cgarry Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 The terrarium is still very much a work in progress, but here are some pics of the current guests. Wide view of the plants: Another wide view: A clump of D. intermedia - Brazil A closer look at D. intermedia - Brazil D. madagascariensis with a new stem growing from its base. D. scorpiodes Another view of D. scorpiodes D. slackii D. slackii Only the leaves that have opened since I got the plant have dew on them. A very young B. liniflora Another view of B. liniflora A young H. heterodoxa x ionasii Many leaves died after the plant first arrived and was planted in the terrarium, but new leaves have grown and look to be okay so far. Another view of - well read the label... And because I really like it, another view of H. heterodoxa x ionasii I hope it survives long enough to grow adult pitchers. From a tiny spot of the plant I was supplied with U. livida is spreading really well. U. sandersonii - blue flower viewed from above. No sign of the flower yet, but it does like to spread. U. sandersonii - blue flower viewed through the terrarium glass. U. sandersonii growing up against the glass. Close up of U. sandersonii flowers The advantage of growing the Utrics against the terrarium glass is you can see their roots and bladders. U. sandersonii roots with bladders: U. reniformis - small leaf form growing against the terrarium glass. U. reniformis - small leaf form viewed from inside the terrarium. U. reniformis - small leaf form complete with roots. Close up of U. reniformis - small leaf form bladders: And the last plant in this set, Genlisea lobata x violacea. I'm not sure the plant likes the terrarium too much, the other half of this plant growing on my east facing bathroom windowsill look to be growing much faster. G. lobata x violacea and its roots. Note how the roots turn into leaves if they receive any light. G. lobata x violacea flower. Right, thats all of the photos I have for now - though not all the plants in the terrarium. Hope you liked them. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julio Alberto Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Nice pictures! It is a good idea to put the Utricularia and Genlisea growing against the glass. Does grow leafs among the traps of the Utricularia which is against the glass (I see some leafs)? I can not remember where, but I have read that this might happen because the roots receive light. Is this right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCarnifreak Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Very nice. It's looking healthy. How old is your terrarium? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanW Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 I like planted terrariums and yours is GREAT! :thumleft: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmie Hansen Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Veeery nice! What lightning do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sheila Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Your plants are looking very healthy. The madagascariensis is beginning to look a bit top heavy, if you cut the plant down to almost ground level it will sprout fresh plantlets from the roots and the top part can be used for cuttings. I cut mine back every year and what was two plants is now a pot stuffed full of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Allan Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 Very healthy looking plants. What lights and temperatures do you subject your plants to? I find that Drosera do the least well out of all the genera that I grow in my terrarium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted December 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 Tanks for all your comments. I'll try and answer some questions now. Julio - I don't think there is enough light in the room to cause leaves to grow among the traps of the Utricularia, though the Genlisea does have some leaves among its roots. I now have a strip of black card I stick along the bottom of the terrarium when I am not around to stop light reaching the roots, should stop algae growing there too. TheCarnifreak - I only started the terrarium in August this year. TyFone - For lighting I have three 55W T5 fluorescent tubes about 24 cm above the soil surface (with a sheet of glass in between). Three sides of the terrarium have foil on them to reflect back light. indymental - Thanks for the tip. The madagascariensis is very top heavy, it is only upright because it is stuck to the back of the terrarium with its own dew. I took some leave cuttings several weeks ago, once I get these established I will have the confidence to hack down the tall plant. I will have a lot of material for cuttings after that... Greg - Currently the terrarium is about 26oC in the daytime down to about 17oC at night. In the summer I think temps were 32oC day and 20oC night (I hope the Heliamphora will survive that!). I have a large fan running slowly in the light hood which takes a lot of heat away from the lights - I had a tube overheat before I added the fan. I also have the fan run for 1/2 hour after the lights go out at night which does a good job of getting the terrarium's temperature down at night. Drosera seem to grow fine in the terrarium for me, though I can't get D. spatulata cv. ‘Tamlin’ to produce any dew and I think D. paradoxa just gets by rather than grows strongly. If they don't improve I might take them out and replace them with something that grows better there. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoss Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 Great photos! Didn't you say before that you're growing some cephs in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted December 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 I did have a ceph in there - it was completely dead within a week... :? The setup has changed quite a bit since then, with more air circulating now. So I shall try again in the spring when the garden centre has cephs in again. