Pleurothallid focused terrarium

[Paul Mc]

Awesome pics! Thanks for the progression!

[pleurothallid]

Originally Posted by Paul Mc

Awesome pics! Thanks for the progression!

My pleasure. I'm glad it can be of some help. I would also recommend spending some time researching photos/video of true forests, particularly mid to higher elevation cloud forests. It'll help anchor your ideas to how nature looks and works. I don't think my terrariums are natural looking at all, but it's sort of my interpretation of nature. Staring at them sure beats a tv though.

[Paul Mc]

LOL... Are you kidding?! I love the look of your terrariums and I think they do look very natural and amazingly serene!

[Tindomul]

I agree, but yours might be what we call supernatural hehe, or maybe just idealized, not unnatural. hehe.
Although, the heavy moss growth is very natural looking as the cloud forest I was in had huge thick layers of moss and lichens on every branch of every tree.

[pleurothallid]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

I agree, but yours might be what we call supernatural hehe, or maybe just idealized, not unnatural. hehe.
Although, the heavy moss growth is very natural looking as the cloud forest I was in had huge thick layers of moss and lichens on every branch of every tree.

Agreed, the stylized was precisely what I was trying to say. The second terrarium is inspired in part by the old 'Venom' exhibits of the National Aquarium in Baltimore from when I was growing up. I liked their rock work to create additional dimensions to the background. The rest of it came from several cloud forests of Ecuador and Peru, especially some areas near Tingo Maria in Peru. I'm strongly considering redoing the taller terrarium to more of this style as well. Especially if some new experiments some friends and I are doing can produce a more high elevation, cool terrarium. That's the pipe dream at this point.

[Anisa]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Although, the heavy moss growth is very natural looking as the cloud forest I was in had huge thick layers of moss and lichens on every branch of every tree.

Moss is rather easy to find and grow in terrarium, but how about lichens?

[pleurothallid]

Originally Posted by Anisa

Moss is rather easy to find and grow in terrarium, but how about lichens?

I have some from the cork that are doing well. I also have several species of bladderworts. They're slow growing, but I'd love to eventually replace big chunks of the moss with them.

[pleurothallid]

As a bit of an aside, if you're interested in following some of my planted glass box projects, which in many cases include orchids, please check out:

Planted Glass Boxes

There I'll try to do fairly regular posts about my orchid terrariums, (planted) art projects and other goodies.

[Paul Mc]

So, I see you use a misting system to get your plants wet. My own terrarium build I discovered might need that kind of system but it's only 12x12x18. I went to MistKing but I don't need the basic set with 4 mistheads. I think I only need 1 (maybe two to ensure I hit everything from all angles). Where would you suggest I look for a 2 head system?

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[pleurothallid]

I think Marty has a new smaller system that should do well for a smaller terrarium, like yours. The first terrarium I built I sold to a neighbor and she uses just 3-single heads to keep things moist. That terrarium is 30" x 13.5" x 30" and that works fine. I think one head would probably be fine. Just be sure if you used two that you really cut down the time it runs, say 20-30 seconds, 3x daily to start, then cut down to 1-2 times a day. It's hard to give advice on some things though, much better to experiment and let the plants tell you what's working.

Edit: I just checked it out, this is what we put on the small one, should work for you, it comes with just one nozzle and is very affordable:

MistKing Misting Systems by Jungle Hobbies Ltd