4 ft x 3 ft x 16” cool growing terrarium in so cal, the impossible?

[Jmbaum]

Did one test panel, let it cure, then soaked it.
It stayed up fully saturated so pressed forward.
On the bottom I’ll have an inverted flat with sculpted grodan ( more natural?) for moss and standard Masdevallias, making it easy to remove for maintenance. It actually very therapeutic sculpting it with an exacto knife. Here is a separate thread on that matter, which I probably add more specifics to. Grodan / Rockwool Wall Trial

NOTE* I used gloves and a mask AND goggles when handling the dry grodan and that dealing much noxious silicone vapor. Take care of your self. Gloves are sufficient for wet grodan, as the fibers can irritate your skin.

[Jmbaum]

getting there,
Will follow with more detail about successes and challenges thus far in next update… with more images.

[sbrofio]

awesome! I'd like to do someting similar but waiting for some "definitive changes" in my life (job and place to live)

[SADE2020]

Originally Posted by Jmbaum

getting there,
Will follow with more detail about successes and challenges thus far in next update… with more images.

OMG is that your tank ? With all that green? . What is it ?? In details if you don't mind to share 😉

[Jmbaum]

Originally Posted by SADE2020

OMG is that your tank ? With all that green? . What is it ?? In details of you don't mind to share 😉

Yes, this is my build, getting pretty green. Still making adjustments but I’m happy it’s reflecting the in situ environment well. I’ll detail win a few weeks after I get some more plants in and feel like it’s stable. Hopefully people will be able to learn and be inspired from the different things I tried out and the think that I should have done in hindsight. This is my second build and happy to say that these can be very reasonably priced with some resourcefulness and patience.

[Jmbaum]

Originally Posted by SADE2020

OMG is that your tank ? With all that green? . What is it ?? In details if you don't mind to share 😉

Note: don't get physan 20 anywhere near any moss you value. I'm set back a few months after treating some plants that were heading into the enclosure live and learn.

[Jmbaum]

firmly intermediate temps these days... sorry about reflect, will get better images soon. i've just moved it into the den, which tends to be more stable temperatures.

[Bayard]

Wow, that’s awesome!

[itilien]

Hi, any updates?

I was thinkering with the idea of evaporative cooling, but came to the conclusion, that it won't work for me. Here where I live, the hottest months are July and August. June and September are also quite hot. The problem is that the outside RH is never very low. Usually it is about 50-60%. And if I try to circulate the terrarium air, the room RH will go even higher than that, probably quite fast and the cooling effect will decrease. And I won't attempt this in the winter months, because it doesn't feel good to have very moist air in the room and also I can get mold forming in the apartment.

How do you wet the rockwool on the back?

[Jmbaum]

Originally Posted by itilien

Hi, any updates?

How do you wet the rockwool on the back?

Hello! So the cooling was effective running a drip line across top. The water dripped down the rock wool in the back and I had 3 computer fans blowing air across it. I used Leca on the bottom with some water where the pump drew up water from. This was a suitable solution for getting night time temperature drops and keeping the roots cool. However, all of the improvements are relative to the ambient temperatures and in my conditions (particularly late summer heat waves) are only suitable for intermediate growing orchids and some intermediate/cool growing Dracula.

The thin rockwool sheets are a success and covered in moss beautifully, now with Marcgravia and smaller orchids rooting in.