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I've been gaining great interest (read: OBSESSION) with orchids as of late, and in talking with Justin Yeager about it, I've decided to make an orchidarium. This really is a practice one essentially for a couple of much larger ones in the future (after I move to Mississippi).
I got all of the orchids from Rob (Little Frog Farm). I definitely got more than I planned, but it's hard to go to a greenhouse full of orchids and not go a little overboard. I'm glad I had a set amount of money in my wallet or I very well could have, and would have, walked away with a great deal more.
For the most part, I kept this to Central/South American genera (there as some hybrids), although a couple do not fit that. When I make the big vivs, it will be all species and specific to a particular region.
Given that I am going to move soon, I wanted to make this viv as light as possible, so the only real weight to it is the wood.
I glued the wood using silicone
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Followed by placement of fake rocks which I carved out of high density foam and then sanded into the shapes that I wanted.
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I painted the rocks with DryLoc, which I colored gray. I followed with a watered down coat of black acrylic paint so that the bumps and such would be highlighted.
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I covered the whole back with some watered down silicone (using mineral spirits) and then stuck the rocks in. From there, I was able to fill in the cracks with coco fiber. I didn't really like how it didn't fill in as much as I would have liked, so I mixed silicone, coco fiber, and mineral spirits to have a thicker mixture of coco fiber which I used to fill in the cracks.
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The following are the different species of orchids that I got from Rob.
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This was the only species of orchid that was not new world. It's a Comoros Island species.
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And the final product. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I have a couple other plants to put in (a couple of shinglers). The other plants in there are two broms, Neo. Rien's Pride (from Rob) and Neo. Shamrock, Cissus amazonicus, and Philodendron "Panama" from JoshH.
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I don't plan to put in any more plants beyond those couple shinglers, so the ground is going to be very open. The nice thing is that the wood on left or right create little caves, and then I have the coco hut in there. I imagine that I'll put a pair or trio of leucs in this one.
I got all of the orchids from Rob (Little Frog Farm). I definitely got more than I planned, but it's hard to go to a greenhouse full of orchids and not go a little overboard. I'm glad I had a set amount of money in my wallet or I very well could have, and would have, walked away with a great deal more.
For the most part, I kept this to Central/South American genera (there as some hybrids), although a couple do not fit that. When I make the big vivs, it will be all species and specific to a particular region.
Given that I am going to move soon, I wanted to make this viv as light as possible, so the only real weight to it is the wood.
I glued the wood using silicone
Followed by placement of fake rocks which I carved out of high density foam and then sanded into the shapes that I wanted.
I painted the rocks with DryLoc, which I colored gray. I followed with a watered down coat of black acrylic paint so that the bumps and such would be highlighted.
I covered the whole back with some watered down silicone (using mineral spirits) and then stuck the rocks in. From there, I was able to fill in the cracks with coco fiber. I didn't really like how it didn't fill in as much as I would have liked, so I mixed silicone, coco fiber, and mineral spirits to have a thicker mixture of coco fiber which I used to fill in the cracks.
The following are the different species of orchids that I got from Rob.
This was the only species of orchid that was not new world. It's a Comoros Island species.
And the final product. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I have a couple other plants to put in (a couple of shinglers). The other plants in there are two broms, Neo. Rien's Pride (from Rob) and Neo. Shamrock, Cissus amazonicus, and Philodendron "Panama" from JoshH.
I don't plan to put in any more plants beyond those couple shinglers, so the ground is going to be very open. The nice thing is that the wood on left or right create little caves, and then I have the coco hut in there. I imagine that I'll put a pair or trio of leucs in this one.
