New To Terrarium/Orchidarium culture - Guidance? - Orchid Board

Kirbalicious · #1 12-09-2016, 10:49 AM

Hello Friends!

I've been doing research on micro/mini orchids suitable for terrarium/Orchidarium levels of humidity. I've been left with a couple questions, and I'm not sure if you have a moment to point me in the right direction? I'll try to keep it brief and well defined, but I kinda get all gushy and talkative about orchids, so apologies in advance!

I will start providing photos as I get through the assembly, if needed/interested, or if theres a better place, but I'm trying to go through the planning/testing stage before I sink too much into species that I don't have a backup location to house them in, as my room air lacks enough humidity to support them without lots and lots of upkeep through the day.

I've loved orchids for a long time, albeit the commonly found varieties I grow on my plant shelves under artificial light, since my home is essentially a cave, haha! But once I started using that to my advantage, to control the precise environment my plants need to grow, it really got my mind whirling.

To preface these questions, I have the aquarium empty and ready to be assembled into an environment, and I anticipate setting up the hardware/water and monitoring things like temp and humidity in multiple zones before planting it, so I have a good idea of where the variation/microclimates might change throughout the display. so I'll have some solid data before I plant/zone it.

- I'm in the process of setting up a 55 gallon aquarium as something of an orchid specific vivarium, and orchid compatible plants. To get on with my questions, I have a nice sized sheet of hygrolon, eggcrate, picking up GS, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to attach most of these species to the hygrolon? I have some nylon suture material, but I've never much preferred mounting things prior to this orchidarium, opting for traditional pots/media, and hygrolon is relatively new to me, especially as a mounting media. most of what I've bought or toyed with has been cork bark or tree fern with a wad of sphagnum. Any tips on appropriate mounting with hygrolon?

- not orchid specific here, but I already had a nice chunk of Davallia Parvula, but I saw something I hadn't encountered yet, D. Repens, which I am absolutely in *love* with! however, I simply cannot find it *anywhere*, even under its other common names! Is there a source out there I am not aware of? haven't come across it on any of the boards/forums, ebay, glassbox, josh's, anywhereeeeee. Is there a super secret word or handshake to find it? How can I find it???

- in a relatively large terrarium such as the 55 gallon will be, (first, I know it means I am spending a BUTTLOAD of money on tiny plants, haha! my wallet actually cries when it hears the word 'orchid') I'm trying to control/anticipate what the microclimates will be. There will be a few gallons of water in the reservoir/false bottom, and I was anticipating keeping the water heated, probably somewhere between 75-80, to help prompt the uptake of water by the hygrolon. I have a nice fogging system that has a hose that will be plumbed into the lid and introduces the fog from the top of the tank, and I'm debating either a passive vent to ensure evaporation near the top, to keep that sort of capillary action drawing water up to the top as much as possible and using a circulation fan, hopefully creating a cooler but still humid microclime at the upper limit, or utilizing an active intake fan/exhaust fan combo at opposite ends to promote air exchange, reduce condensation, etc and have them run for a moment or two on a timer system at intervals if needed. Does that sound sane? the boards give me ideas, and then take away ideas, and the resources on air circulation are endless, and dreadfully specific in non specific ways haha!

- I guess I will have to see how the fogging, reservoir, and circulation/venting plays out and how water moves through the environment, but I don't think I'll need a misting system? i was looking at the MistKing when i came across the fogger, and doing some research seems to indicate that the atomization of the fogger is nice for avoiding heavy water on the leaves and/or blooms ("blooms", now thats how you know I'm an optimist at heart!

), but others say that misting/watering will be necessary regardless, but I'm not yet sure how damp the hygrolon media will stay yet, as I'm still mocking everything up.

- Also, in your experience, as I'm still learning about a lot of the mini species, so far I've had success with the culture of Lepanthes calodictyon x. tentaculata, Masd. Erinacea, Lepanthes telipogoniflora, and Physosiphon pubescens. any recommendations or suggestions beyond that? I've heard theres some small bulbos that do well in some of these environments, but I'd love to pick your collective brains on fun species to try, and/or where you think they'd do well- i.e. closer to the reservoir where its warm and more humid, or upper reaches, where its cooler, and drier?

- I have loads of aquarium plants growing emersed for other projects, so I'm looking forward to using them in a large display to fill in the edges and reservoir, and hoping for root filtration to keep the water clean, in addition to occasional draining to clear fert build up, but have you experienced any issues with algae outbreaks before?

- I have a 48in 4 bulb T5HO, what are your thoughts on photo period, and intensity? I had considered LED floods, given the depth, but opted to use my aquarium fixture for even illumination, and the timer built in already, with each pair of bulbs independently controlled. Do you think an 8-10 hour day, with both bulbs overlapping for 2-3 hours in the middle to pseudo-simulate a sunrise, noon, sunset makes sense?

I know this is a bunch os stuff to ask, but anything that can hopefully steer me in the right direction. I keep researching species/climates/temps, but its very reactive, usually I have to know what I'm looking for, theres less on cross species compatibility, or varieties that mirror their needs.

Thanks to all!

PaphMadMan · #2 12-09-2016, 12:11 PM

I'll probably add more comments later, but just a couple quick things. I'm in the early planning stages of a terrarium build myself.

Glass Box Tropicals doesn't have Davallia repens in stock, but you can sign up to have them email you when it is. I just did, now that you called my attention to the species.

Bulbophyllum pardolatum is a mini I tried to kill with neglect, but I wasn't able to. Tough little thing. Well worth looking for.

Kirbalicious · #3 12-09-2016, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

I'll probably add more comments later, but just a couple quick things. I'm in the early planning stages of a terrarium build myself.

