This came on the fedex truck yesterday My significant other got me this for as an early Christmas present- early because my orchids were quickly outgrowing the old aquarium, and we are going to Charleston for the Kiawah Island Marathon this coming weekend, so we are certainly making a stop at Orchidview and I am going to need some extra space
I was inspired by Sylvi's post about her exoterra terrarium. The size I chose however is 36x18x24. I am still using my 2ft4buld T5 lighting. May need some additional lighting, but everything looks good so far. I'm also using a custom-cut of plexiglass to help seal off the top and keep moisture in. Here is a picture after I got all the orchids in. Today I moved my rigged computer fans in as well, but don't have a pic just yet...


my Phal amboinensis and Phal tetraspis/speciosa 'C#1' are the plants currently in bloom. I'll throw a pic of each in with this post for fun
Phal amboinensis- I really enjoy the fragrance of this one!! Spicy, my S.O. thinks it smells like 'hot glue' lol! I like the break in color on the top sepal, this is the second bloom and the first time it's had a color break.

Phal tetraspis/speciosa 'C#1'- first bloom on a very tiny plant. fragrance is... interesting, reminds me of old-fashioned bar soap and tarnished copper, kinda stinky... but interesting flower regardless. Does anyone know if the normal strain of tetraspis has similar fragrance, never seen one in person...

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Happy Growing

Bryan, please wish your S.O. good luck on the marathon and can't wait to see what you bring back from the Nortons. Lucky you!

The terrarium and your plants look great. And, thank you for describing what Tetraspis #C1 smells like; I couldn't quite figure it out, but you hit the nail on its head with your description of its scent.

Looks nice Bryan.

Looks great

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Peter Lin, Admin
Big Leaf Orchids

Bryan, my congrats to your new exoterra terrarium - that's a very nice and generous pre-Christmas present!
I must admit that I'm a little bit jealous that you are in the position to visit Orchid View just kind of "by the way" - could have got a big wish list from me

Looking forward to see updated pics

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Thanks everyone! I am really pleased with this terrarium, lots of extra space for new 'chids I will definitely let everyone know what I get when I visit Orchidview, and I'll take some photos too!

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I can't see any fan?

Without a fan or enough fresh air you will get fungus or/and bacterial problems in a short time...

Probably you didn't catch that Bryan wrote "...Today I moved my rigged computer fans in as well, but don't have a pic just yet..." - so I suppose he's going to update as soon as he's back with pics

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Yes Jensli, Sylvi is right. I bought some cheap 'stic mount hooks' that are working fine for my smaller fans, but my larger fan keeps falling So I am going to stop by the Container Store and buy some heavy duty suction cups this week. I do have two small fans in one corner as of now, and will have the larger up later this week. Thanks for looking out for me though

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Ah ok! My mistake...

Here are the updates I promised! Also stopped by Orchidview on Sunday on the way back from the Kiawah Island Marathon. Got a few plants I am really excited about, but only had enough time to look at plants, so I didnt snap any photos Sorry everyone!




the new suction cups are working really well, I don't think I should have any problems with them!

here are the plants I got at Orchidview
this is Phal Luedde-violacea (violacea 'magnificent' from NO154 x lueddemanniana
woodlawn')

two very tiny gigantea

this is Phal equestris ('Elvira' x 'Bonnie Vasquez') I know nothing about either parent... this small keiki has a spike so maybe I'll figure out what it looks like soon?

I trashed my old Phal venosa b/c it has something funky going on with the leaves, this is Phal venosa ('Kathy' x 'Mike Osborne')

this is a flower from the mother plant from which my keiki was taken

And finally this is an indigo violacea cross with a plant they haven't used before, Katherine dared me to be brave and try this cross out, I trust her.

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Hi Bryan!

The plants you choose look very well and I hope you keep us updated with their progress

What interests me is the following: I see three fans, two could be smaller ones of about 80mm diameter, the big one looks to me like a 120-140mm fan. That looks pretty much to me for the terrarium... Where do they suck the air in and were do they blow out? Or do they just blow inside the terrarium without any "direction"... And one more question... do they all run on full rotation speed or do you have a means to adjust their speed? Just afraid the three could produce a bit too much ventilation for your phals...

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Sylvi,
The fans are both blowing out towards the double doors (front of the terrarium). I had the smaller fans blowing the opposite direction towards the back-right corner, but the plants over there were drying out quickly. The larger fan is at a set speed, and the two smaller fans are rigged to the same plug, which has various speed settings, 1.5V-12V. I usually keep the smaller fans at 3V-4.5V, 3V keeps one fan going, and 4.5V(after watering) has both small fans blowing. The plexi-glass at the top doesn't trap in all the air as it kinda of 'bows' upward due to the lights sitting on top of it. Also there is the front ventilation strip under the double doors. So I'm not really pulling any air in or pushing any air out, even though I imagine air is slowing escaping and entering from the top and the ventilation strip under the double doors. What is keeping me from trying that is that I am afraid my humidity would be too low...

How would I know if I've got too much ventilation? Plants drying out too quickly??

I'm still very new to all this so I am completely open to any suggestions that may help improve my setup

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Happy Growing

I really like the violacea Indigo seedlings, fat plump leaves !

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Mervin Quah
Singapore

Anyone have a Phal Giant Passion 'OK' and
Phal Ambo Passion 'OK' to spare ???

Bryan, sorry that I answer so late...
What you're doing sounds okay, only thing I would advise you to try (because of the humidity problem) is the following.
We always turn the ventilation off during nighttime and we measure temperature and humidity so we see the min and max values.
During daytime I would try to run the fans with a clock timer - maybe start with every hour run for 10 minutes or so. Then you can approach the values you need. Just an idea 'cause that's how we find out...
Hope that's of any help for you - good luck and enjoy your new orchid home

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