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Orchiodioides Setup Planing/Construction

With the hot TX summer coming and all my other projects in testing or completed its time to start this one.

The alpha version will likely contain U. quelchii.

My main goals are as follows.

Lowest maintenance time possible.
Allow enough room for the species to flower within the setup.
Ease of harvesting for giveaways/NASC auctions/whatnot.

Here is the first draft of what I'm thinking of using existing materials I have. Standard rimless aquarium, I will be constructing a false bottom for. The Utric will grow on top of the false bottom in a mix of live sphagnum, driftwood and tree fern. There will be 2-4" of standing water in the bottom to allow for constant humidity. A pump will be in that standing water connected to a PVC structure that will frame the inside of the tank to allow for automated "misting". Think low volume spray bar.

Utric by randallsimpson, on Flickr

I'm also open to a flood/drain system with a shorter false bottom if there is concern that the 8-10" useable height is not enough for quelchii.

Thoughts, concerns?
 
Some quick thoughts:
- ime - pooled water alone doesn't provide enough humidity. I think the add'l surface area of live LFS & other 'stuff' is much better at that
- like the automation (want some)
- height - my two quelchii clones have both had quite short flower stalks (current one is ~6" above top of pot - for contrast my large U. humboldtii was ~4 feet). However, the environment at the top of a tank, very close to lights, may not be suitable?
- what temps are you expecting in the tank?
- as a sidenote, last fall, I took a small piece of U. quelchii & stuck it in the live LFS in my office tank. While I expected it to do ok during the cooler months, it's still growing well & putting out new leaves as it gets quite hot
- I'm looking forward to see what you come up with
 
Some quick thoughts:
- ime - pooled water alone doesn't provide enough humidity. I think the add'l surface area of live LFS & other 'stuff' is much better at that
- like the automation (want some)
- height - my two quelchii clones have both had quite short flower stalks (current one is ~6" above top of pot - for contrast my large U. humboldtii was ~4 feet). However, the environment at the top of a tank, very close to lights, may not be suitable?
- what temps are you expecting in the tank?
- as a sidenote, last fall, I took a small piece of U. quelchii & stuck it in the live LFS in my office tank. While I expected it to do ok during the cooler months, it's still growing well & putting out new leaves as it gets quite hot
- I'm looking forward to see what you come up with

I do plan to include and try to encourage the growth of live sphagnum, just seems too good of a "health" indicator to leave out.

I'm loving the flood/drain seedling tank so much I'm trying to build more of my collection around that concept. It takes me 1-2m to water 18" X 36" of plants, every 2-3 months I purge the flood water and replace it, maybe 15m max.

I have a stand that will hold 3 of these tanks and the lighting (LEDs, likely two of the moonlight kits I've been using with daylight LEDs) will be hung from the stand so there will be another 4" above the tank to allow for light dispersion.

I'm still working out the coldest part of our house, so I don't know the temps yet. But I've had them growing just fine with my temps for a while now so a few degrees colder should only help.

How hot is your office one growing? Maybe the max temps for this species has been misreported as that never happens :-D. I have happy healthy, non-flowering, plants with 74 as a high for about 2-6w every year.

Thanks for the reply, I'm slowly getting a plan in my head.
 
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How hot is your office one growing? Maybe the max temps for this species has been misreported as that never happens :-D. I have happy healthy, non-flowering, plants with 74 as a high for about 2-6w every year.
The tank definitely gets into the 80's and may hit 90*F - although since it's at the bottom, growing in live LFS, it may not see those temps. The summer nights may not drop below low-mid 70's. Heck, even my basement plants may see mid-80's in late summer (last year it was early summer). They usually suffer but pull through.

Although part of me wants to keep it there to see how it handles late summer, I'll probably pot it up soon & stick it in the basement. If I get enough spares, I may try one on the windowsill with the various reniformis clones & U. humboldtii (one of the newer rennies that I placed there last fall is sending up a stalk).
 
I've started on the first section and this project will be slow going I think.

First part of the left false bottom I'm working on.

DSC_0608 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

The driftwood should be placed right around there. I'm hoping this will give enough headroom for the plant + flowers to stay inside the tank, I'll be losing about 1/2"-1" from the top to allow for the rain/drip system. I could drop the false bottom another inch but I'd prefer not too.

DSC_0607 by randallsimpson, on Flickr
 
Cool! Keep updating the thread, cause I'm interested in growing section Orchidiodes myself and would love to see how you do it.
 
I like the idea, and that is a good looking chunk of wood, looks like a tree stump!
Keep building and updating!
:D
 
.
 
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Covered the left false bottom with a fiberglass window screen fabric and siliconed the false bottom in place. I've cut and did a fit run of the rain/drip piping, next up would be to actually cement them together, drill rain/drip holes and see what happens when I run a pump through it all.

Pretty much stealing GrowinOld's build from here http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php/129252-RainMaker!?highlight= for the automated watering.


DSC_0624 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

DSC_0625 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

DSC_0626 by randallsimpson, on Flickr
 
  • #10
This is gonna look so nice when finished! excited for you!!
 
  • #11
Looks exciting Randall. Looking forward to seeing how it comes along. I am lately getting into utricularia myself. I think i might try to get a nice little exo terra nano tank just for some epiphytic utrics.
 
  • #12
I'm interested to see how this turns out. Should be interesting.
 
  • #14
Any update Randall? Did u ever finish this tank? It must be looking amazing by now.
 
  • #15
I finished getting the rain system working but that is as far as I've gotten. When I started this one I knew it would take a long time, too many other things have to happen before it.
 
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