Advice on terrarium lighting

13 years ago

Hello all!

I have had moderate success with terrariums for the the past six months, when I first got them for christmas. Until now I have had no artificial light source, but I know they need more light. (and I want to see things grow faster)! I recently purchased a 100 watt daylight CFL from home-depot because of some advice from a friend who has had great success with dart frogs and vivariums. The locations for the terrariums are very temporary as I only put them here because I had a good lamp that could test my new lights in this location.

I am looking for general advice on how to make these plants flourish instead of drop dead. The resurrection ferns have been slowly dying off, but once and a while they will open up when the humidity is particularly high. Even then only some ferns open... I know these are epiphytes but I don't have another solution for hanging them anywhere. The branch they are growing on was found on a sidewalk near my house, so these ferns have never been removed from their original rooting location.

Some mosses have stayed green, some have turned brownish. Should I give up on the browning ones? Are they dead or just unhappy?

Now that I have a light, condensation seems to leave much faster and the humidity falls faster as well, so i have started misting more, around once a day... Just trying to keep the mosses moist enough.

Should I allow any standing water at the bottom to regulate humidity?

Without lights it is usually around 80-90% but it has been around 50-80 since I got the light.

Any advice is welcome.

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Comments (2)

terrestrial_man
13 years ago
Several things:
1. Lite is way too close-pull it up at least 6 inches.
2. Pull off the lid and let air flow into the terrarium
for at least an hour or two every day
3. If all you are trying to grow is the moss and the fern
on the wood then I would redo the terrarium altogether
and get rid of the gravel and all the soil. Instead make
up a mix of 50% river or creek sand and sphagnum peat
moss and just put in an inch of this mix into the
terrarium. Make indentations in the mix and press in
the mosses into them. Place the fern wherever.
Then using distilled or r/o water in a sprayer, spray
them heavily but do not flood. Let air for a couple of
hours before placing back on the lid.
4. Keep the terrariumn in the coldest spot you have in the
house if you are using the light. Make sure the temp
inside the terrarium does not go over 65 degrees F.

Note: the moss is dying back because it thinks it is summer
and the high heat is inducing dormancy. Couple that with
wetness around the bottom of the moss and it could induce
fungus infection and subsequent rot. Moss must be kept cool.
The fern generally as an epiphyte will handle heavy watering during fall and spring but only occasional watering in summer but needs good relative humidity 60% to
70%. Check out the weather patterns for the year for your
city. Use the link below to find your state and then find or search for your city to pull up page with weather charts.

Here is a link that might be useful: City info with annual weather charts at bottom of page
zachman
Original Author
13 years ago
Wow, thank you so much! I just moved the light and I think that I might remove the gravel and soil like you suggested. I am sad to hear that 65 degrees is the maximum temperature because my home in georgia is almost always above 75. Will this be a major problem? Is there any way to cool things down other than lowering the house thermostat significantly?

Also, from your post is sounds like, if the moss is going dormant, that there is hope for the future. Is this the case? If i place it in a better environment can I expect a recovery? (and on what time scale...)

Thanks again
Zach
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