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My second terrarium

This Terrarium is gonna be for nepenthes only with high humidity. Here are some pics off it.


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Nice! Live sphagnum is a great base for Nep pots. Did you put a solid substrate underneath? I've had great luck growing Neps with improvised Slack-pots, as used in Drosophyllum culture; I have a pot of live Sphagnum and perlite in water, and I rest my Nep pots (plastic pots or net pots) on the Sphagnum to wick water back up to the plants. It greatly reduced my need for watering, until I switched back to a more conventional layout after cleaning out the terrarium. I'm going to try it again next time I have time for a redesign.
~Joe
 
Hi there I am now using Perlite and vermiculite and the live sphagnum only since that will not mess or dirt the terra down like iff I had some peat. So I am gonna test and see how it works.
 
You might consider fired ceramic, especially since you don't have it in containers. It won't compact and turn to dust the way perlite will. You may want to take the vermiculite out altogether; it has a way of rotting.
~Joe
 
Yeah might be like that but im gonna give it a try got kinda nice circulation now and such
 
What kind of light fixtures are those and is the foil or Mylar?

Adam
 
Now I got all the Neps planted and it went out very nice I think.


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did you just plant those directly into there? or are you slackpotting?
 
What is slackpotting again?
 
  • #10
That's amazing handwriting. LOL. Those Neps seem really nice. :)

Slackpotting is when you plant plants into soil, but you keep them in pots so it makes a landscape kind of thing.
 
  • #11
I have planted them in there no pot since my plan is to have them there longterm
 
  • #12
i'd be concerned with drainage issues... do you have charcoal in there? or any kind of level for the drainwater to sit? if so how deep is it? if your plants grow roots deep enough to hit that level they will be constantly wet...

I've had a planted tank like yours, and wanted a more functional version for a very long time so thats why I ask...

stagnant water and media can smell really bad eventually even if you do have a fan for air circulation... not to mention if you ever do need to move a plant for any particular reason such as bug infestation or you want to investigate the rootsystem or anything you dont have the convenience of being able to really do so without a huge mess...

All things to think about... people have done planted tanks and I thnk they look fantastic. there are many ways however if getting all of the 'planted tank looks' without it... slackpotting with net pots is a great example.... you'd never know it was in a pot, the water transfer works the same, and if you do ever need to move it you can do so.

Just some thoughts :) good luck
-C
 
  • #13
i too would be concerned with drainage issues, you could slack pot it without it even looking like its slackpotted, but potting directly into the media is a bad idea, especially with such nice plants.
 
  • #14
Yeah that might be true but i got about 7 cm perlite and vermiculite in the bottom maby I could ad some charcoal also and atm only got 5mm water in the bottom. And I might also buy some netpots to use and see how it goes along.
 
  • #15
Slackpotting is when you plant plants into soil, but you keep them in pots so it makes a landscape kind of thing.

Not quite. Slack potting is used for plants that require a consistently moist mix, but don't tolerate having their roots submerged (namely Drosophyllum.) It refers to a porous pot which the subject is planted in, which is then partially submerged in a larger pot with moisture-loving media like peat. The larger pot sits in a water tray and acts as a wick, drawing water to the plant without exposing its roots to standing water.
I haven't actually heard of any large movement towards applying it to terrarium culture, but I've experimented with it a little and I've heard of a few other people stumbling across the same idea. I believe the technique you're thinking of is the "potted-landscape" terrarium (I think that's what d'Amato calls it in his book.)
~Joe
 
  • #16
Ah, blah, yeah. I was thinking of the potted landscape. :p
 
  • #17
Hi again,

Here are some pics upd on how my nep terra works out for me, taken today 09-12-03 :)

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I really think that some off them have grown alot some little less.
 
  • #18
Looking good.
What're those darker green patches in the Sphagnum? It looks a little bit like algae to me - if it is, you can clear it up by misting the affected area firmly until the algae is knocked off. Once the Sphagnum is growing strong it will outcompete most other soil covers.
Best luck,
~Joe
 
  • #19
wow.. I am really impressed with this setup! I've kept tropical tarantulas in tanks like this, but have never had the moss grow like that. Now that I think about it I've never had sphagnum re-growth. I like the idea of the computer fan. I used that method once when I was in high school. I built a photo-tron for my "secret" closet plants using computer fans for circulation. Looks great! Keep the pics coming, I'd like to see more.
 
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