Mini Hygrolon terrarium for micro orchids
My questions are in bold below, everything else is various types of elaboration.
Exo Terra makes an 8" cube, and I'm putting one on my Christmas list. I've put together a 12" cube that's working out really well, so I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing here.
I'll be making a sort of thick, sloped background that comes out along the sides, giving me as much surface area as possible to plant orchids on. It'll be made of driftwood, probably Mopani and Malaysian driftwood, with Hygrolon coating parts of it for orchids that like wetter things to cling to. I have to actually get my hands on the wood and terrarium to figure out the exact shape, but I hope to make it look a bit like the inside of a half-rotted, hollow tree stump full of orchids.
Like my other terrarium, this will be misted daily, and it'll have about half an inch of water in the bottom at all times. I'll cover most of the screen top, but put a computer fan over a hole in the cover, so there should be a decent bit of ventilation. The light will be an LED ceiling-strength 5000k bulb in a desk lamp, which so far has worked out well on two other setups. I'll be placing plants and wood carefully to make sure nothing gets bleached in the light, and I should be able to move everything around a bit at first to find the perfect mix of light and humidity. Worst comes to worst, something can come out and go into its own little micro terrarium.
TL;DR, micro terrarium with wood and Hygrolon to root into, should have fairly high humidity, will be ventilated pretty well. Not sure of exact temperature, but it should be intermediate/warm, glass boxes full of humid air tend to retain heat pretty well overnight when they've been heated by a lamp all day. Nothing fancy, and the aim would be a terrarium I can maintain by just keeping it moist and maybe spritzing some light fertilizer now and then.
Where can I get some suitable wood for this? I need Mopani or Malaysian driftwood in small, preferably twisty pieces, and definitely not in those big featureless lumps.
What moss should I use? These guys are so tiny that I'm not going to put any of my current liverworts in because they'd probably just be swamped, so I need to pick out mosses that are polite and don't climb all over other plants. I have Java moss for the lower areas because it's easy enough to thin out, but it won't do well higher up in the less wet areas, so I need suggestions for up there. Are there any dwarf liverworts, maybe?
What mini Phal would you use? I want a mini Phal up near the top, something 3" across or less, and I'd like suggestions on species that people have used in terrariums. I'm considering Phal Java love, Phal deliciosa, Phal fimbriata, Phal parishii and Phal thailandica.
Please let me know if any of the plants on my lists won't work. By "won't work" I mean something that requires any sort of dormancy or a major temperature drop, or something that gets big and/or sprawls enough to not really be suitable for such a small space. I'm doing some cursory research every time I find a new orchid name, but I might miss something.
I'll also take suggestions. I especially like plants that either have really dark flowers or really light flowers with dark, distinct markings, and patterned leaves are cool. Clearly, I need something tiny. Suggestions for suitable non-orchids are also appreciated.
I already have Haraella odonata, Ceratostylis pleurothallis, Lepanthes Gargoyla (favorite), Bulbo alagense, Bulbo catenulatum, and Dendrobium lichenastrum.
My must-get list:
Bolbitis heteroclita (tiny fern)
Sinningia pusilla (tiny violet)
Lepanthes astrophora "Stalky"
Bulbo moniliforme
Schoenorchis fragrans
Trichosalpinx chamaelepanthes
Cattleya cernua
Bulbophyllum frostii
Pleurothallis grobyi
My these-look-good list (will have to see which of them I can find):
Barbosella crassifolia
Barbosella dussenii
Bulbophyllum immobile
Bulbophyllum intersitum
Bulbophyllum species (mini India) and (mini ovali-teague type) from Andy's Orchids
Dendrobium pachyphyllum
Dryadella clavellata
Dryadella zebrina
Lanium avicula
Masdevallia pygmaea
Pleurothallis leptotifolia
Pteroceras semiteretifolium
Restrepia contorta
Stelis hirtzii
Zygostates allaniana
Last edited by Fishkeeper; 10-19-2017 at 05:12 PM..
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