Minature species terrarium

[Guerrero]

Mostly cool growers, ~15-20C days and <10C nights. humidity sits ~80-100%.
It suffered pretty bad with the heatwaves this year but its starting to bounce back. Not sure what I'll do if we get more heatwaves next year.

Lepanthes, tristella, pleurothallis mostly with a few others

IMG_20221216_185528446_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

IMG_20221218_124629825_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

IMG_20221216_185506649_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

IMG_20221204_115944331_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

IMG_20221120_101055735_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

IMG_20221218_124728544_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

IMG_20221218_124622468_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

IMG_20221218_124613516_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

IMG_20221218_124147895_MFNR by Guerrero Orchid, on Flickr

[DeaC]

Wow, this is wonderful to look at. I've never ventured into terrarium growing. The tristella pops!

[Leafmite]

The set up looks really good!

[estación seca]

You can put a metal pan on top and fill it with ice.

[PuiPuiMolcar]

what a nice set up, I'm patiently waiting to work on mine after the winter.

[Dimples]

If you really want to keep them cool you could build one of these and route the air into the terrarium during heatwaves. They do work but I don’t know how quickly you’d go through ice.

[Guerrero]

i was thinking about looking into terrcotta evaporative coolers, some terrcotta pipes/pots, fan for airflow and something to keep water flowing over them but more ice might be easier. I had been putting bottles of ice in but it barely made a difference, on top is a good idea.

Thank you all

[estación seca]

You can find lots of information on cooling terrariums and paludariums on carnivorous plant and some tropical frog forums.

A popular method is to have a flexible water line snake along the bottom of the terrarium under the floor used to keep plants out of the water. This tubing connects to a pump that circulates the water between the terrarium and the cooling chamber. The cooling chamber is an insulated plastic chest (Thermos is one brand in the US) which has been drilled for access by the tubing. The tubing is coiled in the chest, which is kept filled with ice. Temperature can be controlled by the flow rate through the cooling system.

[Dendrobates33]

Beautiful! Is picture #8 a Pleurothallis dodsonii?

[Guerrero]

yes it is!