Thanks for the link, it said:
I'd forget about all the fogging. Keep your terrarium fairly closed and water by spraying once a week., BUT my plants are NOT in a terrarium, but a shelf with 50% humidity. I may move the Heli into a terrarium, but what about air movement? I have a few spare 10gal empty aquariums I could use. I've seen Av8tor1 video of Helis and he's using a fogger on his amazing collection.
I guess if I move it into a terrarium what's more important: Humidity or air flow?
Thank you,
Steve
Firstly, shelf or terrarium, it won't make too much difference, as long as the general conditions are the same (humidity, temps, air flow, lighting, etc.). So whether or not you keep them in the shelf, that's up to you, and which setup will work best for you, as far as getting good growing conditions.
I'd forget about all the fogging. Keep your terrarium fairly closed and water by spraying once a week.
If you would like to have high humidity, and want to be watering once a week, go ahead and try this...also, don't forget that by closing your terrarium (or shelf), without providing something extra for air movement/ exchange (fans, ventilation, etc.) you are very likely to get fungal and bacterial problems in your pots. Algae also may show up on the surface of your soil. Some of these fungi that can get into the soil, or directly to the plants, may not show obvious signs of being there. A disease that, I'm sure all Heli growers fear, is "Sudden Heli Death" and is caused by a type of fungus. Personally, I don't want to have a healthy heli suddenly start dying on me, with little chance of surviving.
I guess if I move it into a terrarium what's more important: Humidity or air flow?
In my opinion, air flow is critical. Humidity is important too, but lower humidity generally doesn't affect Helis too much, at least not the easier species, like the one you have...as long as they are properly acclimated, to avoid shock from a sudden change in their environment. As I said above, not having enough air movement can be devastating, though not everyone runs into problems, but I just don't like to risk that much loss. Another benefit of air movement is that it helps keep the crown of cephs from getting soggy and wet all the time, which prevents it from rotting. My cephs are growing near the output of my humidifier, but they are doing great, and I assume that is because I have 2 12VDC fans running the entire day. I basically have the same type of system that Butch (Av8tor1), and a few others on here, have setup.
Here's the basics of the system:
Firstly, you have 2 fans hooked up, on
seperate power supplies. One blows air in, and one takes the air back out. The reason for the separate power cords is so that, in the event of one power supply failing (it DOES happen...I lost 5 Helis when I went out of town, and my power supply for my fans went out
), you will still have at least one fan running, which prevents over-heating. Then, you have a humidifier that runs for part(s) or all of the day, and if you choose, it can also come back on at night. The humidifier is to help keep humidity up (duh) as well as cool the growing area. I have all my Helis, Cephs, and Neps in one terrarium, using this type of system. So far, everything is really seeming to appreciate these conditions. I am going to be making just a few adjustments in the system, so that it is optimized for functionality, and looks a little nicer to look at, and I am planning to start a thread on the project. I'll post a link here when I start it (tonight or tomorrow).
Hope all of this helped, and I know I probably sounded a bit harsh about other people's suggestions, so please nobody take offense...I am only giving my opinion of what has worked well for
ME, and even if something works for me, it doesn't mean it is the only way to do things, or that it will work for others. Keep us updated on what you decide to do, and how things are turning out!