Wow, Lin beautiful setup. I have one seven sided glass one that I made as a fern case. Make very good fern cases if you cover the mouth with a glass piece. Closed loop environment with high humidity. Another rectangular one also I am thinking of making into a fern case.
Other then covering the mouth it can also be overturned onto a soft rubber sheet to make a airtight seal.
In winter I think of ferns but ask me when it is 46c outside .
Kalanchoe tree's, I have seen them as it is I am going vertical due to lack of space why not? .
Regards,
Arif.

gg5 said:Sheryl how pretty!! Love it! Jookie, they like warmth! And indirect sunlight, and I keep mine on the dry side! Great find!

Thank you gg5. Mine are already starting to get red on the tips! How fun!!!!

gg5 huum, G.C.
Regards,
Arif.

Yeah, Arif - I wonder what the blooms look like?

The one problem with using the aquariums - for orchids, at least - is the lack of air circulation. Is that an issue for succulents?

Water circulates due to convection currents and so should air plus the heat from lights also generate convection currents. For succulents, ferns, etc there is no issue as to orchids, I cannot grow them due to lack of humidity. A sealed aquarium should not have this lack of humidity issue but then succulents will hate that. Always had a soft spot for orchids but not possible for me, so I have no experience with them.
An idea came to mind of putting a small computer fan in there but for some reason I do not like it. You can even get hoods with exhaust fans but again you are getting rid of humidity. Sheryl why do you think that orchids will be unhappy, is it because you tried growing them indoors? Indoors normally there is not much humidity and Hot, hot, hot, Feenix somehow sounds like a heartfelt complaint that I seem to have. Can I ask you what is your maximum indoors temperature in peak summer?
Ask Lin, maybe she has tried orchids.
Regards,
Arif.

I have a couple dozen orchids and I must admit I'm not the best orchid caretaker ... I've never tried growing them in terrariums (I'd think the terrarium would have to be pretty large to hold more than one or two. We have pretty good humidity here year round: http://www.cityrating.com/city... so my orchids stay outside most of the year with the exception of a few weeks during the winter.

This is unreal, must be a pretty sweaty, smelly part of the world. Reminds me of Karachi, the sea and no lung problems.
Sheryl those conditions you will have to reproduce as to the size of orchids, there should be small ones also.
Regards,
Arif.

Arif, inside of my house it might get as high as 30º C. And our humidity is typically in the 15-30% range unless we get summer monsoons, or winter rains (the fact that we can get both distinguishes us from any other desert on earth). But the majority of the year is very dry. We get an average of 203 millimeters (8 inches) of rain per year.

So, Lin probably lives in about the perfect environment for orchids, whereas I live in an area much like yours. America does have an AMAZING amount of different climates.

As for the aquariums, I have one that is about 30 gallon and one that is about 50 gallon (about 113 and 190 liters, respectively) so I thought I'd put them up on their ends and put the opening near a wall, allowing water to stand beneath them for humidity, and maybe opening it up for a few hours in the mornings. Your idea of a computer fan is great, it would probably help.

The fan will dehydrate the leaves faster. Standing the aquarium on its ends and allowing a puddle of water under it, a bit difficult for me to comprehend. Plants produce oxygen at one time of day and carbon dioxide the other so they produce their own environment, no need for fresh air. Probably if you put a cup of water in a sealed aquarium that cup may last forever. Same with the nutrients. It is a closed loop system, nothing gets out or gets in. Study Lin's plant case and you will get a better idea.
As to standing a two and half foot or three foot aquarium on its ends, I just hope its not glass.
Regards,
Arif.

Sheryl, seems like you may have to go back to spray misting
I've never had a terarium, yet I have several plants that would do well in one, I just keep their pot on a bed of rocks and keep that wet, seems to do the trick!
Honestly sheryl your environment sounds heavenly for me!! Maybe not for my plants but for me!

I grow small plants in glass jars with lids too and sometimes the humidity builds up so much that I have to remove the lids to allow for air circulation ... or else the plants rot. My aquarium/terrariums are a 10 gal rectangular tank and a hexagon which I think is maybe 45 gallons; it's an old fish tank with stand that my friends son put in his parents garage when he moved to California five or six years ago. They were going to throw it out so I told them I wanted it. I don't have a problem with too much humidity build up in either of those because there is a small opening behind the lights on the top.

My husband has a 150 gal Marine (salt water) aquarium full of live coral and fish (photo below) and I've been saying for years that I'd love to make something like that into a plant terrarium! It would sure be fun to plant this one up ... and it would hold a lot of plants but I haven't been able to convince him to get rid of the fish for plants.

Pretty Lin!

Wow! A seawater aquarium and all that water chemistry involved. An aquarium has to support a lot of weight, that seawater aquarium must be at the least made of 8 to 10mm glass. For plants you do not require that strength so a aluminum frame with 5mm glass pasted with silicon will do.
Greg and Sheryl some links for you, lets see what you minds do with the concept .
https://www.google.com.pk/sear...
http://containergardening.abou...
https://www.google.com.pk/sear...
Regards,
Arif.

Love the 2nd link especially!! Thanks Arif! I have a plant that would do pretty well in a terrarium, its known to be smaller and easy for that type of space, but unfortunately I didn't care if it grew so large, and now it has! The person who gave me the plant would probably be horrified that I watered it so much to be this large! But I love it!
Cheers

I think Bev would love to play with this concept after her living artwork in frames, this should catch her fancy. Same, playing with pins and needles all day long sort of game. You need patience which I sorely lack.
Regards,
Arif.

I've enjoyed terrarium growing for years. At one time I had two large 5 gal glass jugs planted as terrariums ... broke one years ago and the second one last year.

A few of my glass jar terrariums (excuse the messy desk):


Two that got broken last year:

Lin those are great!!! WOW you really love your plants!

Thanks Jackie! I do love plants but I've been downsizing the past two years.

Feel free to downsize them over to me