creating a terrarium for ghost orchids
 

I am hoping others can offer some advice here. I have a flask of ghost orchid seedlings(about 7 plants I think) and a flask of Chiloschista virdiflava (lots-maybe 40 plants) which are due to be deflasked. Ihave a 4ft aquarium sitting out in the garden and have convinced my husband to let me set it up as an indoor terrarium, almost all my other orchids are outdoors except for a plastic tub which is holding some seedlings until they are advanced enough to go out.

I've never grown in a terrarium before so i am feeling very lost...

So my question now is, how am i best to set it up?

I was thinking I might put a layer of fine coconut coir on the bottom as it is very resistent to bacteria and fungi and won't object to being kept wet. But that is about as far as i have got. I'm going to need to mount these plants but there are so many of them! I'm thinking maybe I need to mass plant them on a big bit of cork... When I was out the other day i collected some small pieces of tree bark from our casuarina trees which has a similiar surface texture to cork but has lichens and things growing on it which might be beneficial...

The final question is light. How much light do these species need? I have various options as far as where in the house I can put the terrarium and some are close to windows so I need to work out whether they need additional light or whether natural light via a window would be adequate.

I dont know much about the needed conditions from these guys, but here is what I would do. Put a layer of LECA across the bottom of the tank (say 2-3" deep) and fill with water up to the top of the LECA. Then make an elevated "eggcrate" structure with above the LECA like this:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6...2241dd47d9.jpg
Glossostigma by Isurus79, on Flickr

Also, you will want to put some screen on the eggcrate to prevent the seedlings from falling through. You can either grow the seedlings directly on the screen (which I've seen done successfully), or mount some on various types of media, which is what I would do. I think I would try some on epiweb (or something similar) and some on bark.

Next, I would put a lid on the tank made of 3/8" (maybe 1cm thick) acrylic with holes cut in for a mistking system. Have the mistking run several times per day, depending on airflow. Like this:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8163/7...e407207621.jpg
DSCF5030 by Isurus79, on Flickr

Then add the needed lights on top.

Now, this is what I would do if I were in the same situation. I want to mention that the pics I've posted are of my own setups that have been working really well, but the theory has been modified for the roots only orchids.

I don't think I can get Leca around here, I've been looking but haven't been able to find it. Do you think I could use terracotta chips instead?

I had thought of using the coconut coir because I'd like to go for a more natural look if at all possible.

nice glosso :rofl:

Welcome to the world of terrariums! If you find you have a little too many ghosties to handle - i'd be more than happy to buy your excess - as my spring project is working on a 75- gallon terrarium with the main focus of ghost orchids and micro-miniatures. Here a couple of crappy i-phone shots of my current exo-terra housing my ghosts as they grow up along with a couple other mini-orchids:


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-> I will update this post with higher quality pictures once I decide to go bust out the good camera ...

The stock list includes:
Lepanthes calodictyon
Lepanthes telipogoniflora
Dracula lotax
Porroglossum teagui
Masdevallia horrida
Chiloschista sp.
Chiloschista sp.
Polyrrhiza lindenii
Polyrrhiza sallei

The key to growing ghosts is high humidity. I keep my tank at 70% and a temp of 70-80 degrees. I have a fogger system set up that runs every morning and evening - in conjunction with the occasional misting throughout the day.

The LECA or primeagra can be carpeted with moss for a natural look. But in terms of just keeping up humidity, terracotta or coir would work really well too. You can grow mosses and other plants in either way to make it look more realistic.

I'm not sure you could put nearly 50 of these guys in one tank and get a natural look though! It seems like you will be 'farming' them rather than growing them just to look at! lol

:rofl: That little bunch quickly took over half the tank!!
Looks really cool Franco!

i dont doubt it! :rofl: :rofl:

Nice setups!

Haha, yeah I won't keep them all in the long run, probably get them going on mounts and then in a couple of months choose the ones I want to keep and sell the rest. Once I've sorted out the long term residents I'll reorganise the terrarium and add some other orchids that like similiar conditions to diversify it a bit ;) I'm in Australia though Franco so might be a bit far to send them :D

Has anyone ever tried using one of the decorative type misters that you put in your pond to make it look like there is fog on the pond? I was wondering whether I could put one in a tall vase in the terrarium and have it run a few times a day on a timer so that the fog floats down over the orchids in the terrarium. I thought it would look nice and would be great for keep the humidity up in there.