Well, this is my first attempt at a Paludarium, which is where I would try to grow any of these orchids. I set it up today and populated it with a few things from the greenhouse and two of my little cloud forest Racinaea bromeliads from the temporary terrarium tank. The bottom is an aquarium (I am getting a fish to go in there tomorrow) and the top is a terrarium/vivarium (you can build it either way, and keep amphibians or reptiles....I am not planning on either)
I want to mount a couple small orchids on the driftwood, there look like a couple good spots that would work. I imagine it will be plenty humid enough, but am not certain what temps it will be. I have a small clip on fan I can use and also this room has a ceiling fan. The top is a screen top and light on top is a plant light which is removable, although in this particular window, it probably won't be needed (unless I want to light it up like now in the evening)
For now I have thick live carpet moss that grows on every surface along the edges of my greenhouse pond and stream...I just peeled some up and brought it in and laid it down over moistened cocofiber and aliflor. It regrows like crazy in the GH. I put 2 cuttings of Anthurium scandens, some Rhaphidophora , a few cuttings of a variegated dischidia in back, a stalk of aquatic Parrot Feather (which will have to be just temporary as that stuff takes over...I plan to get some immersed aquatics from Petsmart or the aquarium store to plant in the bottom of the aquarium part), a cutting of Scindapsis, my two Racinaea bromeliads, and a cutting of pilea that was already growing in the greenhouse stream. I may add some other stuff later. This is just a start up to gain some experience before I go for the big guy.
So I'd really like some very small cool orchids to go in here. Maybe Draculas and Masdevallias are not the ones for this particular set up. I could get a few bulbophyllums from the greenhouse. But I'd like to try something new.
