Terrarium Build Attempt - Suggestions Please?

[PlumCrazy]

Very cool set up!!

Good to know about the moss. I'll try it out in a dish then. If it doesn't make, that way at least it won't be a mess everywhere. It's over 80 most days in the summer here, some years humid, some really dry.

[Connie Star]

Beautiful. I guess it works with such small plants. They look good.

[PlumCrazy]

Definitely a work in progress, but sort of finished...

Took a TV stand I got at the thrift store. Removed the front, side and back panels of the top cabinet. The bottom part is perfect for storage and the power strip, etc. Painted it to look pretty Replaced the front and side panels with plexiglass. For the top, I used thicker plexiglass. For the back I stained scrap plywood, then coated all interior surfaces with exterior grade polyurethane.

For the bottom, I used rubber for a shower pan to created a 2" "tray" at the bottom. I filled that with LECA balls, put window screen on top of those, and an orchid potting mix on top of that.

I made a sprayfoam background for one side and have some misc plants growing in pots I built into it.

I have LED lights on the top on a timer. I bought a 2 pack of fans, and it turned out they were connected to each other, so drilled holes in the top and am using both of them, one in the rear left corner, the other in the right front corner. I have the fans on a timer to run 3x a day for 15 minutes. So far humidity is running right around 70%, which is what I need.

Mounted a bunch of my orchids on cork and hung them up. It's been running around 10 days, and everything seems happy so far. Now I just need more orchids

Thoughts?

[PlumCrazy]

Hmmmm... Not sure why it rotated my pics. Well, you get the idea.

[turbosloth10]

That looks awesome, can't wait to see it filled up with plants! Did you end up going with the mistking? I'm thinking about buying one soon.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[PlumCrazy]

I did not buy a mist system yet. Since I'm quarantined at home all day and the economy is in a free fall, I'm holding off for now. I've been watering the orchids every other day with a spray bottle, and spraying water on the random clumps of moss around the enclosure daily to keep the humidity up. I've taken down some of the moss on the mounts too, as I learned that I put too much on and water wasn't getting through all of it to the orchids' roots even when it was soaked.

I'll probably get the mister in a couple of months, because I'll definitely need it once I can go on vacations again. Also, one reason I built the thing was so I could be a lazy orchid keeper and have everything automated

[PlumCrazy]

Well, lots of modifications, learning, etc. It's been awhile, but I feel like this thing is finally hitting it's stride. I've made a lot of modifications, but the addition of new light about two month back was the last piece of the puzzle.

Things are finally taking off - lots of new root growth, new leaves, and several plants I've owned awhile are in spike after being in suspended animation. The temperature runs around 75 in the day, with a few degrees drop at night. Humidity averages 85%. I have a MistKing that comes on for 10 seconds in the morning, and 3 minutes at 3 p.m. daily. One internal fan runs all of the time, and two fans at the top run if the humidity is above 85%. A fogger comes on if the humidity drops below 80%. Lights are on for about 12 hours.


Current plant list:

Aerangis Kotschyana
Aerangis punctata
Amesiella LOC Snow White (minor x monticola)*
Angraecum pseudofilicornu x self
Bulb. grandiflora x Bulb. fritillariflorum “Natural Wonder”
Bulbophyllum frostii
Bulbophyllum levanae
Bulbophyllum ovalifolium (red)
Bulbophyllum stockeri
Bulbophyllum Vaginatum (Cirrhopetalum)
Cattleya Scarlet Imp
Cattleya schilleriana
Chirstensonia vietnamica
Cirrhopetalum (Bulbophyllum) biflorum (Java)
Cirrhopetalum curtsii 'Purple Leaves'
Cischweinfia rostrata
Coelogyne fimbriata
Dendrobium aberrans
Dendrobium aggregatum aka dendrobium lindleyi
Dendrobium hekouense
Dendrobium normanbyense (atroviolaceum pygmy)
Dendrobium tobaense var. giganteum
Dendrobium ypsilon
Dichaea hystricina
Diplocaulobium tentaculatum (species mini)
Dockrillia cucumerina aka Dendrobium cucumerina
Dracula lotax
Dryadella cristata
Encyclia bohnkiana
Epidendrum (Nanodes) porpax
Epidendrum kockii x Sophronitis coccinea 'Tokio'
Gastrochilus bellinus
Haraella odorata
Masdevallia empusa
Masdevallia floribunda
Masdevallia peristeria
Neofinetia falcata kishu ryofuku
Oncidium 'Twinkle'
Ornithocephalus inflexus
Paphiopedilum spring casanova
Phalaenopsis Cornu-Cervi "Yellow" x sib
Phalaenopsis parishii x self
Phalaenopsis Tetraspis C1
Pleurothallis allenii
Pleurothallis cypripedioides
Polyrrhiza fawcettii aka Dendrophylax fawcettii
Promenaea riograndensis
Prosthechea fragrans Villaseca
Psychopsis kalihi
Restrepia brachypus
Restrepia dodsonii
Tolumnia Jairak Rainbow 'flyer'
Trichocentrum albo-coccineum
Trisetella hoeijeri
Vanda "Blue and Blue Tones"
Vandopsis parishii

Plus a couple of random things I bought at Lowe's that are making a recovery from when I first set this up and didn't know what I was doing.

I made a post awhile back showing a water feature I had made. That is now defunct because even with a one gallon reservoir, it ran through water really fast and after running on empty enough times, the $9 motor finally died. Anyway, I left it in there and just hung up more plants on it - better use of space.

Am I out of control? Based on this board, no, not at all.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials