Growing food indoors

Franco F

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Tortoise Club
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Mar 8, 2017
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New York, New York
It's starting to get a bit cold here in New York City and I'm anticipating that my local food source (weeds from an isolated area in a park) will eventually die off. I'm wondering if anyone has experimented with growing plants such as dandelion, clover, etc. indoors and if there's been any success in doing that.

I want to continue to avoid/limit feeding my tortoise store bought food during the winter
 

JoesMum

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Kent, South East England
Don’t feel guilty if you end up using a quality pelleted feed like Mazuri (not theLS version which torts seem to universally loathe)

Few of us manage through the winter minths without a pellet supplement and store bought greens

Look up the greens you can buy on The Tortoise Table Plant Database for suitability to feed
http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/
 

RosemaryDW

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Newport Coast, CA
@Franco F,

I think you will have difficulty growing those things inside; you’d need a good amount of space and light. I’d suggest starting an opuntia cactus.They can grow in a variety of conditions and once they get going, you’ll be able to provide your tortoise with some cactus year round. You could also try regular houseplants: African Violets and spider plants; geranium.

Prarie Mom has some really good posts about growing foods; some of which would do well inside. Just search for threads she’s made in the Diet and Food forum.

If you live in NYC, you surely have access to all kinds of ethnic grocery stores? There are many healthy tortoise foods eaten in other cultures that aren’t available in a “regular” grocery store. Any Asian grocers near you? Persian? Hispanic? I get a bunch of foods at these grocers. Any hispanic store will sell cactus, labeled as “nopales.”
 

the Turtle Shepherd

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May 16, 2017
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nowhere
It's starting to get a bit cold here in New York City and I'm anticipating that my local food source (weeds from an isolated area in a park) will eventually die off. I'm wondering if anyone has experimented with growing plants such as dandelion, clover, etc. indoors and if there's been any success in doing that.

I want to continue to avoid/limit feeding my tortoise store bought food during the winter
what tortoise do you have? a tiny hydroponic solution is for you i think :) i can send you dandelion seeds:)z
 

Tropics

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Mar 26, 2017
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San Diego, CA
I grow wheat grass hydroponically. Very easy to grow. I use some organic kelp liquid fertilizer since there is no soil. Also chia seeds sprout pretty fast.
 

christykindness

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Aug 24, 2012
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38
Location (City and/or State)
Fallon, NV
we grow timothy, blue fescue, clover, alfalfa, in shallow pans with a layer of coconut coir soaked in water, then cut blocks of it to feed them. in a greenhouse we have beets, turnips, carrots, kale chard, and lettuce mix growing to supplement the grasses. It does take up a lot of space, but minimal time. It is easy to set up and do, in fact this year my 4 year old is doing all the work with minimal supervision.
 

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