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I'd like to start a small CP terrarium with 2 VFTs and a Drosera Spatulata. This would be my first time doing any kind of gardening though and there's a few things I'm concerned about....maybe just out of naivety. If anyone can answer a few questions for me and give me some tips I'd be very grateful.
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First, the setup: I'm thinking of picking up the 3 gallon terrarium that they carry here, along with their recommended 2 packets of soil. I was going to keep the plants on a sunny window sill in my room where the temperature stays between 75 and 82 year round. Sound good?


The first thing I was wandering about was dormancy. The winters here usually last 3 or 4 months and stay around 20-30 degrees. Would it be reasonable to place saran wrap (or something similar) over the top of the terrarium and place it outside for the winter? I assume I'd stop out and water it every few days. Thoughts?


More of a concern to me are the fungus and pests that people talk about having problems with. I've heard that many times they come in the soil that you get and hatch after you've gotten everything setup. The idea of thousands of little bugs swarming out of my terrarium and into my nearby bed in the middle of the night is disturbing to say the least! Is this an irrational fear? Is it pretty rare to have these problems or is it common? I considered enclosing the terrarium when it's inside but that would prevent almost any kind of airflow...which I know is bad. How do you guys setup your larger terrariums? Do you ever have problems with pests spreading out into your house?


Thanks for taking the time to read!
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Heres a great idea that i picked up in the savage garden,don't remove the plants from thier pots and just bury the pots in peat,pumice, or fine orchid bark so it loooks like they are auchally in the ground, If one gets sick or has dormany just take it out! And spathula doesn't require dormancy, but they kinda grow like a weed in my case
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Hope it works out
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first question sounds good. but in winter your VFT will need dormancy.

second. i would leave it unwrapped. dont water it. in fact let most of the water evaporate. just keep it barely damp.

you wont need to cover your terrarium unless your house is REALLY dry. for example, i tested my house a few months ago and it was 72 percent with no humidifiers or anything. if your getting your soil from PFT i seriously doubt there will be any nasties in it. in fact, there wont be any little bugs in soil if you get it dry. and thousand of little bugs, if you get any, is an irrational fear :)

if you do get fungus then just use a fungicide. dont use it for no reason though.



as for my large terrarium, mines 75 gallons. i want to upgrade to a 90 gallon when i have the money, and sell my 75.
i have eggcrate sitting on top of 4 inch cups. theres 4 inches os water in the bottom and i have 3 titaniam heaters in the bottom (i REALLY reccomend these!!&#33
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theres like 750 watts of heaters in there total. they heat the tank to a constant 80 degrees. theres a 7 inch fan on one side thats set on low. (its still powerful. when i had sarracenia in there it made their leaves shake alot). its on for 4 hours a day total. from 12 pm --2 am and from 2 pm-4 pm.
its covered by glass and it has 4 VHO lights on it. i got a VHO ballast and i run regular gro lights on it for 16 hours per day. (thats ALMOST 440 watts. i reccomend getting a VHO ballast because you can run regular gro lights on them, they are almost 3x the wattage output, but they last half as long)

i need to buy a ultrasonic mister or 2 for it. i need a hygrometer too.
 
Thanks for the help, I'm really looking forward to doing this and just want to make sure I'm properly educated first.
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JustLikeAPill, sounds like a nice setup. Maybe when I have some more experience in a few years I'll put something similar together. Though I'm still shooting for winning the lottery so I can just build a nice big CP greenhouse in my backyard.
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thanks!! i think i'm doing well considering i've only been at it for a month :)
 
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