IKEA vivarium

[Larq]

Hello All,

This is my first post, my first attempt for orchid vivarium and orchid mounting. I have had orchids before but had them mostly near the window or hanging in the bathroom next to the shower.

Anyway I have been moving around the world for a couple of years and when I got back home I collected the orchids my mother took care of (that had survived) and I also found this old IKEA vase that I had bought a long time ago. I thought of making a "cheap" orchid vivarium. I wanted an automatic water system with lightning. After looking around on the net I found a small cheap usb powered waterpump on ebay and also a plant growth led lamp that costed 10 and 6 usd incl. shipping. I also bought a 200mm comp. fan for 12 usd that fits almost perfect at the top of the vase.

Now I had to find a good mounting system and I looked for a treetrunk looking branch and I got hooked for the epiweb that I ordered together with 5 orchids from Germany. Erangis mystacidii, Bulbophyllum nymphopolitanicum, Liparis rhombea, Stanhopea oculata, Dendrobium sulcatum. Only the Bulbohyllum was to big for the vase. I think that costed me 100 USD. Now I only had to open up the branch, place the water hose and water pump usb cable inside it and glue it together with aquarium silicon. I also found in my biol. lab old pipette box that I placed the water pump inside and filled with filtermaterial and active coal. Now I placed my orchids on the branch and fitted the branch inside the vase. Filled the vase with some stones to cover the ugly pipettebox and presto I had a orchid vivarium.

Bought a digital timer "cheap" but I can not get it to work correctly for the waterpump so the pump is now connected to an old analog timer that powers it every 2 hours for 15 min of rainfall during the day and in the night water every 4 hours. I am worried that they get to much water but time will tell.

I think the final cost was about 150 USD, but most of the money went to the orchids.

[ingse]

It is a great experiment, but i think the Stanhopea is too large for this space. If it grows in to the Epiweb you will have a problem removing it without dammaging the roots.

[Larq]

Ohh...

You are right, I completely missed that one! I thought I only ordered "small orchirds". I can replace it with Restrepia antennifera or Dryadella edwallii. I will also plant Bulbophyllum plumatum at the top of the branch...

Now, I need to find a way to repot the Stanhopea.

[ingse]

I bought the epiwebfigure "Kaos" Kaos | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
and planned to mount a few Aerangis on it.
My Aerangis arachnopus has now got three spikes and i am really glad i changed my mind and removed it from Kaos, because the longest spike is now over 40cm. long and it would have been to long for the mount.
I think you need small, compact orchids with short spikes and i hate to say this , but the spike on Aerangis mystacidii can be over 30 cm.long so i am not serten its a good idea to mount it on the branch either .

[Larq]

I have to thank you for the good advice! I guess being a novice you have to make some mistakes.

Its troublesome with the Aerangis, it has already gotten one spike since I installed it into the vase, now it grows about 1 cm per day. If the spike grows to 30cm then it will touch the water. All I can do is to move it up or replace it with another orchid. I will have to have an eye on it and see if the flower spike gets to large.

[ingse]

I am also a novice and i have killed a lot of orchids.
Epiweb is a greate medium, but once the orchid has grown into it, it is nearly impossible to remove it.
I always read everything there is to know about the plant i have or am planning to buy. I have spent hours reading everything on Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia , Orchidboard and always use Google to learn as much as possible.
I do not know is the weather is as bad where you live this summer as it is here, but here it is raining all the time, so i spend a lot of time just reading about orchids.

[Larq]

When the weather is bad as it is here, I work and doodle with orchids.

[ingse]

Work=Money=More orchids
OT, but are you going to Lund botanical garden in september ?
The first few hours on the opening day is usually quiet and it is a great opportunity to talk to the vendors and learn about the orchids they have brought with them

[Larq]

Ok, So I took out the Stanophea oculata and thought that I could check what the optimum growing light intensity would be.

I guess I was suprised a bit.

I used a Dual PAM 100 to make a light curve and plot the efficiency of Photosystem II (YII), Photosystem I (YI), Non photochemical quencing (NPQ) "which tells us how much of the light absorbed is transfered as heat", The electron transport of Photosystem II (ETRII) and Photosystem I (ETRI)

As you can see it in the graph the optimum light is very low between 50-100 uE.... usually the light at the window is about 200-400 uE... This is a shader plant living under the canopy I guess.

OK. Back to work now

[Larq]

I will work the hole summer, but I work at (near) the botanical garden of Gothenburg so they have a few orchids there to.