New Member, Beginner Questions

[2009zohsix]

Hello,
I come from the planted aquarium hobby and have always been curious (an envious) of growing orchids in a terrarium/vivarium. As a orchid beginner I had thought that I would start with a small 12X12X18 terrarium with front opening doors for access. I would like to buy a few potted orchids and place them on an eggcrate base and see if I could NOT kill the plants. My planted aquariums use adjustable LED lights so I would looks at using those for grow lights, and, some way to maintain the proper humidity.
Am I on the right track here?
Regards,
Dan

[Ray]

Welcome, Dan.

Sounds reasonable to me.

One of the keys to growing orchids is understanding that - unlike most terrestrial plants and your aquatic ones - they do much of their gas exchange through the roots, rather than their leaves. That means you must master the balance of keeping them moist and airy at the same time.

Having them in an enclosure certainly allows you to keep a higher humidity than most folks have in their homes, so that will allow you to use a somewhat coarser potting medium that will be naturally airier.

[2009zohsix]

Thank you Ray!
I've been lurking here reading posts that seem to apply. I have my aquariums in the basement and it has a fairly steady temp between 63 and 67 most of the year and a humidity of around 50%. So far the message has been loud and clear that more orchids are harmed from over watering than under watering and air circulation is key.

Dan

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

It's not the overwatering that harms orchids - it's water filling in all the air spaces so roots can't breathe. This is the main concept people need to learn for growing epiphytes. Orchids like and need plenty of water.

Your temperatures are good for many of the cloud forest orchids, such as members of the Pleurothallis tribe. Many of these are small to miniature plants well suited for terrariums, and are not hard to grow.

That's a little too cool for many of the larger orchids people grow, like most (not all) Cattleyas, Phalaenopsis and many Dendrobiums. Some Oncidium tribe members are fine with those temperatures, including a lot of miniatures.

Have a look through the Terrarium Gardening forum. From the left yellow menu choose Forums then Terrarium Gardening.

[2009zohsix]

Thank you very much!
I've had many aquariums over the years, most I had to heat, some I had to cool. I'd rather warm a box of water/air than cool it. Like the plants in my aquariums, I try to get a variety of plants that need the same conditions.
We lived in Florida for a while and we bought native Florida Orchids and hung them in our trees in the backyard. Not much care needed when they're native.
Dan