plants to use in a large terrarium

[Jellyman]

Originally Posted by JeffP

I went to a local greenhouse today and got some more ideas. They had the chamaedorea metallica, and the homalomena which I like. They also had some interesting varieties of pothos and philos. I was intrigued by a dwarf banana plant and tricyrtus bulb that has a orchid looking bulb. Do you have experience with either of these?

I haven't bought the light fixtures yet, but I was planning on just buying a few of the 2 bulb garage light fixtures. They are 4 feet long. I was thinking of 4 bulbs, but maybe I'll up it to 6 or 8.

I think you would be happier with a 4' T5 6 bulb fixture.

[frogparty]

Tricyrtus: aka toad lily, needs a dormant period

[JeffP]

I have seen a lot of people using t5 lights and I always wondered why. What would be the benefit of the t5 lights vs the regular ones?

Thanks telling be about the dormancy thing, I couldn't find anything online saying for sure.

[Jellyman]

Originally Posted by JeffP

I have seen a lot of people using t5 lights and I always wondered why. What would be the benefit of the t5 lights vs the regular ones?

Thanks telling be about the dormancy thing, I couldn't find anything online saying for sure.

It is a more intense light. Better for the plants.

[RarePlantBroker]

The dwarf banana should be very happy, as well as the Chamaedorea metallica. The pothos will grow very fast, so be prepared to trim that one!

As for lights, the T-5's do put out a considerable amount of light, but I find the cost of bulbs (in the right color spectrum) to be a bit steep. You could easily mount 6-8x T-8 lights. You may still want to consider mounting a couple of compact flourescents to create a little "directional" light (looks like the sun's rays coming through the canopy if aimed correctly).

[JeffP]

I went to a few more places today and didn't see much that interested me. I did find out about one more local place to try though. The only things that looked like I may try is Scotch Moss and Corsican pearlwort.

I was sort of thinking the same thing about the lights. It seems like there is a big price difference to jump to the t-5's when I could just use more of the t-8's.
Maybe I'll also try some of the compacts. I was planning on using a couple incancesdents too, mostly just to have some warmer places.

[jdogfunk99]

Canna would do well, a little too well…it tends to spread quickly. I tried Heliconia, but it doesn’t like direct lights, only shade. I highly recommend Philodendrons, they do well and look very tropical.

[JeffP]

I've been going to as many local places as possible and happened upon a large tropical supplier. They said they can't really sell to people, just businesses, but said that since I was there I could get what I wanted that 1 time. I picked up 7 broms and a silver satin pothos, and a lipstick plant. I also picked out a few things from black jungle when they had their sale. I know there was a brom, a vine and something else. I'm still waiting for delivery on these, I'll post what they are once I get them. I've also got a fern, Africal violet, a couple odd begonias I got cuttings of at a local show, and a pony tail palm, and a few other little plants. Now I'm just trying to decide on something bigger with nice sized leaves. I may go with Chamaedorea metallica or the dwarf palm, but I haven't completely decided yet. It sounds like the canna would get carried away even though some of them look to have very interesting foliage on them. I'm also trying to decide on moss. I thinking of adding some caladium too, just to have some brighter leaves in there.

As far as lighting, I'm thinking I'll go with 6 t-8's and 2cfl's and 2 incandescent. I may go up to 8 t-8's, I'm just afraid of blocking off too much ventilation.

[Frogtofall]

I think the cost of the power bill in the long run will be more than just paying the initial cost for the T5's and using less bulbs. Have you done the math?? I wonder what the results would be...

You can add as many bulbs as you want but adding more doesn't necessarily make the light reach further down. It may make it a bit brighter at the top but a light can only reach down so far no matter how many there are.

I wouldn't even bother with incandescent bulbs. Waste of money there.

[JeffP]

The incandescent bulbs are for temp. If anyone knows the power differences between the t-5 and t-8, I would be interested to know.