Mini Cool Terrarium (ok, it's a start...)

[Paul Mc]

After having read a thread about constructing a terrarium on little money, I decided to go with some of the suggestions. I noticed this morning that 3 more leaves of my Porroglossum are dying, signaling once more that it is unhappy with me. It was a heart beating/emergency kinda situation, lol...

Sorry for this being so long guys.

I am attempting to construct a cool growing mini terrarium. So far, I have a 2.5 gallon fish tank, an ultrasonic fogger placed in a deep cottage cheese container filled with water, and two cool and humid loving plants in it. I also bought a thermometer and a hygrometer for inside of the tank.

I have not moved the tank to it's final location as I wanted to run it by you guys to see what you think and any suggestions you might have.

Sitting out of the direct sunlight, it is reading about 70 degrees. I have the timer set to 30 minute cycles with the fogger. The humidity goes from about 40 to 80 in that time frame. I put a half piece of glass covering on it to see if that would help regulate the himidity any better, but am afraid of closing it up completely. Also, the backdoor to the kitchen is open and it's quite windy today so I'm not sure the change in humidity and temperature is accurate at this point.

I know I still need to get some kind of fan, and was hoping to find a mini clip fan to fasten to the side. Apparently, it's not the season for fans yet after having tried multiple places to find one.

The other plant is a Tristella gemmata in case you were wondering.






I think I would like to mount the orchids on something as opposed to leaving them in pots, but I will have to do more research. I don't know how to, nor what is appropriate to mount on, i.e. are the reptile things sold at PetSmart suitable (fake or otherwise).

I purposefully bought small as I have very limited space for something like this. I thought I might want a size larger, but I noticed my Scaphosepalum is growing 3 new leaves so it must be happy where it's at. The Trisetella I've only had for a few months and it hasn't grown anything new, but it also has not had any leaf drop. Thought I would give it a whirl in a terrarium to see what would happen.

Oh, and the Trisetella is barely sitting above sphag while the Porroglossum is situated in sphag. Should I remove the sphag or leave it?

[Louis_W]

That looks pretty good! Personally I would opt for mounting the plants if I had conditions like that. You can get cork bark from pet stores or you can go on orchid websites and check out their various materials sold for mounting. That will also free up space for more!

[Paul Mc]

Update:

After tinkering with it a bit yesterday and watching humidity/temperature, I decided that the ultrasonic fogger does not always need to be on at such regular intervals. I went to bed last night and the temperature/humidity was 60F/75RH. I woke up this morning and it was 57F/80RH. I will be putting an electronic Temperature/RH reader in there today to see what the daytime highs and lows are while I am at work. Of course, these numbers will all change once there is airmovement.

I also decided to put the plants in 1" clay pots. I put the Trisetella in an Oncidium/Seedling mix by RePotme.com, and carefully lifted the Porroglossum in the sphag and created a mount gently stuffing it into the pot. I used two upside down clay pots to sit them above the water line.

More time will tell what needs to be done, but I would love to make this jam packed with as many ultra mini's as I can get in there.

Still trying to figure out the interior.

I had to take the ultrasonic fogger out of the cottage cheese container as it quickly took all of the water out of it. I'm attempting to figure out how to maintain a small pool of water for it without taking up the entire lower half of the space with water. I may opt for another mister/fogger system in the end although asthetics are an important factor for me and at least I can hide this ultrasonic fogger. Plus, I believe the fogger would be better as it more closely resembles the foggy Andy's where these orchids come from.

[Louis_W]

Just my opinion but with all the money you are spending on different meters, and the effort you are putting into keeping it the right humidity, you could invest in a little bit larger tank, cover it and keep a small computer fan inside. A covered tank will stay much more humid for longer and with a fan inside you dont have to worry about a struggle between air movement and humidity. You would also have to have the fogger on less. Plus you are going to fill that space up really quick if you have success and want to get a few more plants.

I also know some growers who have a little fountain inside their tanks which provides all the humidity and air movemnt needed to keep the plants happy.

Just a thought

[Paul Mc]

While I'm still considering a larger tank, my issue is where it would go. I got this tank for 10 dollars, and everything else I already owned, they just were not in use. I'd love a larger tank, but will really have to figure out where something bigger could go. I do plan to keep everyone updated on this thread as I change/add/experience things with this. Never having done this before, it will be an adventure, lol...

[plantaholic]

I bought a little 12 volt computer fan at Radio Shack which very nicely moves the air just slightly in my 10 gallon tank.
The bottom of the tank is covered in glass marbles with water under those but not enough to touch the bottom of the pots.
I set the fogger in a tupperware square container that's about 4 inches deep x 3 inches diameter. The fogger is on a timer that only comes on every couple of hours.
I have a simple remote temp/humidity gauge that I've used for years sitting in with the orchids. The fan runs constantly and the humidity ranges from 75 to 85 percent.
The tank is sitting in a north facing bay window and is staying below 70 degrees.
So far, I have a new spike on my scaphocepalum so I know its happy. The two masdies are developing new leaves so maybe they'll all bloom now that they're back in their "cloud forest" climate.

[Paul Mc]

Plantaholic, what kind of fogger do you use? My ultrasonic one spits water out of the container which has limited my growing space and required me to fill the entire bottom portion with water. Otherwise, it would stop working once the water level got too low.

[Tindomul]

More air movement might be a good thing. Also watch the splashing from the fogger. If the sphag looks like its wet then you will have to do something to change that. You want your sphag to be moist not wet.

[Discus]

re: splashing from your fogger, I've also had this problem with my toying around with such units; your best bet might be to place it in a fairly tall container that fits your aesthetic (and limited growing space); improvise a float that best meets the water depth your fogger works best at and then top the container up every so often; fog will quickly build up and "spill over".

[Paul Mc]

Thank you for that Tindomul. I think I would like to remove it from the sphag but as the Porroglossum is extremely sensitive and only has about 5 leaves left, I'm unwilling to move it. I will start monitoring the sphag and stop watering it as frequently then. I will have to post current pics of the set up now as there have been some changes.

After some serious thought, I decided to pour the water out of the tank and redesign it. I did some testing with the water in various height plastic containers to see which size would help the fog to roll over the side with minimum spillage. I finally found a suitable size but there was still water loss due to the spraying effect. So, I opted for a wider one to help "catch" the spray.

Then I did some online research for different foggers, and lo and behold, guess what?! My fogger came with what I thought was a stand for deeper water. After doing some research, I discovered that it probably was not intended for being a stand, but rather to help with the spraying water. I switched it around and tested it, found the right height that maximized the fog, and PRESTO - it worked!

I put the water bowl with fogger back into the tank, filled with distilled water of course, and arranged rocks around it to hide the tub. Then I built a two tiered rock wall to put the plants on.

There was still water shooting out of the tub as evidenced by the splattering on the side of the tank near the fogger. So, I put a thin piece of granite across the top leaving a little gap for fog to escape. It appears to be working. I will judge by watching the water levels in the bottom of the tank over the next few days.

On a happy note, the Porroglossum's leaves are the healthiest looking green I've seen since I got it! Plus the leaves appear a bit more plump and shine just a bit now. I am assuming it likes the new humidity levels.

Humidity at night seems to stay at about 70 to 75%, and the temperature at night seems to stay around 55 to 65 degrees. However, by the time I get home from work the humidity dropped yesterday to about 60% and my temperature recorder said the high in the tank was 76F. That's a bit too high, so I will have to get that fan soon.