First terrarium! Help me with ideas? :)
 

Hey all, I am super excited because told my mom about the Nightstand Lantern by Ordphien, and she bought me a lantern for Christmas! This is therefore, heavily inspired by Ordphien's amazing project. If you haven't seen it, I strongly suggest you go check it out!


So far, I have a Haraella odorata from Andy's (on a stick) and a NOID Tillandsia I got from my local garden center. I've never had a mounted orchid before, so this is my first experiment with that, as well.

I have a chunk of cork in there, as well. My original plan was to move the Haraella to the cork, because there are splits in the wood and I don't want it to rot. So, first question: is it okay to change mounts like that? Is this even necessary?

I put a soap dish at the bottom of the lantern and keep it filled with water. It wicks up the stick to the Haraella. I'm concerned that if I move to cork, it won't wick as well. So my solution was to get some lava rock. I thought I could put some around the bottom of the lantern to make it look a little nicer, and then put some in the soap dish where I can "stack" it up to the cork. I thought that might help with wicking.

I really like how Ordphien mounted his plants directly onto the lava rock, but I don't think mine is big enough for that. My largest piece fits in my palm.

So what do you guys think? Any suggestions? Am I on the right track? :)

EDIT: For some reason I am getting an error message when I try to upload pictures. I will see if I can add them in another post. Sorry guys!

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Aaaand now they're all sideways :/

Anyway, the first one is my set up.
Second is the Haraella "on a steek." It has a tiny new leaf!
Third is the NOID Tilly.
Fourth is a close-up of the soap dish water bowl. The cork is currently sitting above the water.
Fifth is the lava rock I have, and sixth is the largest piece.

Any suggestions from you wonderful creative folks would be greatly appreciated! I've never done something like this before

I really hate to be a pain. But could you upload a shot of the whole lantern?

I wouldn't worry too much about getting it perfect right away.
My orchids sat in a jar lid in my empty lantern for a few months.

It looks tall and thin, and front loading.

I think... I'd fit a dish as snugly as I can on the inside and back it right up against the back wall.
Then I'd start laying rocks all the way up the back wall. Making sure the bottom is in the dish.
I would use the biggest rocks in the bottom, to create a gentle slope upwards. While still trying to keep the actual rock layer against the back as thin as possible.
Did I mention I'd silicone the rocks in place? Making sure they touch each other.

Think of it like a tiny rock climbing wall or cliff face.

Then. After its cured. I would go buy that brick of good quality sphagnum moss they sell in the reptile isle at pet stores. Stick that between all the cracks.
If you use pure water, the moss usually springs to life in a month or two.
Or order a live moss mix online.
After a few months, the moss will fill the cracks and you'd be left with a nice mossy rock wall. Provided you mist and such.
Or, I would silicone thin bits of cork in the same fashion. And then silicone some SPYRA or hygrolon on top. Then grow on that.

As for the haraella. Don't be too concentrated on it. They grow on a variety of media. Humidity and watering are more important. And water quality, I think, is most important.
I had to move my haraella higher up because the rock was too wet near the bottom.
I like to keep mine between wet and damp. With a stick mount mine appreciated having the bottom 1/4" of the stick in water.
I would fill it again a day or two after in evaporated.

Thanks for getting back to me, Ordphien! I love the lava rock wall idea. That will be a fun project for a rainy day :lol: Thanks for suggesting filling the cracks with moss--I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to fit the rocks together tightly and it would look weird.

Yes, the lantern is kind of small. On the outside, it is approximately 5"x5". I'm not sure how that translates to the inner dimensions. I have been looking for a different dish to put in there, but they have all been too big. So for now, soap dish. The stick the haraella is mounted on is sitting in the water.

I apologize for the poor quality of this photo. I took it with my phone camera. But here is a full view of the lantern. I have more vertical than horizontal space to work with.

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Looks really cool~

It's shorter than I thought.
Have fun creating in it!
If I were you I'd concentrate monopodial orchids. Maybe a slower growing small plant like a lepanthes would be a good choice too

Thank you both!

Ordphien thanks for the suggestion. So far I am loving the haraella. I am intrigued with lepanthopsis astrophora, would that be a good choice also? I love the coloring on lepanthes, though. And if all else fails, later on down the line i could find a different lantern haha

First off, wow that is a cool lantern! Maybe also a Psygmorchis? Mine is growing very well in the same conditions as my Haraella and it is also quite small.

Second, I tried to find the project which inspired yours and was not able to- can you please link it?

Thanks, Amyzes! I had to look up what a Psygmorchis is, and I love it! How small are they?

Here is the link to Ordphien's lantern--I realized after you asked that it is under the "Miniatures" forum and not in terrariums. I love this thing; he's done an amazing job.
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...d-lantern.html

Here is a pic of my psygmorchis pusilla (who's bud opened last night!) next to my heraella retrocalla. I don't keep them right together though, the harella does not want as much light so I have it a bit farther from the light and to the side. They seem pretty happy with that slight difference. They like to stay moist.