Top 5 Foods

[leigti]

I have very little space to grow food indoors for my tortoise over the winter. I was wondering if anybody had a "top five" list of nutritionally dense plants that I could add to the varied grocery store greens.

 

[lismar79]

I dry mulberry leaves all year to use as a "topper" but when I store buy in the winter I get-
Dandilion greens, escrole, endive, mustard & collard greens, kale, radichio and squash. If I can find it I get cactus pads. I am desperate for my 2 yr old sully to eat hay, but not yet.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

A handy reference, if you haven't seen it: http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/nutrientanalysis.htm (although you probably have).

 

[lismar79]

A handy reference, if you haven't seen it: http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/nutrientanalysis.htm (although you probably have).

Nice guide! Thank you.

 

[Keith D.]

I dry mulberry leaves all year to use as a "topper" but when I store buy in the winter I get-
Dandilion greens, escrole, endive, mustard & collard greens, kale, radichio and squash. If I can find it I get cactus pads. I am desperate for my 2 yr old sully to eat hay, but not yet.

You canbuy a bale of Bermuda grass and do what I do for my littler torts and put handful of it into a big food processor and chop it up into small 1/4 to 1/2 pieces and add it to there salad mix. I only use the bales when I can't get fresh, which at this time of year is hard for me at times lol

 

[lismar79]

You canbuy a bale of Bermuda grass and do what I do for my littler torts and put handful of it into a big food processor and chop it up into small 1/4 to 1/2 pieces and add it to there salad mix. I only use the bales when I can't get fresh, which at this time of year is hard for me at times lol

Yep, I just bought a food processor today!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

1) dandelion
2) prickly pear pads
3) chicory
Not sure what's nutritionally dense after that.
Oh, i do now.
What a super link Sarah!

 

[Keith D.]

Gotta love those grape leaves

 

[turtlemanfla88]

fig leaves are high in calcium and are good

 

[Keith D.]

fig leaves are high in calcium and are good

Fig leaves are good grape leaves are better

 

[Tom]

I have very little space to grow food indoors for my tortoise over the winter. I was wondering if anybody had a "top five" list of nutritionally dense plants that I could add to the varied grocery store greens.

Nothing beats Tyler's testudo seed mix, but I've never grown it indoors.

I'll bet clover would do well inside.

Potted opuntia.

 

[turtlemanfla88]

I am luck because I live in FL and I grew a garden most of the year. Also, I got in good with produce stands and Farmer's market people. I recommend to everyone talk to your local grocery people the big name stores in FL are not as helpful.

 

[turtlemanfla88]

also,I know a lot of you live up North and when I was a kid my grandpa grew his garden in five gallon buckets in New York also, stackers are three tiers and take up little room my children school is converting over from traditional veggie gardens to using stackers. I have grow collards and other greens in them successfully.

 

[Prairie Mom]

I have very little space to grow food indoors for my tortoise over the winter. I was wondering if anybody had a "top five" list of nutritionally dense plants that I could add to the varied grocery store greens.

What a great question to ask! Thanks, leigti. I've enjoyed reading what everyone has said so far and I'm hoping more people will post too.

I'm still experimenting with my indoor growing, but so far my top five list would be either things that grow really quickly or things that can get relatively big enough that I can clip the leaves & buds and it still grows. (I'll include any photos that I have just for fun. Most of these I've already posted in the garden chat-sorry if they're repeats.)

-Potted Hibiscus (I'm trying this out this year, but have a good feeling about it )
-I am also going to test out grapevine under growlights soon. I tried to last year, but my cat got to that set of grow lights...argh!

What I've liked in the past:
-Melon vines: (indoor watermelon vine below)



-Squash & pumpkin (I grow both indoors as seen below) I'll even use saved seeds from a store-bought jack-o lantern. 50/50 chance they grow and produce greens.




Dandelions: I dig them up and also grow them from seed (chicory grows the same way)

(these leaves are a bit stretched because they were in a shady window for a long time)

-Mallow does GREAT dug up and potted. Mine usually goes into shock and looks dead, but I keep watering it and recovers
Oddly enough, I haven't had much luck growing it from seed yet. (This is a LARGE bucket-sized planter shown below.)


Wheat grass/barley grass seed---this grows SOOO FAST and you don't even need light. I've grown it in a dark closet in about 7-10 days.


-I also grow plain ol' lawn fescue mixed with weed seeds. Sometimes I give the whole tray to my tortoise to devour like Spring has arrived early, other times I clip and regrow it...


-and finally sugar snap/snow peas. My tortoise loves these and they grow pretty quickly for a garden plant. I have grown them as an edible curtain for my indoor enclosure a few times...

I plant the peas after the squash has already sprouted and is getting true leaves, because the
peas grow so much faster.

this is what it looks like in about 4 weeks.

 

[turtlemanfla88]

Awesome pics I tried last year and grew some micro greens and my tortoises and turtles went nuts eating them