Glass Box Tropicals doesn't have Davallia repens in stock, but you can sign up to have them email you when it is. I just did, now that you called my attention to the species.

Bulbophyllum pardolatum is a mini I tried to kill with neglect, but I wasn't able to. Tough little thing. Well worth looking for.

perfect! I will give that bulbo a peek. thanks!

I also signed up for glass box's alert for when it comes available, if I come across any I will let you know here!

Any deets you want to share on your build? I'd love to share notes or something!

Kirbalicious · #4 12-10-2016, 06:13 PM

Added neolanchia pulchella and unidentified physosiphon and pleurothallis I believe they are called? No tag, but free from a generous soul.

Collecting some large pieces of cork as well, to trim in the edges of the backdrop.

I believe I may also add a nepenthes gracilis, which is a lowland tropical carnivores that would appreciate similar culture. Ihave a line on a nice rooted cutting from a plant, and I have a couple *very* large hybrid Neps, so the culture is already familiar.

Kirbalicious · #5 12-10-2016, 11:24 PM

mediocalcar decoratum has been added to the collection!

Aren't there mini dendrobium species that will also work in this environment?

Kirbalicious · #6 12-12-2016, 06:31 PM

Purchased eggcrate material for the backdrop and false bottom.

Kirbalicious · #7 12-16-2016, 12:13 PM

i now have a HUGE manzanita trunk, its slightly bigger than the 48 inches of the 55 gallon aquarium, and about as big around as my arm in most places, with several branches. I am going to have to get creative with bending shaping it to make it fit, but this should make for some interesting depth, and planting areas.

I'll start taking photos of the materials, but does anyone actually care, or am I in the wrong forum? i don't want to spam up the place with pics that no one is interested in, or if there will be a dearth of advice.

I think my initial request came through way too densely packed, I'll work on refining any outstanding questions, to see if anyone has any insight.

thanks all!

estación seca · #8 12-16-2016, 10:28 PM

I have kept terraria but I am not an expert at the level of many people here on this Board. Your project sounds really interesting, and I look forward to following your progress. I bet it looks beautiful when you complete the first installation.

There are very many excellent threads in the Terrarium Gardening and Growing Under Lights forums dealing with exactly what you are doing, in great detail. If I were expending the large amount of time and money necessary to put something like this together, I would first read through all of those forums. Then, if I had specific questions, I would post them one by one to the proper forum.

You were asking for complete and detailed advice from beginning to end, an enormous task. I suspect the people here with the knowledge don't want to take the large amount of time needed to retype something that's already there to read.

Leafmite · #9 12-17-2016, 12:05 AM

I have been following this thread am excited to see the final result. Sorry that I haven't posted but I thought I had. One of the easy miniature orchids for a terrarium is Lepanthopsis astrophora 'Stalky'. I have two in a table-top greenhouse and another in an open bowl. The orchid grows easily in both.

u bada · #10 12-17-2016, 12:59 PM

Just some comments here:

Air flow: With a big terrarium, air flow will be very important. you may need at least a couple larger fans. I just keep fans going 24/7 but probably having them going on and off is probably at least somewhat better. In general humidity will be very high towards the bottom, so a fan towards the bottom can be helpful... both in keeping humidity even throughout and also keeping molds/fungus and some degree bacteria minimal towards bottom.

-reservoir... imho, don't think heating the water in the reservoir is that necessary. Capillary action happens at any temperature above freezing really, and you'll need to as much cooler temps as you can in an enclosed case... I've said it somewhere else, too, but you'll need access to the reservoir and emptying it out ever once in a while will be useful... so if that means leaving an opening somewhere to siphon it out, it'll be a good idea.

-substrate... don't know about hygrolon, yet to experiment with it. My experience with synthetic materials in general is that they don't wick as much water as sphag to go around a mount anyway... but again you want some drying out anyway, but i wouldn't count on it wicking water out of the reservoir consistently... a good network of mosses can do that with a good multi-mix substrate base of sphag, some wood, and any litter that accumulates, but then again, don't think that wicking action is all that valuable in a grow tank, probably more so in a vivarium, which is a totally different ball game in many ways...

-misting... i used to have terrariums with misters, and to my experience I never found them absolutely necessary. I always end up watering at least once a day with fans on all the time anyway... plus keeping water off the leaves really helps keep algae off the leaves and clogging them...

-Layers- In a large terraria especially, the various grow layers that will form the microclimates can work with in terms of what you grow. As mentioned, the lower areas will be more humid and lower light, and the higher areas near the light can be dryer, and with a fan at a higher level, airier, and higher light. There are a lot of mini's and each needing somewhat different if not very different cultural needs, so being mindful of these variations as you get to know your conditions in there, you can have a wider variety and take advantage of the layers.

-lighting... fluors are pretty much considered all around good lights, just know lighting decreases dramatically the further away you get. So regardless of fixture for a tank that large you'll probably have to place the lowest light plants towards bottom. Being that the water will be towards bottom, it's worth noting, even in terms of aquatic plants, you'll need to think about lower light plants of those as well... crypts, ferns moreso than say, hemianthus, pogostemon, etc. (Buce, by the way, is a really cool plant and can grow mounted to rocks and wood, albeit slow growing). There are plenty of posts and info on LED's. Let me just say, with experimenting with different lights, many just aren't going to bright enough especially for a large tank, unless you want to spend lots of money. I'll leave it at that. Oh, and fluors, as you probably know, will need to be changed out every year to keep intensity up.

-plant species... someone else on here literally posted a list of a 100 candidates for a terrarium. That's a lot to go through but I'm trying to go through it and post my experiences... so keep posted...

---------- Post added at 09:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 AM ----------

Oh and probably this thread can be moved to the terrarium forum if a moderator would be so kind... definitely beyond beginner questions if you ask me...