The Texas Hibiscus Massacre

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exoticsdr

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num...num....num

Tank and Dozer gettin after it!

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Tom

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I can't hardly get hibiscus to survive here. Color me jealous. Nice torties.
 

exoticsdr

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Tom said:
I can't hardly get hibiscus to survive here. Color me jealous. Nice torties.

I thought I was supposed to be cooking a brisket in your honor this weekend.
doc
 

Tom

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exoticsdr said:
Tom said:
I can't hardly get hibiscus to survive here. Color me jealous. Nice torties.

I thought I was supposed to be cooking a brisket in your honor this weekend.
doc

Oh good lord man. It's the movie business. Things change faster than you can even get the emails out to let everyone know they've changed. :D now we are supposed to be shooting at the end of June. I definitely want that brisket. My mouth is watering just thinking about it, so I'll keep keeping you posted.:)
 

exoticsdr

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Tom....that's even better...will have a new joey being bottlefed at that time (actually, probably two)....and may be able to arrange for some fresh sweetcorn from South Dakota....keep me updated, want to make your visit memorable....doc
 

jackrat

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Wow,they're growing! Tom,the brisket will be worth the trip.
 

exoticsdr

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Thanks Greg...they are truly wonderful animals...I understand your love for this particular species.

Jeff....Boy are they growing! Got them Thanksgiving of 2010 and they were 6" and 6.5" long, measured them about 6 weeks ago and they were 12" and 13" long. They have really lost alot of the initial fear that they had also.
 

bigred

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Beautiful pictures and beautiful tortoises, love the color contrast between the orange flowers and black torts
 

tortiemama

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Hi Todd,
These pics are fantastic and your torts are beautiful!! I hate to ruin the party but have to ask about your hibiscus... do you ever have problems with aphids? My CDT loves hibiscus, but so do the insects. I homemade an anti-aphid spray for them which includes water, fragrance-free & dye-free dishwashing detergent, and vegetable oil. It seemed to work on the buds, but now I worry about feeding the flowers to my tort. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Kris
 

DAV46

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Nice shots and they love Hibiscus. WE recently 'tried' planting a couple tall plants in our pen. Thought we would get larger plants to start but came back from work the next day and Squirt my aldabra used his weight to push the plants over and sit on them while he ate everything completely clean except for 1 top flower. Darn things looked like Charlie Browns Christmas tree when he was done with them. Put one back in a pot and it is coming back- pretty tough plants and tortoises!
 

cljohnson

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tortiemama said:
Hi Todd,
These pics are fantastic and your torts are beautiful!! I hate to ruin the party but have to ask about your hibiscus... do you ever have problems with aphids? My CDT loves hibiscus, but so do the insects. I homemade an anti-aphid spray for them which includes water, fragrance-free & dye-free dishwashing detergent, and vegetable oil. It seemed to work on the buds, but now I worry about feeding the flowers to my tort. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Kris

I used to have a huge problem with aphids and even worse with white flies on my hibiscus then I found a cure.

WORM POOP.
Worm castings are an excellent fertilizer and they help plants produce chitinase an enzyme that breaks down chitin ( the building block of insect exoskeleton )
I spread it about an inch thick over the root zone and scratched it in. Then covered with compost. Watered it in.
Three weeks later bugs are gone.
Then add a quarter inch twice a year for maintenance .
 

tortiemama

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I used to have a huge problem with aphids and even worse with white flies on my hibiscus then I found a cure.

WORM POOP.
Worm castings are an excellent fertilizer and they help plants produce chitinase an enzyme that breaks down chitin ( the building block of insect exoskeleton )
I spread it about an inch thick over the root zone and scratched it in. Then covered with compost. Watered it in.
Three weeks later bugs are gone.
Then add a quarter inch twice a year for maintenance .
[/quote]

Thanks, Chris! Never heard of that, but will DEFINITELY give it a try. A few ladybugs couldn't hurt in the meantime!
 

Yellow Turtle

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Nice Aldabra!!

I love to see the flowers too!! We don't have such big and colorful hibiscus here in my country.

I also grow my own hibiscus to feed the torto, please anyone tip me, can I feed the flower and leaf daily to my aldabra? If yes, can I give them as much as possible, as they seem to enjoy it more than any grass :D
 
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