It looks soooo beautiful!!!!! don't you wish the plants stay that size instead of growing out of control? LOL
That's what mine do, at first I use to say: grow, grow, grow!, now: stop growing already! :)
But I don't mind, since I like to fuss with it, once a week I open it and get in it and cut, trim, reset, etc.
Thank you for sharing!
Ana :)

Good day to you Ana,
It is me the question lady. I bought a very small Phal orchid at Lowes last week. I placed this bueautiful plant under my kitchen window with florescent light directly above it. The window does not get direct sunlight. Wish me luck.

Mike,
Your Terraruim is designed beautifully. What type of ground cover did you use?
Theresa

Theresa just remember that most people have trouble growing Phals because they over water, let your pot become ligth before you water but not totally dry. If you have any trouble post a question on the Orchid fourm because there are lots of people with great advice over there.
The floor of my terrarium is covered in coco peat or finely ground coconut husk. There is a covering of moss that I started as moss plugs taken from some of my Bulbophyllum Orchid pots, it has almost covered the entire surface. I have noticed that the sphagnum moss will only grow within 8" of the lights but anywhere I have placed it and kept it moist it has grown very well.

I hope the photo works this time

Here is a link that might be useful: front view

Thank you Mike about warning me not to over water my Orchid. My new Orchid seems very moist. Not from me, it is the way it came when i purchased it at Lowes a week ago. Actually the container is only around 1 inch diameter. I thought maybe 2 inches. Since I read that Orchids like to have their roots with air circulation, I poked some med. holes on the sides of this tiny plastic container. This Orchid has 2 large leaves and one small leaf. One of the (green top)roots is moving out of the top side of container. Since it is not in bloom, I wonder if it would be better for the plant to be in a 5 inch clay pot. Unfortunately, my clay pots do not have side holes for air, only a bottom hole for drainage.
Mike in your terrarium did you put some kind of horticultural charcoal in it? So far I am only in the planning and purchasing stage. My small terrarium needs to be sealed around the bottom sides edge connected to the glass because it leaks. I plan to get some new silcone for that. My old stuff just was not working. When I resolve that, I plan to put black gravel on the bottom then lay a clear plastic mesh so soil will not flow easily into it. Then add potting soil, moist Sphagnum moss and hopefully ready for planting. I did get some sheet moss for decor and thinking of adding a small water container snug within the moss for a little humidity. Are you using artifical light in yours?
Theresa

Theresa I would not move your orchid to a bigger pot, bigger pots take longer to dry out and can cause problems. If you want to move it to clay try a small 3" pot with sphagnum moss and a layer of packing peanuts or similar material in the bottom for drainage. The clay pot will dry faster and there will be less chance of root rot but inthe summer when its hot you will have to water more ofen to keep it moist enough.

I did not add charcoal to my terrarium because I did not use soil, if you use a soiless substrate you should be fine without it. I also skipped the plastic mesh layer but have not had a problem with substrate washing through to the drainage layer. I don't directly water the substrate though, if more moisture is needed I simply heavly water the plants and the excess drains down into the hydroponic LECA (light expanded clay aggragate) and is wicked back to the substrate, it works really well for me.
As for light I use a 23 watt compact flourescent, the closer to 6500 K you can find the better. Look for bulbs that say daylight on the package and you should be fine. Compact flourescents are the way to go because they give off very little heat but lots of light and use little electricity.

Hey, your terr is looking really great, Mike! The Lockhartia you gave me is about the same size as yours in the pics, so I had to put it in a larger pot (I had had it in a 1" pot, now 2") Kind of slow-growing, eh? But it keeps going, and definitely likes terrariums! =) My satin pothos is not doing that good. I hope it survives! I think it's too close to the waterfall and staying too moist and getting algae on its leaves. Are you going to put any animals in this terr? It looks perfectly suited for a treefrog or day gecko!

My Lockhartia certainly takes it's time as well, still has not bloomed for me either but I like the foliage. Thats to bad that the satin pothos is not doing so well, I think it does best if it has something to climb and can produce lots of aerial roots. If yours does not perk up I can send you another cutting because mine has reached the top of the tank and is always needing to be trimmed back.

I had initially set this tank up to house some Epipedobates tricolor frogs but have changed my mind. I actually housed a small local frog species (spring peeper) during the summer and cultured fruit flies to see just how much work it was and decided that with school and my orchid collection that the flies were more than I could handle on a constant basis. I would have tons of flies and then a period of no flies and was afraid that this might happen in the winter and endanger the frogs. I have thought about getting Uroplatus geckos or a crested gecko but I really hate using crickets as a food source. I think I will stick to my snakes for the time being and add any additional high maintenance pets after I am finished school, now I just need to track down a Canadian breeder of Borneo short tailed Pythons.

Here is a link that might be useful: Borneo short tailed python