Carrot tops!

[Ken Worthington]

This might sound like a stupid question but...

Since I was a kid I've always been in the habit, when chopping veg, of slicing the top part of a carrot (essentially a root) off and placing it in an up-turned jam-jar lid on the kitchen window-sill, watering it and watching it grow.
The foliage is very attractive I feel, and grows quite quickly.

Some of the 'land' areas in my newt tanks are strategically submerged by a fraction which would be ideal to put the odd carrot top, I was thinking.

By the way, they'd be organic, and have a healthy dose of natural carotene-type compounds (which I'd imagine could only be a bonus in a small eco-system such as this, in an indirect way)

So, can anyone suggest a reason why I might not try growing a carrot-top in a newt tank? lol

I welcome any comments (however serious or otherwise!)

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PS. Please note that no person with ginger hair was mocked during the making of this post (despite it's title)

 

[axolotlfriend]

hehe thats a cool idea!

you might even be able to harvest a carrot for yourself at the end:happy:

 

[FRANCOIS]

That sounds like the kind of stuff I do / experiment. I think it's a great idea and will try it myself!

 

[Molch]

I gotta try that! I wonder if I plant enough carrots in my fire bellies' tank, if they'll end up looking like this and this!

 

[RobM]

I gotta try that! I wonder if I plant enough carrots in my fire bellies' tank, if they'll end up looking like this and this!

Wow, that looks beautiful!

 

[DeCypher]

That's very cool! They have a long taproot (the carrot) so make sure your soil/substrate is deep enough.

Hehe you could make a vegetable garden in the newt tank!

 

[Otterwoman]

Molch--WHAT are those???

 

[freves]

Regarding Molch's pics. Are those selectively bred or natural color mutations?
Chip

 

[Azhael]

Those are naturally ocurring aberrants of C.pyrrhogaster. There are a couple of threads around the forum about these guys. It seems to happen very rarely in some populations. There are even completely orange ones.

As for the carrot tops, Ken, i too like the foliage of this plant xD One small concern that may not be relevant. It´s said that the top part of the carrots is substantially more acidic than the rest, and thus in composting, people seem to recommend not adding this portion of the plant to the bins. I´m assuming this is only relevant when the tissues die, but i thought i´d comment on it.

 

[freves]

Thanks for the information Azhael. I generally do not follow the Cynops threads so I have missed viewing these animals before. They are absolutely stunning. In general I always tend to prefer the natural coloration of any given animal however with that being said I am surprised that no one has started selectively breeding for these colors.

Ken I apologize for hijacking your thread. The carrot top idea is very clever and I may try it in some of my taller enclosures.

Chip

 

[Azhael]

I really hope no one is attempting, although it seems doubtful that noone would Perhaps attempts to perpetuate the mutation fail because of some lethal gene or whatever...who knows.
Anyway, if you´ve missed them, then check this out:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...ynops/41275-cynops-pyrrhogaster-aberrant.html

 

[fishkeeper]

Worse comes to worse if/when they fail you will simply be feeding your microfauna(I'm sure the springs and isopods wouldn't mind). This is brilliant. Actually-I'm going to try it when I can and see what happens.

I've always wanted to try growing a sweet potato vine in a tank but they probably need more light.

 

[fire_newt]

I just put some carrot tops in my tank and the newts LOVE them, Xavier hides in them and tries to ambush the guppies. My suggestion would be to get your carrots at a farmers market, that way you can be sure that they are organic and no pesticides were used on them. Of course this can't be assumed of all farmers market carrots, but the farmer is right there so you can ask them. I don't know how long the tops will live in my tank, but they seem to be doing pretty well so far. There hasn't been a spike in ammonia, and it seems to be keeping my tank cooler.

 

[fire_newt]

update: so the newts love them, but they don't seem to last very long. I had to take them out today because they were getting slimy and turned my tank a greenish cloudy color. It's a great idea, but I think I'm going to stick with aquarium plants from here on out.

 

[stanleyc]

update: so the newts love them, but they don't seem to last very long. I had to take them out today because they were getting slimy and turned my tank a greenish cloudy color. It's a great idea, but I think I'm going to stick with aquarium plants from here on out.

did you submerge the whole plant?

 

[fire_newt]

Yes I did submerge most of the plant, I did allow for some of the plant to stuck out of the water so that it could get oxygen. I was watching it closely so that if it started wilting, or showing signs of drowning I could pull it out, but it never showed any signs of stress until it started turning slimy.