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 or any hints anyone could share, or even a website?

And yes, I will be taking care to only combine plants that like the same
conditions. Humidity would be high, light and soil could vary, and
temperature would be between 76 and 90 degrees depending on the plants.

Websites or pictures would also be appreciated.

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

"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.

Why does that preclude them growing in a terrarium?

For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan in
the top of the tank.

Technically you can grow anything from extremely arid plants to bog plants
in a terrarium as long as you can keep the climate to their satisfatcion.

Heck, with a sal****er aquarium chiller I bet you could keep cold weather
plants as well.

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 13:52:52 -0700, "Henry Bubkis"
wrote:

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

Why does that preclude them growing in a terrarium?

For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan in
the top of the tank.

Technically you can grow anything from extremely arid plants to bog plants
in a terrarium as long as you can keep the climate to their satisfatcion.

Heck, with a sal****er aquarium chiller I bet you could keep cold weather
plants as well.



Many people try the miniatures and the smaller mounts in
terrarium. I don't see why you could not do it. Look at the
small species oncidiums, lockhartia has some smaller plants.
Hoosier has a good online catalogue of 'jewel orchids' for the
base. They may have an angraecoid that is small. Beware of
seedlings that will in a couple of years be way too big for your
growing conditions.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 13:52:52 -0700, "Henry Bubkis"
wrote:

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

Why does that preclude them growing in a terrarium?

For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan in
the top of the tank.

Technically you can grow anything from extremely arid plants to bog plants
in a terrarium as long as you can keep the climate to their satisfatcion.

Heck, with a sal****er aquarium chiller I bet you could keep cold weather
plants as well.



Many people try the miniatures and the smaller mounts in
terrarium.

Thanks. That's what you generally strive for with any plant in a terrarium.
You look for something compact so you don't have to continually crop it or
pull it out and replace it. Unless you have an immense tank to use.

I don't see why you could not do it. Look at the
small species oncidiums, lockhartia has some smaller plants.
Hoosier has a good online catalogue of 'jewel orchids' for the
base. They may have an angraecoid that is small. Beware of
seedlings that will in a couple of years be way too big for your
growing conditions.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Henry Bubkis 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.

Why does that preclude them growing in a terrarium?

For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan in
the top of the tank.


Why didn't you mention that in the first place?


Technically you can grow anything from extremely arid plants to bog plants
in a terrarium as long as you can keep the climate to their satisfatcion.




So you were looking for affirmation, not advice.


J. Del Col

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

For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan in
the top of the tank.

Henry,
Dumb question, but what do you do about power? All my computer fans have
small leads which attach to the PS of the PC.

thanks

chaz

On Thu, 4 Aug 2005 12:40:55 -0400 in chaz wrote:


For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan in
the top of the tank.

Henry,
Dumb question, but what do you do about power? All my computer fans have
small leads which attach to the PS of the PC.

Get a wallwart with DC output and splice it in.
Most 12V muffin fans will start to spin at 3V, but are a bit erratic.
Most run pretty quiet around 7V, and many can be pushed to
18V for the "More power! More power!" crowd.


--
Chris Dukes
Suspicion breeds confidence -- Brazil

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

Henry Bubkis 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.

Why does that preclude them growing in a terrarium?

For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan in
the top of the tank.


Why didn't you mention that in the first place?

Why the need? Anyone that actually has experience with what I originally
asked for would know or just know to ask.



Technically you can grow anything from extremely arid plants to bog
plants
in a terrarium as long as you can keep the climate to their satisfatcion.




So you were looking for affirmation, not advice.

First thing is, if you haven't kept numerous tropical plants in a terrarium
or vivarium, why did you bother to respond?

Second thing, I'm looking for intermediate to expert advice. I'm a begginer
and have experimented up to a point with this subject and now I'm ready to
combine different plants in a large terrarium. I have grown bromeliads, I
have grown orchids, I have grown carniverous plants, and have set up simple
terrariums/aquariums/vivariums/paludariums. Now I need advice on something
more complex and whether anyone has ever grown the two together and what
problems or solutions they have experienced. I didn't want affirmation. I
was correcting you.

If you can't help me don't bother replying.

"chaz" wrote in message
...


For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan in
the top of the tank.

Henry,
Dumb question, but what do you do about power? All my computer fans have
small leads which attach to the PS of the PC.

I'm sure you, like everyone who has owned cell phones and electronics, have
extra useless dc power supplies lying around. All you have to do is find one
that has the correct output and match it to a fan, or like me, visa versa.
The output is usually stamped into the plastic housing of the transformer
and the power req for the fan is listed on the outside of the fan. Just snip
the plug off the ends of each and solder them together. It's simple.

Optimally you will also add a simple reostat to vary the speed. They can be
found in electronic stores for next to nothing.

The same setup also works for providing some air movement to stimulated
seedlings if you ever start seeds indoors. A herp radiant heater or a small
dog or cat bed warmer completes the package.

Hope that helped.



thanks

chaz

"Henry Bubkis" wrote in message
...

"chaz" wrote in message
...


For ventilation and beneficial air movement I use a small computer fan
in the top of the tank.

Henry,
Dumb question, but what do you do about power? All my computer fans have
small leads which attach to the PS of the PC.

I'm sure you, like everyone who has owned cell phones and electronics,
have extra useless dc power supplies lying around. All you have to do is
find one that has the correct output and match it to a fan, or like me,
visa versa. The output is usually stamped into the plastic housing of the
transformer and the power req for the fan is listed on the outside of the
fan. Just snip the plug off the ends of each and solder them together.
It's simple.

Optimally you will also add a simple reostat to vary the speed. They can
be found in electronic stores for next to nothing.

The same setup also works for providing some air movement to stimulated
seedlings if you ever start seeds indoors. A herp radiant heater or a
small dog or cat bed warmer completes the package.

Hope that helped.



thanks

chaz




Henry,
I guess I am a complete moron, but i dont have whatever it takes to run a
fan. I do have many PC fans in my office, but what can i purcahse to run
them? How long will a battery last?

I appreciate the help

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)

Ford.

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

I think that there would be a number of options one could pursue
if you wanted to grow orchids in a terrarium setting. The first would be
to create a sort of "elevated garden," with an undergravel filter set up a
good 1-2" higher than it should be, either with gravel or stand-offs to
allow for drainage. Line the back with cork, and use that for epiphytes.

There are the usual "jewel" orchids such as Ludisia (=Haemaria)
discolor, as well as goodyeras, that would do quite well. The genus
goodyera is commonly available, but only occasionally are verifiable
propagules (versus those dug from the wild). I note that Black Jungle
sells some orchids that would do quite well. They also sell some that
won't (such as the Gongora tricolor). Search for:

terrarium orchids

on "Google." Much goodstuff out there.

Some other species will do well with high humidity, but some
changes would help them grow better. For example, there are a number of
bulbos and pleurothallids that would do quite well, immersed in a
substrate that was well-drained, as above, such as Pleuro. tribuloides
(keep on the dry side with a double-pot, the plant in a pot kept inside a
larger pot with gravel between the two), Bulbo. shepherdii and allied
species, that sort of thing. Heck, call up any good species company
(Andy's Orchids comes to mind, as does Hoosier, Oak Hill, that sort of
thing. "So, whatcha got that likes it damp and humid and stays small?"

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-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