Ford Prefect wrote:
On 4 Aug 2005 07:08:25 -0700, "jadel" wrote:


glenner003 wrote:
"jadel" wrote in message
oups.com...

Henry Bubkis wrote:
Has anyone done this before?

I'm inheriting a large fishtank that I want to turn into a terrarium and
would like to combine some of my tropical pitcher plants as well as
other
tropical plants and african violets with the orchids in a natural
setting
terrarium.

Are there any problems ....

You bet. The vast majority of orchids require good ventilation and
excellent drainage.

J. Del Col


The majority of terrariums need good ventilation and drainage too. The most
of the plants and animals kept in terrariums, have the same needs than the
most orchids. Here you have some exaples of terrariums wich contain orchids:

http://www.poison-frogs.nl/e04.html
http://www.georgecramer.com/dutchvivariumsjv.html


Pay attention to the caveats about orchids in the first website.


J. Del Col

If by tropical pitcher plants you mean Nepenthes be careful which ones
you put in a viv. most grow at an amazing rate when given the optimum
conditions I've got a small one on the windowsill in the bathroom
(8-10" 'branches' produces 2.5" pitchers) that a friend took a cutting
of, he put it in his stove house and it went mad, largest picture was
around 6-8" and the plant got nearly to the size of a mixta x maxima!
Looked amazing growing next to his N.rajah (lucky s*d)


I concur. A lot of nepenthes get rampant-fast! Their pendulous growth
requires plenty of vertical space, and most do best in very warm, very
humid conditions. Finding orchids that will be compatible with that
will be a challenge.

I bought some kind of little generic nepenthes at a Florida Wal-Mart
this spring. It has become a large, heavy plant outside here in
WV--not exactly the tropics, but apparently very much to its liking.

I use to grow more nepenthes, but I got rid of them. They took up too
much room.

J. Del Col