Thoughts on if these would do well in my setup
 

Hello! I’ve had my orchidarium up and running for about 4 months now. I installed a misting system about a week ago, and requested gift certificates for orchids for my birthday, so I’m ready to shop! I’d really appreciate any of you weighing in on if what I’m thinking about getting is a good fit. My setup conditions:

Size: 40” W x 21” D x 40” H. Has plexiglass top.

Light: LEDs provide bright light at the top of the tank, and low light at the bottom. It’s on a 12/12 hr cycle for summer.

Ventilation: Two small computer fans kick on 5x a day for 15 mins. Small air holes drilled in sides throughout the tank.

Temp: Room temperature (around 72 in the day, 68 at night, cooler in winter, and we avoid A/C and heat when it is comfortable to do so. I may add a heat source to the tank in winter).

Tray: The bottom of the tank is filled with LECA. Currently, water doesn’t sit in the bottom because I haven’t need to have that much in there to keep the humidity where I want it.

Humidity: I’ve been running the mister in the morning for 1 ½ minutes, which keeps the humidity mainly between 70-85%, which my current orchids like.

The plants I want:

Trisetella hoeijeri
Bulbophyllum masdevalliaceum
Bulbophyllum frostii
Cirrhopetalum (Bulbophyllum) biflorum (Java)
Dendrochilum aurantiacum
Epidendrum (Nanodes) Mini Creeper
Gastrochilus bellinus
Epidendrum (Nanodes) schizoclinandrium (schlechterianum)
Masdevallia prodigiosa
Masdevallia auropurpurea
Dendrobium quadrangulare


Looking at purchasing them already mounted if available.

Of course I chose these because I like the way they look, but also because based on the descriptions I’ve found of them, they seem like they’d do well in the conditions I have, which is really the most important thing. If you have any experience with any of them, please let me know what you think. When I built my tank, it was with the agreement that any new orchids (or other plants) I got would go in there, and not further clutter up the house. :biggrin:

Most of those should be ok. I can’t speak too much for the Trisetella, mine has been growing fine but recently took a nose dive and dropped a bunch of leaves. Also, 70% humidity might be a little low for that one. It could grow ok, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the buds blast at that humidity. Any of my Pleurothalliad types, I try to keep at 85% and above.

For the Masdevallias, maybe. The day temps seem fine but the night temps you have are on the warm side. With the elevation that the prodigiosa comes from, it sounds like it would need a much larger diurnal range than what you currently have. The auropurpurea might do a little better. Personally, I would try something like a Masdevallia floribunda, herradurae, or wendlandiana. Those can do ok with the warmer nights and I’m sure there’s other warm growing species that others could advise on. I keep a Masd. discoidea and a Masd. wendlandiana in my warm tank and both have been doing well (and the discoidea has bloomed) with about a 10-12° diurnal range

For mounts, of course Andy’s Orchids would be the best first stop! He has a nice search function under the “power search” you can search specifically for mounted orchids suitable to vivariums

What are you growing in there currently?

And this is exactly why I made this post!! Thanks for the helpful response! I had read that the Trisetella could be grown cool, which concerned me, and thought it likes to be wetter than most on the list. I really the way it looks, but since I have little orchid experience, I think it is best to stick with things that need similar conditions. Also, what is the point of automating if something needs additional hand spraying?

A batch will be coming from Andy’s, since that is where my gift certificates are for😊, and most of them I did find by searching for vivarium plants there. I like all of the ones you suggested, and especially like Masdevallia discoidea.


Currently I have a mishmash of plants that I already had around the house, and four I bought at Lowe’s (big box hardware store) right when I set up the tank:

Beallara Marfitch “Howard’s Dream”
Psychopsis Kalihi
Wu 1865 Brassolaeliocattleya Haiku Dawn “Sunshine and Raspberries”
Angraecum Alabaster “Willamsburgh 76”
Sophrolaeliocattleya Tutankhamun “Pop”
Cattleya “Lavender Splash & Two Tone”
Dendrobium Eriaeflourm “Darjeerlingense”, which was a gift from my sister purchased from Andy’s a couple months back – it is really taking off!

So far they all seem to be adjusting well, and every one of them has new growth.

I had mostly Phalaenopsis around the house. I mounted several of them and put them in the tank. They pretty much all rotted right away, even being mounted and me only watering them like twice a week. I lost maybe three. One was in the corner and got burned by sun coming in through the window, but lived. The rest got pulled and repotted in time and seem like they’ll be fine. I have two keikis in there though that responded really well, so I left them.