Designing a Biotope - Ecuador/Colombia

[Pattywack]

And the list goes on and on, lol. It can be overwhelming sometimes and I have to stop and try to imagine what this is all going to look like. But oh well, if a plant doesn't work out you can always try another.

NEHERP is a nice shop for supplies, Exo terra lights are cheaper there and some other exo terra supplies are as well. I tried a moss package of theirs, not a slurry, a pad of moss to tear apart and poke pieces in where you want it to grow. It has done well and I've been happy with it.

Sounds like you have a nice selection picked out!

[Leafmite]

Opps. You have all the orchids. Try mosses and, as someone else suggested mini ferns. Surely Columbia has their own types. Good luck!

[orchidsarefun]

What about pings ?
Tropical Butterwort Care Guide - Grow Carnivorous Plants!

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

[Salixx]

I forgot all about Pings. There's at least one, Ping. calyptrata, grom Ecuador and Columbia. I'll have so see if I can find a supplier.

[gnathaniel]

Try dendroboard.com, a dart frog site that has tons of info regarding biotopic planted setups. I've seen at least a few nice Ecuadorian biotopes on there. Also the Rare Terrarium Plant Classifieds/Collection groups on Facebook. The proprietor of Equaflor-A, Gilberto Merino, is a member and exports a lot of nice plants to the US. You should be able to source plenty of terrarium-suitable Ecuadorian Peperomias, ferns, gesneriads, ericads, aroids, Marcgravia, etc. through those sources.

[Salixx]

Excellent, thank you for those sources. I've submitted a request for the FB group and had completely forgot about Equaflor-A. I've already found some possibilities there.

[Salixx]

Just a little progress update.

I finished the hardscape yesterday and got some plants in today. Still waiting on most the orchids and the aquatics, so it still looks pretty barren. I have also ID'd two local species of moss that can also be found in Ecuador and Colombia. I am waiting for the snow to finish melting and spring to bloom so I can go hunt for some.



Left side, front to back:
Peperomia meridiana
Dryadella cristata
Peperomia serpens 'Variegated'

Middle, left to right:
Selaginella erythropus
Pilea glauca

Right, left-right
Masd. auropurpurea
Peperomia caperata

I cannot with 100% confidence say that all the non-orchids are from Ecuador or Columbia. So, I will have to say it is a northern South America biotope.

[Joseia]

Originally Posted by Pattywack

Another vendor I've found with a lot of miniature, other plants is Glass Box Tropicals. They have a lot of terrarium plants and they too are very nice and helpful when looking for specific plants. I found a Platystele umbellata there after looking forever for one! It is huge compared to most I've seen pictures of and it bloomed for weeks. I would definitely look at Glass Box, I think they are overlooked, they have a nice selection.

---------- Post added at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------

I bought my Dryadella cristata from Glass Box Tropicals too.

Thanks for the tip on Glass Box Tropicals!

[The Peloric Orchid]

Originally Posted by Salixx

Just a little progress update.

I finished the hardscape yesterday and got some plants in today. Still waiting on most the orchids and the aquatics, so it still looks pretty barren. I have also ID'd two local species of moss that can also be found in Ecuador and Colombia. I am waiting for the snow to finish melting and spring to bloom so I can go hunt for some.



Left side, front to back:
Peperomia meridiana
Dryadella cristata
Peperomia serpens 'Variegated'

Middle, left to right:
Selaginella erythropus
Pilea glauca

Right, left-right
Masd. auropurpurea
Peperomia caperata

I cannot with 100% confidence say that all the non-orchids are from Ecuador or Columbia. So, I will have to say it is a northern South America biotope.

Please continue to post updates! I'm excited to see where this goes.

I don't know about Pinguicula calyptrata, but many Pings need seasons for proper growth which may be hard to replicate in a terrarium.

[Salixx]

Well, I pretty much have maxed out space and am now in the grow out phase, I hope. I am going to try to post a species map of sorts at some point here when I am not waiting to be called in to work .