Thanks Forum! - A Lurker Finishes His Orchid Terrarium

19 years ago

I would like to thank the members of this forum for being so helpful without even knowing it.

I did quite a bit of research on the net before attempting my first terrarium and this forum is where I found the most useful information, both in terms of quantity and quality.

My primary interest is orchids (my girlriend got me into them - she has many of them) and my terrarium includes two Masdavalias, a Cattlyea on bark, and two miniatures (A. philippinense and L. Sincorana). Also in the terrarium are some ferns, an unknown succulent and a couple of creeping figs.

Something must be right as one of the Masdevalias is sporting its third sequntial bloom on a single spike and has another new spike well underway. My cattleya bloomed as well and all plants are exhibiting great growth.

All together I have about $100.00 in the terrarium (not including the plants).

If anyone would like specifics for the materials and methods I used just say so and I can write it up in a separate post. I am particularly proud of the ventilation project - a computer fan, some expandable duct as normally is used for a clothes dryer and a modified AC to DC convertor.

I am hoping I can post in the gallery portion of this forum a picture of the overall terrarium - I do have many detail pictures and can post them as well if anyone is interested.

Once again - thanks to those who asked the same questions I would have, those who asked questions I didn't know I even should ask and of course those who answered the questions so knowledgably.

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Comments (4)

sahoyaref
19 years ago
Oooooooo! Pictures! Did you post them yet? Going to look. . . you're welcome, by the way. =)
ladybug_guam
19 years ago
Paterr:
Just saw your pics, very well done!
I would be interested in your ventilation system, specially the computer fans... Thank you!
Ana :)
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paterr
Original Author
19 years ago
Sorry for the delay...

For the ventilation I used a 12 volt computer case fan I had laying around in a junk box. I went to the local hardware store and bought a length of aluminum exhaust pipe designed for a clothes dryer. Then I cut it at one end; in four places just long enough to fully push the fan into it and molded the pipe to the case of the fan. I then duct-taped the fan into place. I stretched the length of pipe out to fit the entire length of the terrarium (3 feet) and punched holes into it with a screwdriver. I made two rows of holes - one row exits air into the terrarium at about 45 degrees, the other row exits air across the top - sort of a way to provide turbulence as well as make the airflow a little more gentle. the open end was then capped with a hard rubber cap designed for PVC. it just so happens that the standard dryer exhaust pipe is the same outside diameter as the internal diamater of the cap... I then wired an old 9 volt AC adapter I had in my junk box (I keep all kinds of electrical crap - I am N2QHL for anyone that knows what that means by the way) to the fan leads. Though designed for 12 volts the fan runs very smoothly and quieter on 9 volts. I will be taking a couple more pictures soon and posting them. One of the masdevalias has two blooms on it right now...
paterr
Original Author
19 years ago
I just posted in the Gallery the picture of the terrarium masdevallia in bloom...