Setting up 2 Terrariums

[Guerrero]

Hello ,

I decided (perhaps with a little less thought than i should have done) to set up two terrariums for my orchids.

One is 90x60x45cm (relatively) warm set up with a mix of oncidium unknown and globuliferum, dendrobium nobile and kingam. Currently it just about heats to 20-21 in the day and drops to 15 at night. Humididty sits around 50-70%

Other is 60x60x45cm cool set up for cloud forest orchids (hopefully) but i perhaps got ahead of myself buying orchids without finding all the information i needed. it sits around 18C in the day and drops to 15 at night. Come winter the drop will be bigger. Humidity is around 70-90%.

I guess im wondering how others have heated their terrariums. my house is cold so i have no trouble getting the night temperature drops but day temperatures could be higher. the 'warm' st up has a heat cable but it only just makes it to 21C. i think a heat cable in the cool one for the day would work but I don't know how to heat the warm one further.

Secondly i couldn't find anything concrete on temperatures for cloud forest orchids. i just have a masdevallia hybrid which came with the instructions "minimum 10C" and thats all.

I'm hoping ill manage to keep updating this with how things go and id appreciate any advice others have. Previously my orchids have just sat under windows but temperatures will drop to 5C with low humidity which theyre not all very happy with.

Will try to figure out how adding photos work, its been a while since I've used a forum.

[DirtyCoconuts]

You need to plan more lol

I made a cloud forest and now only five orchids live there bc I made the purchases before I made the tank lol

Best way to do it on my opinion is decide what you want to grow and then make the box to keep that happy

[Guerrero]

I absolutely do 😅

But this is fun too atleast until everything dies. There is only the one masdevallia hybrid at the moment but I still can't actually find a whole lot of specific information about it.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Do a lot of reading in this "Terrarium" forum.

Temperature information isn't hard and fast. Everything is relative to the other conditions. In most of the orchid world, lower night temperatures equates to cloud forest, which equates to constant dampness.

Dens kingianum and nobile will grow fine in the UK without a terrarium. You could grow them outside most of the year, so long as slugs don't eat them.

Also look through the Pleurothallis Alliance forum and read about Masdevallia. Lots of people grow them well when temperatures, humidity and watering are correct.

[Guerrero]

Thank you! I will get reading!

The kingham is new but the nobile and oncidium I've had for years and ... Theyre very sad looking. Which is why I've thrown them in a terrarium to try something different.

[estación seca]

Use Advanced Search with the key word Yamamoto and my partial username estaci and you will find detailed Den nobile information. Most people who have trouble withthem don't water enough when in growth.

[Steve83]

What kind of lighting are you using? Sometimes older less efficient lighting (t5, incadescent, etc) can be of use due to the heat they produce.

[Guerrero]

I'm using LEDs so they only give a few degrees extra.

[Guerrero]

Smart idea or not I added a bunch of orchids to the terrariums anyway and despite the heatwave everything has been doing great. nothings dead and instead everything has new growths. All orchids except 2 have been in there atleast a month.

This is the "warm" terrarium, which mostly means theyll have a slightly drier winter and the humidity is lower. its not actually warmer and so far not much cares, we'll see what it thinks of witner temperatures though. The kingham is did move out in the end, it was the only thing less happy but its now just on the side under a grow light and has rooted
IMG_20210620_104825573 by Tasmin Spurgeon, on Flickr

And the "cool" terrarium, whihc mostly means higher humidity without a drier winter. temperatures ahve been hitting 26C in the current weather but everything is growing and the lepanthes popped out a flower

IMG_20210620_104602433 by Tasmin Spurgeon, on Flickr

[SADE2020]

What's the humidity level?

Good job though.