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aidan Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 Drosera seem to grow fine in the terrarium for me, though I can't get D. spatulata cv. ‘Tamlin’ to produce any dew and I think D. paradoxa just gets by rather than grows strongly. More light and possibly more heat for these two. Replacing the foil with silvered mylar and adding another lamp might do the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted December 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 More light and possibly more heat for these two. Replacing the foil with silvered mylar and adding another lamp might do the trick. Thanks Aidan. I actually thought that three 55W T5 tubes might be too much and was thinking of taking one out! I'll try the silvered mylar first and look at adding another tube if that isn't enough. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 Hi Chris That's a nice setup. Judging by the Utric flowers and Drosera colours, i would say your setup is probably getting enough light. If you want to increase it, a removable reflector (a piece of white faced card, hardboard, ply, etc) on the front of the tank will significantly boost light levels, and can be removed of an evening to display the plants. One thing that is difficult to get right is a night time drop in temperature, which most plants seem to appreciate, and some have to have. If you want a more natural look, you might want to consider sketching a top down view of the tank on some graph paper with the plants named, and removing the labels. (just don't lose the paper :) Be warned, the more vigorous utrics will spread from one end of the tank to the other, if you want to keep pure colonies of them, you will need to start off some seperate pots. Good luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted December 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 Hi Graham, I was planning to replace all the foil with mylar, including adding a reflective front cover. I hope this will be enough to get the reluctant drosera to improve. I do plan to take a large photo and add the plant names to it and then remove the labels. The labels are still in the tank partly due to lazyness and partly because I have a few areas with seeds planted that I know I will forget about if I remove the labels before they germinate. As for the utrics, I want them to spread as much as possible and hopefully cover all the exposed soil preventing algae and moss from growing. I hope that this will not cause too many problems for the other plants... Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted May 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 As requested in another thread here are some quickly taken photos of the terrarium as it looks today. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sockhom Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hello Chris . Very nice setup. What is the humidity level? Thanks for replying. Friendly, François. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted May 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi Sockhom, The humidity level is between 70% and 90% when the lights are on - depending how long it has been since the mister has been on. Once the lights go off the humidity goes even higher and the glass gets lots of condensation on it. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLeopardGGecko Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Dang, that is really cool! I see that you got another Ceph in there. Seems to be doing well :) How do you go about watering your terrarium? I've had several classic tanks in the past and watering has always been a problem for me. I can never seem to tell when the soil needs more water! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted May 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Thanks LLeopardGGecko. The Ceph seems to be doing very well, there are loads no new traps developing. That end of the terrarium is 1:2 peat:perlite substrate so as to keep the Ceph and Helis drier. I spent over 2 months aclimatising the Ceph to its new home before taking the plunge and planting it in permanently. The watering is easy, I have a water bottle which stands in one corner of the terrarium (you can see it in the last photo) which has a hole at the bottom. As the water table drops below the hole in the bottle, the water from the bottle tops it up. With this system I just refill the bottle once each week and the whole thing looks after itself. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoomanuk Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 much much better with labels hidden,nice pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chug Posted May 5, 2006 Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 Nice set up :) Methinks im going to have to try one of these things :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panarocks Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 cgarry, beautiful setup what are the measures of your terrarium? how do you ventilate it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesara Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 nice set up there.they look very healthy and have great colour 8) Bye for now Julian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgarry Posted May 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 Hi panarocks, The terrarium is 24" x 12" x 18" high. The top of the terrarium has a glass sheet on it (the lamps rest on this) which is about 1" shorter than the length of the tank. The light hood has a fan in it to keep the lamps cool and the air from this blows across the the gap in the top glass sheet. There is also a pipe from my fogger which blows mist in for 2 minutes each hour creating a little more ventilation. Once the lights go out though, all the fans stop and there is no ventilation. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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