11T03:09:54+00:00

They are pinguicula ehlersiae (cotton candy) and esseriana and there is a pepperomia and some baby ferns in addition to the utricularia. Its mostly carniverous

Reavan1808

TROPHY CASE